By Marley Brennan
Executive Opinion Editor
On March 30, former President Donald Trump was indicted and charged with 34 felony counts of business fraud, making history as the first U.S. president to be indicted for criminal offenses.
Trump is currently under at least four investigations, one of which is regarding a hush money payment made in an attempt to prevent the disclosure of classified information. Stormy Daniels, a former pornography star and actress, was privately paid $130,000 by Trump’s former lawyer in 2016. This private payment was a bribe for Daniel’s silence regarding an affair, which Trump publicly denies, per BBC.
According to CNN, Trump was indicted on 34 counts in regards to business fraud by a Manhattan grand jury, marking the first time in history that a president has been faced with criminal charges. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. publicly disclosed the indictment of the former president on April 4, according to Manhattan’s District Attorney office. Bragg is a federal prosecuter and is openly against Trump.
According to Bragg, the fasifying of business records, if publicized, could have interfered with the election. This would make the scandal a violation of state and federal election laws, which in turn would be a class E felony. However, the falsifying of business records is a misdemeanor and has a two-year statute limitation, which is why the federal court did not initially pursue the investigation. Trump’s indictment will benefit his followers in the upcoming 2024 presidential election as many claim that his charges were not serious enough and, additionally, he will victimize himself, a tactic to which many Republicans respond positively. Additionally, according to Newsweek.com, Trump’s inappropriate tactic of acting as the victim in a situation exposes his corruption, yet naturally appeals to his supporters. Trump, since his 2016 presidential campaign, has used this malpractice, which is evident within the various scandalous relations he has been involved in, such as the Mar-a-Lago stolen government documents, and, each time, he publicly lists his grievances in regards to the situation, per The Guardian.
With this information and given that Trump’s support system still stands, it has been made clear that many Republicans fall for this ploy and continue their support for the corrupt former presi dent, despite the fact that the indictment process is based on criminal charges. According to ABC, a recent poll was taken showing that 53% of Americans believe that the former president potentially committed a crime, portraying that his following will do anything but grow in numbers. This statistic goes to support the common argument that many Americans admit that Trump did in fact commit a crime, as opposed to overlooking the scandal. However, per Forbes, other recent polls that solely focus on the Republican party expose that a majority of Trump’s naive supporters will either completely overlook the indictment or support the former president further because of it.
In summary, Trump deploys these inappropriate methods of acting as the victim through this process, instead of the criminal. Additionally, recent polls convey the advantages this very public indictment will give him as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
It has become incredibly apparent that a majority of Trump’s supporters and the Republican party in general will wrongly continue to exert their support for the former president, ignoring the indictment and the 34 criminal counts against him, which clearly proves that his corruptive tactics are working to his advantage.
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