Politics

A president who never held elected office before occupying the White House faces plenty of enemies, even some skepticism among fellow Republicans and no shortage of investigations during his time in power. Who would guess that when he gets charged, it’s by local law enforcement for what seems like a petty matter?  It was 1872 when Washington police officer William H. West stopped President Ulysses S. Grant for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage down the streets of the nation’s capital.  Grant holds the distinction of being the only president ever arrested — even if it was just for speeding. Other presidents and presidential candidates have found themselves in legal jeopardy as well.

The 2024 presidential election is heating up and with it comes the typical scramble of political consultants trying to hitch wagons to the winning campaign. The hottest gossip right now surrounds the Never Back Down PAC, which will support Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the event of a presidential run and has recently gobbled up some prominent Trump 2020 alumni. One of the key players in any Republican election is Jeff Roe, the head of Axiom Strategies and a top consultant to Senator Ted Cruz during the 2016 election. Axiom, which is one of the three major GOP consulting firms alongside Majority Strategies and Arena, played a major role in Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin's upset over Terry McAuliffe in 2021.

On the day after District Attorney, Alvin Bragg confirmed that a grand jury had indicted former president, Donald Trump, his office’s general counsel made a bizarre request of three House Republican committee chairmen. In a letter to Representatives Jim Jordan, Bryan Steil and James Comer, Leslie Dubeck asked the lawmakers to denounce Trump’s “harsh invective” against Bragg. Trump had warned that his indictment or arrest might unleash “death and destruction.” On social media, Trump’s supporters have vilified Bragg. “As committee chairmen,” Dubeck suggests, “you could use the stature of your office to denounce these attacks and urge respect for the fairness of our justice system and for the work of the impartial grand jury.

Both legal lions and laymen can be excused for having doubts about the first indictment of a former president, as we toggle back and forth between the historical significance and the lurid facts involved. As Florida governor Ron DeSantis put it: “Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”   Charges that Donald Trump falsified internal business records in covering up $130,000 in payments to “actress” Stormy Daniels aren’t what people will focus on. This case is headed for the cable TV shows long before it sees the inside of a courtroom. The Trump indictment certainly adds an extra coating of sleaze to The Donald’s image.

The many unknowns of the Trump indictment The first president to be impeached twice has become the first former president to be indicted once. Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday. It is at that point that the charges against him, relating to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, are expected to be unsealed.  In the almost twenty-four hours that have passed since the long-expected news of the indictment finally broke, much has gone as expected. Trump’s statement made the complaints you’d expect. Almost every high-profile Republican, including every 2024 contender, has criticized Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg and his case against the former president (not that we know what it is yet, exactly). The White House has kept mum.

Gisele Fetterman, wife of Pennsylvania’s US senator John, has written an op-ed for Elle magazine, of which Cockburn is naturally an avid reader. The essence of her piece is: “I am perfect the way I am — and how dare you criticize me. Also I’m a volunteer firefighter.” John Fetterman, readers will recall, suffered a stroke last year during the Democratic primary for Senate against Conor Lamb. He won regardless, lining up a head-to-head with Republican candidate Dr. Oz. His one performance on the debate stage raised alarms, even from the mainstream media, over claims he was perfectly fine following his serious health scare and was ready to serve.

Democrats are taking today’s Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank hearing seriously. So seriously that they circulated an emoji-filled document of suggested tweets that they would like for committee members to post. The saddest part is that one of those committee members then repeated those talking points almost word-for-word at the hearing. “Democrats 👏 the decisive action taken by the Biden administration in a critical moment to restore confidence in our banking system,” the Financial Service Committee Democrats circulated in a memo obtained by The Spectator this morning.