The 2024 presidential election is jam-packed with uncertainties about the future president of the United States—especially with former president Donald Trump looking to run for a second term despite his numerous criminal charges.
First indicted in March on state charges for a “hush money” scandal, Trump has since been embroiled in a series of federal charges that threaten his ability to run for President in the 2024 election.
Having said that, how would a criminally-charged, volatile President successfully lead the United States of America?
There is a simple answer: he cannot.
Trump’s main indictment that is garnering the most attention is his fourth indictment, which alleges that he attempted to overturn the 2020 election in his favor and ultimately lead an insurrection at the Capitol. The grand jury in Atlanta, Georgia, accused him and 18 others with 41 state charges, according to ABC News.
The evidence that placed Trump in high suspicion was his phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.
This phone call includes details of Trump telling Raffensperger all the ways the votes in the 2020 election could have been altered.
“The ballots are corrupt, and they are brand new and they do not have a seal…I have to find 12,000 votes and I have them times a lot,” Trump says, courtesy of CNN. “And therefore, I won the state.”
Trump’s claims of mass voter fraud are based solely on his fear of losing the election. He even knew that the numbers he cited were false, yet he still continued to advocate them to the public.
However, Trump is still the main forerunner of the Republican Party for the election. A large percentage of the party do not believe that Trump is guilty. In a poll from PBS SoCal, 41% of Republicans believe Trump committed nothing wrong and 41% believe that he committed something unethical.
Trump was able to persuade his followers of his supposed “innocence” through his belief that his four indictments were caused by a politically-motivated “witch hunt” out to get him and his followers.
However, the majority of Americans believe that the former President is guilty of his charges, especially his charge for inciting the insurrection of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
On Jan. 6, before the attack, Trump had made a speech as to which many people thought led his followers to storm the Capitol in order to stop the politicians from counting the votes.
“If you do not fight like hell you are not going to have a country anymore,” Trump says in his speech, according to BBC.
This is the quote that has made its appearance in Trump’s impeachment document. Many believe that this sentence from Trump’s 70 minute speech was the one sentence that firmly incited the attack.
And the attack on the Capitol was truly insane. Trump’s followers stormed the Capitol building in order to prevent the electoral college from counting the votes that would ultimately make Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election. As a result, 138 police officers and many others at the scene were injured due to the violence and chaos that ensued.
Why should a person who caused such destruction at a government building with only a few words be allowed to run for President?
In order to prevent Trump from successfully running for the 2024 election, Democrats and other anti-Trump activists are citing the 14th amendment of the Constitution.
Clause three of the 14th amendment states that a member of the government can be disqualified from office if they participated in insurrection or any rebellion against the state.
And this clause is being cited as a way to potentially disqualify Trump from rerunning for President in 2024. As an alleged insurrector of the Capitol attack, he will not be able to run if this amendment is taken into consideration. However, this amendment has only been used twice since the 1800’s, when it was used to disqualify previous Confederates.
Nevertheless, Trump’s trial for his four indictments are scheduled for March of 2024, the day before voters send in their primary ballots. This might potentially affect Trump’s presidential campaign, unless he plays his cards just right.
