As a result of his usual attitude, but especially of the four criminal imputations with 91 charges ranging from fraud to mafia extortion, in particular to reverse the defeat in the 2020 elections, Donald Trump is a dysfunctional candidate. The anomalies that represent this dysfunction will soon be seen.
This week the ex-president plans to avoid and counter-schedule the first debate between the Republican candidates for the 2024 presidential elections, a debate called by the ultra-conservative Fox network on Wednesday. Trump and 18 alleged accomplices are expected to appear at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia by tomorrow or Friday at the latest for arraignment and to be read the 41 charges a state grand jury indicted them on Monday ( 13 of which to Trump) for the dark maneuvers to falsify the result of 2020.
For Trump, who nevertheless remains the Republican aspirant with the best chance of reaching the presidential race on the 24th, the week begins with a prominent gap in his agenda. Since late on Thursday Trump suddenly announced his resignation at the press conference he had called today to present a "conclusive and irrefutable" report that would dismantle the indictment approved by the Georgia grand jury at the behest of prosecutor Fani Willis. The accused alleges that his lawyers prefer to present the "overwhelming" exculpatory report for "formal legal proceedings" and not in a press conference.
Trump announced his resignation through his network, Truth Social, hours before confirming the news from some media that he would not go to the first debate between Republican candidates either. The reason: that none of the six or seven rivals who have announced that they will go there (the main ones) can't reach the sole of the shoe. He said it like this: “As you all know, my numbers in the polls are extraordinary. In fact, I go first with an advantage of 50 points over the runner-up. So why should I debate? I'm your man!”
There may be another explanation. And it is that the leader's strategists and lawyers have advised him not to go to the debate in order not to expose himself more than he should, and above all to avoid the risk that, if he repeats the usual barbarities against judges, prosecutors and prosecution witnesses, the magistrate of the case of the assault on the Capitol, Tanya Chutkan, will comply with the warnings given to him after his imputation for four crimes in that case; in particular, the judge reminded him that his right to free expression "is not absolute" and does not allow "incendiary statements" like his recent one: "If you go against me, I will go against you". And he said this before news broke of multiple threats to Chutkan and the jurors in the Georgia case. The magistrate warned Trump that, if he continues on this path, she could advance the date of the trial, which the Prosecutor's Office proposes for January, and he, for the year 2026.
The former president plans to counterschedule Wednesday's debate with an online interview with star anchor Tucker Carlson, who Fox fired in April over disagreements over the network's handling of Trump's lies. The contempt that Trump's non-attendance at the debate would represent for the Republican Party and Fox and the betrayal to go with a defenestered by the chain could, in theory, take its toll on the candidate. But it is also very possible that, as has happened other times, the three parties reach a non-aggression pact, at least.
Not so negotiable is Trump's appearance at the prison in Fulton, Georgia, no later than Friday. His lawyers are trying to avoid or reduce the bail that the prisoner has to post before the event, and also to make the appearance as less humiliating as possible for him, even using video conferencing, if at all no, in the part of the reading of charges. But no one can get Trump out of his bad mood... Even if he tries to turn it into a new campaign ad.
