The Donald Trump circus is reopening its doors! And, with him, the prospect of a show that could keep the public spellbound until the 2024 presidential election. In terms of “show”, the ex-president knows a lot: organizer of boxing and wrestling matches (co-produced by Don King) in his Atlantic City casino in the 1980s, patron of the Miss Universe pageant in the 1990s, TV host of The Apprentice in the 2000s, the ex-president knows how to stir things up and keep the public spellbound with the ingredients of a twist story.
He also began, Sunday, March 18, by announcing on his social network Truth Social that he could be arrested on Tuesday, March 21 following his hearing by the New York City prosecutor. Alvin Bragg. He wants to hear it as part of the investigation into an envelope of 130,000 dollars in cash, intended to buy, in 2016, the silence of the porn actress Stephanie Clifford, alias Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had, several years earlier, a fleeting affair with the future president. The money was reportedly handed over by Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer who already served a year in prison in the case in 2019-20 and is now testifying against his former boss.
Denouncing a “witch hunt”, the latter is offended that a (Democrat) prosecutor in Manhattan can “harass, indict and prosecute a former president of the United States”. Donald Trump has already mobilized his troops via his March 18 message on Truth Social, “Protest, take back our nation!” A call for mobilization which is reminiscent of his exhortations to denounce the (alleged) electoral fraud after the 2020 presidential election, which had led to the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Flight forward
With the spotlight on him, Donald Trump finds his favorite posture, that of the supposed victim of a conspiracy of the establishment – the Democratic Party and the media – determined to prevent him from returning to the White House. He also knows that by monopolizing attention in this way, the Trump soap opera deprives its potential Republican competitors – starting with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – of the media oxygen necessary to launch a presidential campaign when, precisely, they need to increase their notoriety.
Better: with the ridiculous Stormy Daniels affair, the ex-president diverts the attention from other affairs: his interference in the counting of the presidential ballot in Georgia, his responsibility in inciting the insurrection in front of the Capitol, the documents classified top secret found at his home in Mar-a-Lago (Florida) a few weeks ago, or the embezzlement within the Trump Organization. The Manhattan case risks hampering the action of other prosecutors, in particular that of Georgia, and shifting their procedures in time. Finally, Donald Trump, who knows by heart the plumbing and unattractive back kitchens of Manhattan, where he has spent his life doing business in the not always “clean” real estate environment, probably navigates there more to his liking. comfortable than anywhere else.
An anecdotal affair
What’s more, the Stormy Daniels affair is of the anecdotal kind. The account of the antics with the future president of the United States, then 59 years old, had been reported in great detail by the actress, in 2018, by In Touch Weekly. She recounts, for example, her first meeting, in 2006, with Donald Trump, on a golf course, on the shores of Lake Tahoe, in Nevada. “He kept looking at me and I ended up with him in the golf cart taking us to the next hole. He was like, ‘I’d like to talk to you later.’ Back at the clubhouse, he came up to me, asked for my number, which I gave him, and then he invited me to dinner that evening.”
Later, the two reunite in Donald’s room. At some point Stephanie feels the need to go to the WC. “When I came out, he was on the bed and said, ‘Come with me.’ I was like, ‘Oh-oh, this is it, it’s now.’ We kissed. I don’t know why, but then during sex I was like, ‘I hope he’s not going to try to give me money after this. But if he does , it will no doubt be a large sum.’ I was hoping he didn’t think I was a whore. I have nothing against prostitutes, but that’s something I’ve never done.”
Without finding him really handsome, Stormy Daniels judges Trump nice, pleasant, intelligent. “In bed, well, it wasn’t crazy. But it wasn’t bad either. It wasn’t, ‘Tie me to the bed!’, or stuff like you see in porn movies. More classic , only one position. At the same time, for a guy of his age, it was not bad.”
It is to prevent this kind of anecdote from being found in the press – it is missed… – that with the approach of the 2016 presidential election, a cash envelope would have been given to the actress. But the versions differ. According to lawyer Michael Cohen, responsible for carrying out the transaction, it was a question of silencing Mrs. Daniels to protect Melania, the wife of Donald Trump. The latter, he says that the actress wanted to blackmail him and that, having learned from his lawyer, Me Cohen would have taken the initiative to pay the mistress singer. It’s word against word.
Anyway the question is: can a former president of the United States really be arrested? A host of legal issues arise. For example, how should then act the bodyguards of the Secret Service, who protect the presidents and ex-presidents and have the mission to do so in all circumstances.
Above all, even if Donald Trump were taken to prison – an extremely unlikely eventuality – he could not be prevented from standing for re-election. In a television broadcast, lawyer Alan Dershowitz said on Sunday: “Even charged, even convicted or even imprisoned in prison, Trump can still run for president and serve as president. The state cannot prevent it and the law cannot prevent it. It is in the Constitution.” In the end, such a political circus would damage the image of the United States and only make a few winners: the media, Russia, China? And Trump of course, who navigates chaos better than anyone.