Elections are never about any one thing, although in hindsight they may seem that way. Any issue percolating this week could have a serious effect, in ways big or small, on the outcome of an election that will in turn affect the direction of the country for everyone.
Generally speaking, recent polling suggests more people side with Democrats on abortion and climate change and with Republicans on the economy and immigration. All of those issues are very topical this week. And so are the developments in former President Donald Trump’s universe of legal problems, which are topical every week.
Trump trials
The current GOP primary front-runner is awaiting trial over criminal charges in four different places – New York, Washington, DC, Georgia and Florida. Some polls have suggested a guilty verdict could affect a small but potentially decisive number of people’s willingness to vote for Trump.
His legal defense strategy is to delay the trials and get elected. It’s a strategy that could be paying off.
Trump’s radical second-term agenda would wield executive power in unprecedented ways
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing his federal 2020 election interference case, has tried to stick to an early March trial start date, alongside but unrelated to primaries across the country. This week, she was forced to put things on hold while appeals courts and the US Supreme Court rule on Trump’s argument he should be immune from prosecution.
If this trial in Washington, DC, is ultimately delayed, that could affect the other trials. Will delays affect President Joe Biden’s ability to make the argument that Trump is a threat to democracy?
Americans should know who Trump is by now. He’s the former president who tried to stay in office despite losing the election in 2020.
They can seriously consider whether he is joking when he says he wants to be dictator for a day if he’s elected in 2024. They have time to educate themselves on his plans to drastically change the makeup of the government, use the Justice Department to go after his enemies and gut the US regulatory structure.
Biden impeachment inquiry
Republicans have so far failed, despite doggedly trying, to uncover some kind of malfeasance to tie Biden to his son Hunter’s foreign income or tax avoidance.
That search won’t be stopping any time soon. With a vote to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden this week, House Republicans will now more forcefully use their subpoena and investigative power to try to find something for which to impeach him. Whether or not this effort further sinks Biden’s approval rating (or House Republicans) remains to be seen.
Republicans have been on this path against Biden for years, since Trump, as president, called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pressure him into investigating Biden. That Trump faced his first impeachment for trying to tarnish Biden in the same way that Republicans are now trying to impeach Biden is a bizarre political irony that should be lost on no one.
