Former President Donald J. Trump is known to have dabbled in many controversial events, from his twice being impeached to his encouraging Americans to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Since then, he was recently involved in a lengthy, three-year trial involving civil fraud against the state of New York. On Friday, Feb. 16, Trump was handed a loss and ordered to pay a whopping $350 million plus interest, which totals over $450 million. He was found guilty of conspiring to manipulate his net worth, and the repercussions could take a detrimental toll on his wallet. The New York Times predicts that this could, very well, “wipe out his entire stockpile of cash.”
But what does this mean for the former president/current presidential candidate?
Since his impeachment, Trump’s image has taken various hits. Impeachment, sexual assault, treason, fraud and debt should all be reasons to invalidate his candidacy, but somehow, he still has the support of many Americans. Surveys have projected that we will have an unfortunate Biden vs. Trump rematch. Jason Lange from Reuters said that data shows 40% of Americans plan to vote for Trump, while Biden only possesses 36% of expected votes. The rest of America will either vote for a different candidate or not vote at all.
States have begun taking matters into their own hands. For example, 35 states have challenged Trump’s candidacy and made efforts to remove him from the ballot. Maine and Colorado have effectively disqualified him from this year’s ballot, while states such as Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and many more have had their appeals dismissed or rejected. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to come to a formal ruling on whether the former president will be eligible to run for this year’s election.
As the first former president to face criminal charges, Trump has been indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. CNN politics states that “Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush-money payment to an adult film star in 2016.” Evidence includes a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels from Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen. The trial is scheduled to begin March 25.
Trump was indicted in June 2023 for taking classified national defense documents after leaving office. He faces over 11 charges with 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information. His third indictment (yes, third) is for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. He and a co-conspirator allegedly called lawmakers to persuade them to delay the certification of the election. He currently is facing four charges. A former president undergoing four criminal trials, and one civil case is unheard of.
Trump was the first president to be elected without government or military experience. The former reality TV star spent so much time tweeting during his time in office, that he was banned off of the platform. Despite failing to put and end to the spread of COVID-19, he redeemed himself by placing his name on $1,200 stimulus checks which helped a lot of families get back on their feet. But they were too good to be true, as these checks caused the inflation that we are still dealing with now.
Donald Trump is facing a ton of heat at the moment. Losing almost $500 million while getting ready to face four criminal trials is extensive. Should someone like this even be able to run for the presidency? Impeachment, in my opinion, should automatically mean that you are disqualified from any future elections. Not only that, but criminal charges and civil fraud?
Conclusively, if Trump wins the 2024 election, that means that America is a country that does not uphold its principles if we are willing to vote for someone who cannot even follow the law. This is why it is important for us to vote and for all voices to be heard. The Pew Research Center details Trump’s supporter demographic as being majority conservative, religious white Americans. These are the same people who believe women should not have rights over their bodies, and the same people who want to silence Black voices. We should not allow them to control something as big as the presidency. No one wants a criminal as president.