Donald Trump’s humiliation of his Republican rivals in the 2024 presidential race was consummated last night by the humiliated themselves, when six of the 8 who participated in the first pre-election debate, organized by Fox while the former president counterprogrammed him with an interview on the X network with presenter Tucker Carlson, they raised their hands when asked which of them would support the former president for re-election – if he were nominated – even if he were convicted by justice.
Only Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson kept his hand down, while former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie raised his hand, then explained that he was wagging his fingers. The others, after some looked at each other and hesitated for a few thousandths of a second, ended up raising their arms in the affirmative; including former Vice President Mike Pence, who did so moments before accusing the former president of violating the Constitution and pressured him to do the same, unsuccessfully, when on January 6, 2021, a mob instigated by the leader himself tried to prevent ratification. of Joe Biden’s electoral victory and, therefore, his defeat.
Trump’s rivals but faithful comrades who promised to support him if he beat them, even though the courts had locked him up on some of the 91 charges against him in four criminal cases, were, in addition to Pence, the governor of Florida and number two in the polls, Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott and North Dakota Governor Douglas Burgum.
In their televised showdown, the eight candidates disagreed not without vehement on burning issues. They highlighted the disputes over the possibility of promoting a federal law that prohibits abortion in the entire US, once the Supreme Court annulled the corresponding right 14 months ago, and about the convenience or not of continuing to support Ukraine in the war against Russia.
But what difference did the differences between Republican contenders matter when the vast majority of them, including those who seemed to have even a slim chance against Trump, had so meekly and easily surrendered to the boss?
More important were the circumstances in which the six very different candidates had given their surprising affirmative answer to the key question of the Fox moderators.
To begin with, while the alleged rivals swore their unconditional loyalty to Trump, he was at ease in an Olympian and bloody contempt for all of them.
“Do I sit there for an hour or two being harassed by people who shouldn’t even be running for president?” Trump said in his 46-minute interview with star host ousted from Fox four months ago, Tucker Carlson. Should I do that on a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me?, he added unfazed, referring to the rather friendly Fox network. “All those people were going to be yelling questions at me that I would love to answer… But there would be no point in doing it, so I better step “, he sentenced.
The ex-ultra president thus mocked his internal adversaries, as well as the Republican Party in general and Fox, hours before turning himself in today at the Fulton County, Georgia, prison to be arrested and booked on 13 charges related to the attempt to reverse his 2020 electoral defeat in that state; some charges that include the one related to the formation of a “criminal company” in violation of a law conceived at the time to persecute mafias: the RICO law or against Corrupt and Extortion Organizations.
By agreement previously agreed between his lawyers and the prosecution, Trump will be released on bail of 200,000 euros and with a prohibition on intimidating or threatening people concerned in the case, as he and his 18 accomplices and co-defendants already did at the time -according to the public ministry, to try to subdue electoral officials and employees to modify the results of the votes.
There are months left before that trial and the other three for separate criminal cases against the former president: for his role in the assault on the Capitol and in other attempts to falsify the elections in different states, beyond Georgia, as well as for taking and hiding in his House hundreds of secret papers, and for trying to bribe a porn actress.
We already knew that the verdict of the top staff of the Republican Party is not guilty no matter what, with all the blame on the Democrats for “instrumentalizing justice.” Now we know that this previous and unconditional pardon is also defended by most of his rivals in the primaries. American politics never ceases to amaze. And it has the surprise bar high.
