CARBONDALE, IL (WSIL) - It's been a whirlwind 24 hours since the announcement of former President Trump's 3rd Criminal Indictment. This week's charges relate to the 20-20 election and to the role the former president played in the Capitol insurrection.
“People have gotten almost numb to all this legal back and forth, I don’t think people quite grasp the gravity of this most recent indictment,� said John Shaw, Director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
“It’s pretty stunning things when you pull back over 250 years of American history nothing like this has happened before. And we say unprecedented a lot but we’re usually not right when we say it, this is unprecedented.�
President Donald Trump continues to be the front-runner when it comes to the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Now facing his third indictment, this one over allegations he tried to overthrow the 2020 election.
“What is astonishing is that, even as Trump’s legal situation gets very, very dicey and perilous his political fortunes, if anything, are strengthening,� said Shaw. “Within the republican party, he is the prolific favorite. As his legal problems grow, his lead solidifies.�
Trump was indicted Tuesday on four felony charges including 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.
“We’re at this astonishing moment in American history where we have an American president where this is the third time he’s been indicted, but this one goes to the heart of democracy,� said Shaw.
Trump is already facing two other indictments. One for alleged hush money payments in New York and the other � the dealings with classified documents taken after Trump left office.
But Trump continues to grow in popularity as he’s maintained a sizeable lead over his fellow Republicans vying to become the next president of the united states.
According to Shaw, Trump has been able to play off a frustrated base of voters despite his legal issues.
“Trump has been somewhat skillful in depicting all this as a deep state conspiracy against him and him as a victim,� said Shaw. “He’s played that card relentlessly. He plays it pretty well.�
But challenging the outcome of a presidential election isn’t illegal. It’s happened a few times before.
“Certainly, he has legal rights to challenge the election results, but with our system, it came down to four or five states which were relatively close to being fair to Trump, so he had every legal right to see the legal remedy to challenge it,� said Shaw.
But Shaw says there’s a large distinction that makes those previous times drastically different from what former President Donald Trump is going through.
“His advisors were telling him, “Mr. President, you lost, you lost the election,’� said Shaw. “And to have lost the election but continue to say you won it, for the first time in American History, block the peaceful transition of power.
“For 250 years, people have been fighting and losing close elections, and they’ve had respect for our system. Donald Trump is the first president in 250 years who said, in effect, “I know I lost but I will not respect the verdict.�
