News Response – Donald Trump went from courtroom to campaign trail in the blink of an eye on Tuesday, underscoring how the 2024 election – which should address the most pressing issues of the American people – has become a mere tool of his criminal defense strategy.
After scowling in crossed-arm silence as he became the first former president to be charged with crimes by the federal government, Trump quickly transitioned to a Cuban cafe in Miami where he lapped up the adulation of supporters singing “Happy Birthday.”
Later, at his golf club in New Jersey, the twice-impeached former president and the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination falsely presented himself as a blameless victim of a tyrannical government, ignoring the 37 federal charges against him related to alleged mishandling of classified documents.
“Today we witnessed the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country. Very sad thing to watch, a corrupt sitting president had his top political opponent arrested on fake and fabricated charges of which he and numerous other presidents would be guilty, right in the middle of a presidential election in which he’s losing very badly,” Trump said, once again ignoring the facts.
The ex-president, who tried to steal the 2020 election, accused President Joe Biden and a band of misfits and Marxists of election interference and of mounting a political persecution typical of a fascist or communist nation. He also falsely insisted he had to the right to keep secret documents that were the property of the US government.
His remarks were among the most chilling and demagogic ever uttered by a major figure in modern American history. And on a somber day in the nation’s story, they said everything about the former president and the divisive spectacle ahead as he runs for the White House under the shadow of two criminal indictments to which he has pleaded not guilty – with more possibly to come.