It seems that we can’t escape Trump Mania. On the right, Trump has mobilized many who are eager to vote President Trump back into office. On the left, prosecutors are eager to throw Trump in jail.
Before I get too far into this article, I will acknowledge that I am not a Trump supporter. I am also not a Trump opponent. I am also not a Biden supporter. I believe that we will have the worst possible two presidential candidates to pick from in 2024.
The Right
I believe that conservatives are attracted to Donald Trump over other Republican presidential candidates because he is a change agent. Conservatives started with the Tea Party movement during President Obama’s presidency, and this movement appears to have picked up momentum in the Make American Great Again or MAGA movement that put Donald Trump in office in 2020.
Many conservatives believe that the election in 2020 was not run fairly. The right believed that there was fraud and illegal voting practices in 2020 that never were fully adjudicated.
It seems that no matter what other options conservatives have, Donald Trump is their pick for 2024.
The Prosecution
Prosecutors and other legal entities are aggressively pursuing Donald Trump in court.
Federal Election Interference
Georgia Election Interference
Florida Classified Documents Violations
New York Hush Money to Stormy Daniels
New York $250 Million Civil Fraud
Colorado Supreme Court Ruling to Remove Donald Trump from 2024 Ballot
All court cases will play out during the 2024 election season. The prevalence of cases has added fuel to the political polarization in the U.S.
Those on the left believe that Donald Trump deserves to go to jail for most of the cases being brought against him. Even if they don’t believe each court case is legitimate, they desperately want to avoid another 4-years of President Trump in the Whitehouse.
Those on the right see these court cases as an organized effort to prevent their candidate from getting a chance to get elected in 2024. The right believes that the 2024 election process is being taken out of the hands of the voters. The right believes that these tactics are what we would expect in third-world dictatorships, but not what we should desire in the U.S. The right believes that even if Trump is guilty of what he is accused of he is being held to a much different standard than politicians on the left who have committed the same crimes.
The Left
The left loathes Donald Trump. They believe that he is an outright racist and, if given presidential power, will abuse that power as he demonstrated on January 6th. The Left calls the riots on January 6th an insurrection because it was an effort to stop the peaceful transition of power from an incumbent president who lost to the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election.
The left will either look the other way or actively support litigation against Donald Trump.
The Center
This may be the first time that independents or swing voters have a say in a presidential election. If Donald Trump emerges in the Republican primary as the victor, independent voters will have a choice between President Biden, President Trump, a third-party candidate, or staying home.
I can’t see independent voters voting for President Biden after experiencing the recent past. I don’t think that independents want to vote for President Trump with the chaos and divisiveness that follows him. However, there is one thing that may tilt the scales. The “tilt” is the bias in our legal system that the aggressive pursuit of Donald Trump has exposed. Let me be clear, centrists do not oppose a legitimate prosecution of a person who has committed crimes. However, they don't like political prosecutions that are intended to break a viable candidate.
About the Author
Jeff Schuster is an accomplished businessman, engineer, and writer. Three of Jeff's books are attempts at helping people understand and solve political problems that are being made worse by political partisanship. His first book, Trial & Error, is a collection of 14 short stories. ReEngineering Education is a story of innovative education reform in the midst of political corruption. Engineering Unity is Jeff's most recent book published in August 2023 addressing political polarization on wedge issues that politicians use to divide us. You are welcome to join our private
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