Tina Magnergård Bjers/TTUSA’s former president Donald Trump, photographed in the key primary state of South Carolina on Monday.1 / 3Photo: Artie Walker Jr./AP/TTGuilty of fraud after inflating the value of his assets – and simultaneously charged with 91 counts of criminal activity. Donald Trump continues his campaign seemingly unaffected, with his sights set on the White House. The question is, how will these legal proceedings affect the former president and the election campaign?Here are seven questions and answers about Republican Donald Trump’s future.How does Trump react to New York judge Arthur Engoron’s recent decision that he is guilty of fraud after overvaluing his assets? ”A comprehensive radical attack against me, my family, and my supporters,” Trump writes on his own social media platform, Truth Social. The text is political, Trump calls it ”un-American” and a witch hunt. He connects the ruling to the ongoing election campaign, something that is likely to resonate with his own supporters.What is Trump doing?He continues to campaign. Earlier this year, four major criminal prosecutions were launched against the former president, he pleaded not guilty to all charges and dismissed them with expressions like ”rigged system”. Trump acts as if he is already the Republican presidential candidate. Instead of participating in the party’s TV debate, he is traveling to Michigan today to meet with striking auto workers and sell his nationalist ”America First” doctrine.It is clear that Donald Trump’s strategy is to deny and vehemently dispute legal accusations – and instead let the voters hear his version. The Trump campaign is also sending numerous fundraising emails appealing for contributions for the ”critical mission” they are facing.How do his supporters react?Most likely with sympathy. Interviews with Trump supporters show that they are very loyal. Many are suspicious of the media and the judicial system, they believe the president’s court-proven allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. This is supported by opinion polls, with 57 percent of Republican voters wanting to see Trump as the presidential candidate.What does the future look like, will Trump participate in primaries and trials at the same time?Yes, probably. He is busy courting voters in important primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The spring is expected to be hectic. Primaries begin in January, and in March two major trials start: a federal trial in Washington DC, where Trump is accused of trying to invalidate the 2020 presidential election with a connection to the storming of the Capitol, and one in New York. The latter involves accounting fraud, specifically forgery and payments made to buy people’s silence before the 2016 election.In May, a trial is expected in Florida regarding Trump’s handling of classified documents. The trial in Georgia regarding attempts to overturn the election result there has not yet been scheduled. Meanwhile, several civil lawsuits against Trump are ongoing.What happens if he is convicted, can he still run in the presidential election?Yes, in principle. There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents a convicted person from running for president, the text only states that a president must be over 35 years old, a natural-born citizen, and have resided in the US for the past 14 years. However, it is unclear whether the Republicans would allow a convicted presidential candidate or whether a ban on convicted criminals’ names being on the ballot could be enacted at the state level.Would a convicted Trump still be able to vote?Probably not. Donald Trump moved to Florida a few years ago, and there felons are deprived of the right to vote, in most cases until they have served their sentences.What happens if he is in prison and still wins the election?Unclear. Such a situation would likely trigger a huge crisis that would have to be resolved in court. – It is so far from anything that has ever happened. One can only guess, says Erwin Chemerinsky, constitutional expert at the University of California, Berkeley, to The New York Times.It is also unclear whether a elected President Trump could pardon himself. And if he were to succeed in such a procedure, it would only apply to federal crimes, not to those that might have been imposed in the state cases in Georgia and New York.FACTSSupport for Donald TrumpFormer President Donald Trump has been charged with four crimes this year. However, he is still leading by a wide margin in opinion polls as to who Republican voters want to see as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2024 election.Currently, Trump has a support of 57 percent, according to a compilation of current national polls made by independent Real Clear Politics. In second place, more than 40 percentage points behind, is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a support of 14.5 percent. In third place is former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who 5.6 percent want to see as a presidential candidate.Donald Trump is also leading in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.If there was an election today, 45.7 percent of Americans would support Trump, according to Real Clear Politics’ compilation of twelve current polls. The current Democratic President Joe Biden would receive 44.2 percent of the votes.Source: Real Clear Politics
