We’ve held presidential elections during a world war and a civil war, through a pandemic and amid mass protests − but the spider’s web that is ensnaring Donald Trump is creating a campaign that is entirely new and will be enormously complicated.
The newest indictment of the former president, this time on charges that he tried to overturn the results of the last election, has like the previous ones divided Americans and overwhelmed every other topic of political discussion. A stress test for the candidates and the country, it has sparked a debate on questions never before seriously considered in the world’s oldest democracy.
Could someone under federal indictment run for president? The answer to that is yes, given the constitutional presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Trump insists not even a conviction would keep him from campaigning. “Not at all,” he declared in a radio interview last week.
Could a candidate convicted of a federal crime serve as president? The Constitution is silent on that issue, presumably one the Founders didn’t foresee, though it is now more than a theoretical possibility.
Indeed, if it came to that, could a president govern from a prison cell?
Washington:Read the Trump indictment alleging 2020 election interference
Trump’s reaction: deny and defy
Trump’s reaction to his latest legal peril was the same as to his previous ones: Deny and defy. At a rally Saturday night in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump portrayed himself as a hero and a martyr, not a criminal.
“Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists indict me, I consider it actually a great badge of honor,” he declared to cheers. “Because I’m being indicted for you.” He called on Republicans to impeach his successor, Joe Biden, and threatened to back primary challengers against any House members who refused.
So far, Trump’s badges of honor include an indictment by Manhattan prosecutors for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star. Federal prosecutors have indicted him in Florida on charges of violating the Espionage Act by mishandling classified documents and of obstructing justice when authorities tried to get them back.
A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Trump for conspiring to steal the 2020 election from Biden. Trump faces four counts, including on Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding and Conspiracy Against Rights.
All the criminal charges filed against Trump are serious, requiring him to be arraigned in courthouses, attend trial proceedings and face the prospect of jail time.
But the latest federal indictment is the most sobering of all. The core of democracy is holding free and fair elections and then abiding by the results, win or lose. That center has held even when elections were disputed − in 1824, when the House awarded the presidency to John Quincy Adams, who had trailed both in the Electoral College and the popular vote to Andrew Jackson, for instance. Or in 2000, when a divided Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s crucial electoral votes and with them the White House would go to George W. Bush.
For the first time in American history, that was not the case in 2020.
Now, even though allegations of significant voter fraud have been rejected in more than 60 court cases, Trump continues to argue without substantiation that the election was stolen from him, that Biden isn’t the legitimately elected president. What’s more, Trump has succeeded in convincing a significant number of his supporters that he is right.
The challenges are legal, political and logistical
Trump now faces unprecedented legal perils and political challenges − not to mention logistical complications.
Consider the choreography of the calendar.
- A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, is reportedly poised to indict Trump in early August on charges of attempting to overturn the state’s election results, which would put it just before the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.
- The caucuses in Iowa will open the GOP contests on Jan. 15, the same date the civil defamation suit by E. Jean Carroll against Trump is scheduled to start in New York.
- The crowded “Super Tuesday” contests that often crown presumptive nominees is March 5, three weeks before the hush money trial is scheduled to open.
- As the primary season is about to end, in May, the Florida trial on mishandling sensitive national security documents is set to start. However, given the charges prosecutors added last week, it could be delayed.
So far, Trump’s legal problems have boosted his political prospects.
He continues to hold a double-digit lead nationally and in the early states for the Republican nomination as his one-time top rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, struggles. Trump has deployed the charges to fuel campaign fundraising. Most of the GOP’s presidential contenders and congressional leaders critique his situation and its potential repercussions for the party only gingerly.
At a Republican dinner in Des Moines Friday, former Texas congressman Will Hurd did take him on directly. “Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again,” the long-shot presidential contender said. “Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison.”
Hurd was roundly booed as he left the stage.
