The former president raised $4.18 million on Friday alone, the single-highest 24 hour period of his campaign to date.

  • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    This confirms the narrative his machine has been pushing. It can’t help but mobilize his base.

    Morally and legally it’s the right thing to do. Politically, I’m not sure - I don’t know what would be better, but this will likely help him in the short/medium term.

    • zigmus64@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Before I write this, I want one thing to be clear. I find Trump to an absolutely repugnant person, and elevating him to the Presidency has debased the office. I found him unfit for office in 2016, and I don’t believe he should be eligible for 2024.

      For better or worse, however, there are a couple of truths about this whole mess as it currently stands. A former President is being prosecuted by the Justice Department of a political rival’s administration. It’s the right thing to do, but it does create a certain precedent that could be disastrous for our democracy. I think Biden saw that, and I think that’s why the Justice Department has waited this long to do anything about it. If his polling numbers were garbage, and he was unlikely to get the Republican nomination, I doubt he’d be getting prosecuted to avoid the appearance of political persecution.

      Luckily though, I don’t think Trump is popular enough among independent voters to win the office. Until more polling comes out to tell me otherwise, I don’t think he can beat Biden. He’ll take the Republican primaries in a landslide, but once he needs the independent vote, I doubt he’ll perform nearly as well.

      It’ll be a real mess if he catches a conviction too. The man is a walking constitutional crisis.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        the absence of prosecution is very much as political as the prosecution. Not prosecuting what is, in reality, a failed attempt at a coup… is what would be disastrous for our democracy. not that there’s a lot of that left, given the sheer number of dumb-asses that think it was “justified”.

        • zigmus64@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Absolutely concur. I hate that they waited this long to bring charges. I really do think that Biden instructed Garland to avoid prosecution as long as possible to avoid the appearance of this being politically motivated.

          The best scenario would have been for Congress to have convicted him during one of his impeachment trials. We wouldn’t be dealing with this bullshit at this point.

      • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        We can’t not prosecute him.

        We can’t set the precedent. Yes he’s the first. I hope he’s the only.

        I’m going to leave the above statements here. If you object, down vote. So be it.

        If you support the rule of law and don’t agree that he needs a fair trial, tell us here.

      • kava@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I hate that you feel that you have to preface this with a disclaimer so people don’t dogpile you.

        I think Brazil is a nice little preview of what will happen next here in America. Bolsonaro used the Justice system to imprison a political rival, Lula. Lula of course was corrupt, but the fact of whether he’s guilty or not doesn’t matter. He was prosecuted because he was polling well.

        He ended up going to jail but then shortly after was released. What happened next? Lula is now president of Brazil and now his administration is trying to prosecute Bolsonaro and throw him in jail.

        No matter how you slice it, this prosecution of Trump is bad news. We are in for a rough time and an unclear future. They may ultimately only be helping Trump take over the country.

      • bamboo
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        1 year ago

        What happens if he wins the primary, and then is convicted and ineligible for the office? Does the RNC just pick the runner up or what?

        • Meldroc@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Pretty much. The parties have vacancy committees. So if Trump got convicted and can’t serve, the vacancy committee will pick his replacement. Probably his running mate, or the second-place candidate.