Former U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the legal proceedings against him in New York into a show to project his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections

By: Roberto Morejón

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the legal proceedings against him in New York into a show to project his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections.

 Trump was charged with 34 felonies and became the first former president in the history of the United States to face criminal proceedings.

 Logic would indicate that a politician in such circumstances would be overwhelmed with shame, but this is not the case.

 Trump has assumed the coveted role of victim and is striking back, unleashing his vast arsenal of outrages against the judicial processes that are hot on his heels and which he describes as political persecutions.

 The real estate tycoon particularly attacked Judge Juan Merchan and his daughter, and the prosecutor in the case, Alvin Bragg, an African-American, whom he calls a "racist" and a "criminal".

 Enough for both lawyers to receive about fifty threats from supporters of the former governor, whose narrative of "harassed" is uncritically assumed.

 With stilted phrases, the discordance of the circus staged from his trip to New York, his showy entrance to the court, and his speech upon returning to his mansion in Florida, Donald Trump returned to the adored stage, as the center of media attention.

 He disregards the judge's instructions to avoid statements likely to incite civil destabilization, speaks of a "witch hunt" and asks the Republicans in Congress to defund the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 For Trump, the proceedings hanging over his head are rather puerile, including his role in the assault on the Capitol in 2021, the pressures on the Georgia authorities to tip the balance of votes in his favor, and the possession of classified documents.

 All of these charges are more serious than those of using his campaign money to buy people's silence.

 Still, it is not enough to get him out of the way. With his seditious speech, the trials he has faced, and even a conviction, he can run and submit his candidacy to the polls.

 It remains to be seen if he is charged with rebellion by the Capitol investigation, which would limit him.

 In the meantime, Trump continues to control his electoral base, as in the United States, whoever faces criminal charges becomes a "star".