US Elections: Will Donald Trump Forgive Himself?

Can merey / dpa

Confidence is an integral part of any election campaign, and if there is one thing Donald Trump does not lack, it is. Even by his standards, the president of the United States leaned out the window when he claimed he was going to compete against “the worst candidate” in history.

What if he lost to Democrat Joe Biden? “I may have to leave the country,” the Republican scoffed in mid-October.

Trump is still reluctant to acknowledge his loss to Biden. However, in all likelihood, he will have to leave the White House on January 20. What about Trump after that? His opponents would like to see the 74-year-old on court.

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Trump remains a powerful force

It is foreseeable that Trump, who has always stressed that he is not a professional politician, may disappear from Washington, but not into oblivion. “Trump will likely prove to be more resilient than expected and will almost certainly remain a powerful and disruptive force in American life,” wrote the New York Times.

Trump may have been eliminated, Trumpism, his ideology, is not a thing of the past. The noisy president obtained more than 70 million votes in the elections, almost every second voter would have liked a second term. In a poll conducted by the Washington Examiner before the election, 38 percent of his Republican supporters were in favor of running for president again if he was defeated. Legally, there is nothing against it, in case you want to run again in 2024.

Trump should continue to attract attention through his Twitter account with more than 88 million subscribers, it is his private account. After four years of continuous fire @realdonaldtrump It is foreseeable that Trump will continue to comment on world events through tweets in the future; after all, he did it even before his presidency.

The “criminal record”

Legally, things could get awkward for Trump after he was forced to leave the White House. The Washington Post, anticipating Trump’s defeat, went to the trouble of compiling “a former president’s criminal record” before the election. The newspaper cited as possible allegations of violation of campaign finance laws, corruption and obstruction of justice. The latter is primarily aimed at FBI special investigator Robert Mueller’s investigations into Russia.

No immunity

Mueller found no evidence of secret deals between Trump’s camp and Russian representatives prior to the 2016 election. However, he did not expressly exonerate Trump from the obstruction of justice charge. In his final report in March last year, Mueller made clear that no charges can be brought against a president during his term. But he also wrote that “a president has no immunity after leaving office.”

Could Trump forgive himself?

Trump called the Russia investigation a “witch hunt.” He is likely to react similarly if he is prosecuted after moving out of the White House. During the Mueller investigation, Trump wrote on Twitter in June 2018: “As numerous jurists have said, I have an absolute right to forgive myself, but why should I do that if I have done nothing wrong?” Whether Trump is actually allowed to do this is controversial: If he took that step in his final weeks in office, it would be the first time in American history.

Nixons Blankocheck

It is true that President Richard Nixon also received a blank check under criminal law for his time in the White House, which ended with his resignation over the Watergate affair. From January 1969 to August 9, 1974 committed or could have committed or in which he could have participated ”. It was delivered not by Nixon himself, but by his successor in office, former Vice President Gerald Ford.

Capture with self forgiveness

Former prosecutor Elie Honig said in a July comment to CNN that a Trump self-pardon would likely not last. But there is hardly any disadvantage for Trump to at least try to see if it holds up. A weak shield is better than no shield, at least for someone for whom self-protection is more important than the rule of law. “

Even if Trump had his way, the pardon himself would have a problem: It would only apply to crimes at the federal level. For example, she would have no influence over proceedings at the Manhattan attorney’s office, which, among other things, handles Trump’s finances. Among other things, prosecutors requested his tax documents, which Trump has been reluctant to release for years. Critics are convinced that he has something to hide.

Back to the roots?

Professionally, Trump could go back to his roots: He could have a TV show again, as a reality TV star he used to be hugely successful. It was also repeatedly speculated that Trump might operate his own station after his political engagement. Above all, he could take over the leadership of the Trump organization, which operates mainly in the real estate sector and operates hotels and golf courses, among other things.

After his election victory in 2016, Donald Trump handed over the management of the corporate conglomerate to his sons Eric and Donald Junior. He was still the owner, even though he had promised to “cut himself off” from his business. Critics accused him of a conflict of interest and accused him of profiting from the presidency. These accusations should not end with Trump’s removal from office.

How Trump Profited From The Taxpayer

“Since his first month in office, Trump has used his power to funnel American taxpayers, and his political supporters, millions into his own business,” wrote the Washington Post shortly before the election. One example: At the president’s meeting with then-Japanese head of government Shinzo Abe in spring 2018, Trump’s vacation home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida gave the United States government $ 13,700 for rooms, $ 16,500 for food and wine and $ 6,000 for Flores loaded.

The Washington Post reported that since Trump took office, his company had raised at least $ 2.5 million from the United States government. In addition, there would be at least $ 5.6 million for his campaign team events in his estate, money that flowed into Trump’s company. It may not be a crime, but it is always morally questionable. According to a Washington Post count, Trump visited his clubs and hotels more than 280 times in his first term. Trump had told The Hill newspaper before the 2016 election that if he won, he would hardly have time to leave the White House because of all the work.

Billions lost during the presidency?

Trump has always denied that he would benefit from his position, on the contrary. He claimed that his political commitment cost him billions of dollars due to lost income. “It doesn’t matter if I lost two billion dollars, five billion dollars or less,” Trump said in October 2019. “I’m doing this for the country. I do it for the people. ”Back then, after a storm of outrage, Trump had just put aside his plans to hold the G7 summit at one of his hotels in Florida.

Why Trump’s wealth has been reduced

In fact, according to Forbes magazine estimates in September, Trump’s fortune dropped from $ 3.1 billion to $ 2.5 billion in one year. On the “Forbes” list of the 400 richest Americans, Trump fell from 275 to 352. However, “Forbes” does not consider Trump’s commitment as president to be the reason for this development, but rather the crown pandemic. , which is the value of office buildings, hotels and Resorts. (sda / dpa)