Donald J. Trump - The Wilderness Years
Jonathan Chaitwote in The National Interest 09 November 2023 :"Donald Trump has been telling anybody who would listen that if he wins a second term, his plan is to lock up his political enemies. “This is third-world-country stuff: ‘Arrest your opponent,’” Trump said last month. “And that means I can do that, too.” In an interview with Univision, he gave the same rationale: “Yeah. If they do this, and they’ve already done it, but if they follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse,” he said. “It could certainly happen in reverse. What they’ve done is they’ve released the genie out of the box.” He added later: “They have done something that allows the next party — I mean, if somebody, if I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business; they’d be out of the election.”
The "wilderness years" refers to Winston Churchill's political exile from 1929 to 1939, during which he was out of government, faced political disdain, and warned about the rise of Nazi Germany. Similarly, Isaac Deutscher's biography of Leon Trotsky, titled "The Prophet," depicts Trotsky's final years in exile after being ousted by Stalin, where he became a solitary figure ("prophet alone") fighting against a powerful enemy. Both narratives describe a period of biographical ups and downs, where influential figures face setbacks and ostracization before potentially making a comeback or meeting a tragic end.
From 1929 to 1939, Churchill was a Member of Parliament but held no government position, a time he called his "years in the wilderness". He was out of sync with his party's policies, particularly regarding Indian independence, which made him appear out of touch. He was largely ignored by the government, which was more focused on economic issues like the Great Depression and was reluctant to re-arm. Churchill used this period to write and speak, becoming increasingly vocal in his warnings about Hitler's rearmament of Germany. His efforts were often met with disdain by his peers. His persistent warnings about Nazi Germany eventually gave him moral authority when he became Prime Minister in 1940.
After being expelled from the Communist Party and exiled from the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin, Trotsky spent his time in various countries, continuing to write and criticize Stalin's regime. He became a symbol of the revolution's ideals in the face of Stalin's "bureaucratic executioners," a solitary figure battling against the powerful and growing Stalinist state. His solitary struggle continued until his assassination in Mexico in 1940, a stark contrast to Churchill's eventual triumphant return to power.
Churchill experienced a dramatic political downturn after holding high office, only to regain prominence through his prescient warnings against a new threat, ultimately leading to his finest hour as Prime Minister. Trotsky experienced a tragic downswing after being at the heart of the revolution, becoming a figure of opposition and ultimately meeting his death in exile, a powerful symbol of the internal conflicts of the revolution.
New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr and other executives of colossally inflating the value of their real estate assets in order to receive more favorable bank loans and insurance terms. Trump and his adult sons are accused of deceiving banks and insurers by overstating his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion. Trump's own apartment in that building is among the spaces that were fraudulently overvalued -- it was listed as three times bigger than its true size. Trump's luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida -- the site of the classified documents drama -- and several other Trump Organization golf clubs also appear in James's complaint.
Trump did not risk going to jail in the civil trial, but James was seeking $250 million in penalties and the removal of the former president and his sons from the management of the family empire, the Trump Organization. Trump -- who made his reputation and fortune as a real estate mogul in the 1980s and had promised to bring his cut-throat industry tactics to the Oval Office -- could eventually lose control over many of his company's flagship properties, such as his 5th Avenue Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Trump denounced the business fraud charges as a "sham" intended to torpedo his bid to recapture the White House next year. Trump, arriving in court, denounced the case as a "scam" and a "witchhunt." The 77-year-old Trump said "My financial statements are phenomenal."
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump, his sons and other executives lied to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that exaggerated the value of their properties by $812 million to $2.2 billion between 2014 and 2021. As a result, the judge revoked the business licenses that allowed the Trump Organization to operate some of its New York properties and asked the parties to propose receivers to manage the dissolution of the companies in question.
A New York jury on 09 May 2023 found Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her with his denials, awarding her $5 million in damages. The nine-member jury reached a unanimous verdict in the civil trial. Donald Trump sexually abused magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by branding her a liar, jurors decided on Tuesday, dealing the former U.S. president a legal setback as he campaigns to retake office in 2024. The nine-member jury in Manhattan federal court awarded $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Although the finding of sexual abuse was enough to establish his liability for battery, the jury did not find that Trump raped her. The jury deliberated for just under three hours before rejecting Trump's denial that he assaulted Carroll. To find him liable, the jury of six men and three women was required to reach a unanimous verdict.
Because the case was in civil court, Carroll was required to establish her rape claim by "a preponderance of the evidence" - meaning more likely than not - rather than the higher standard used in criminal cases of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." Carroll had to show "clear and convincing evidence" to prove her defamation claim.
The financial condition of Donald Trump could be seriously affected by consecutive negotiations in two civil cases. They led to astronomical fines for the politician, writes The Hill. On 16 February 2024 a New York judge ordered Donald Trump to pay about $355 million, plus interest, for misrepresenting his net worth on key financial statements to obtain tax and insurance benefits.
Another court ruling requires a politician to pay writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019. The former US president has denied allegations that he sexually assaulted her decades earlier. Together, the two fines total $438.1 million, and interest on the fraud fine could increase that amount to $500 million.
On February 13 , it became known that Trump, by court decision, was prohibited from holding leadership positions in any company in the state of New York for three years. The politician was also deprived of the right to request loans from state banks. The court found that the businessman falsified financial statements in order to obtain loans and insurance at more favorable rates. Trump's lawyers are expected to appeal.
While appearing outside Dayton, Ohio, at an event in support of Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Trump said that China was trying to undercut the American auto industry by manufacturing cars in Mexico. "They think that they're going to sell those cars into the United States with no tax at the border. Let me tell you something to China. If you're listening President Xi [Jinping], and you and I are friends, but he understands the way I deal: Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you're building in Mexico right now, and you think you're gonna get that, you're gonna not hire Americans and you're gonna sell the cars to us -- no. We're gonna put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not gonna be able to sell those guys, if I get elected!" Trump said.
He then suggested there would be bigger issues if he isn't returned to the White House by voters. "Now, if I don't get elected, it's gonna be a bloodbath for the whole -- that's gonna to be the least of it -- it's gonna be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it," he said. "But they're not gonna sell those cars, they're building massive factories," Trump continued, returning to talking about auto manufacturing.
"How Far Trump Would Go." @EricCortellessa scored two interviews with Donald Trump for @TIME, asking him to explain what he'd do in a second term. "What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own. defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen."
Donald Trump accused US President Joe Biden’s administration of stooping to the level of the Nazi secret police to prevent him from winning this year’s election. “These people are running a Gestapo administration,” the former US leader told Republican donors at an event in Florida on 04 May 2024, according to audio shared with multiple national news outlets. “And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion.”
Trump faced four criminal cases, including an ongoing trial in New York over his alleged misreporting of ‘hush money’ payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. In addition to the New York case, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Biden in November faced two federal cases concerning his alleged incitement of the January 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill, and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. He also faces state-level racketeering charges in Georgia over his supposed efforts to challenge Biden’s electoral victory in the state in 2020. Trump painted all four cases as part of the same Democrat-orchestrated plot to take him out of the race for the White House. For almost three weeks, the trial in New York effectively halted Trump’s campaign, forcing the embattled Republican to mostly forgo his usual rallies for shorter speeches on the courthouse steps.
This was not the first time Trump has compared Biden to the tyrants of the 20th Century. In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas earlier in 2024, he decried the “Stalinist show trials being carried out at Joe Biden’s orders,” and in a campaign ad last year, described Biden as a “corrupt Third-World dictator.” On the other hand, Trump has said that he would be “a dictator” for a day if elected, and would use executive orders to restart American fossil-fuel extraction, and deport millions of illegal immigrants.
In an interview with the Univision television network, Trump said " I think the people know it's a political persecution. It's a political hoax. This is Biden, who's the worst president in the history of our country. We've never had a president so dumb, so incompetent and so corrupt from the standpoint of what they're doing. They've weaponized the Justice Department, they've weaponized the FBI, and they've come at me with the worst indictments. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. And I'm probably the only guy ever indicted whose poll numbers have shot up through the roof. I mean, it's actually been helpful from the standpoint of getting elected because the people understand it. It's a hoax. And everything they did, whether they rigged the election last time or this, it's the same thing. It's all the same thing. And frankly, it's the only thing they're good at. They're good at rigging elections. This is a form of rigging an election. So, they think they can damage me. Now, so far, it's been the exact opposite, because when you study it and I have a voice, I mean, I have a voice with you. I have a voice with others where I can talk about it. Whereas other people, if they ever got indicted, they're out of politics. They go to the microphone, they say, I'm going to spend the rest of my life, you know, clearing my name. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with my family. I've seen it hundreds of times... Biden is a man who has unleashed something that's a very bad thing, because when that happens to me, it can happen to them....
"If they do this and they've already done it, but if they want to follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse. It could certainly happen in reverse. What they've done is they've released the genie out of the box. You understand that They've done something that nobody thought would happen. They've taken a president who is very popular. I got 75 million votes, much more than that. I believe no president's ever gotten that many votes and they've taken that number of people. And I think you can double it or almost you can triple it in terms of the real the feeling....
"... if I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them. Mostly what that would be, you know, they would be out of business. They'd be out they'd be out of the election. "
Kash Patel served as Trump’s counterterrorism adviser on the National Security Council and also as chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense. On a podcast hosted by Trump’s former strategist Stephen Bannon, during a discussion about a potential second Trump presidency beginning in 2025, Patel said : “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Mr. Patel said. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections — we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.” He added: “We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
A CNN survey showed Trump leading Biden by a 49%-43% margin, with six in ten respondents disapproving of Biden’s performance as president.
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