William Howard Taft, twenty-seventh president of the United States, chose words to describe what must happen to former White House occupants once they leave office.
“A dose of chloroform,” Taft is known to have said, to protect the nation “from the annoying fear” of ever returning.
It can be assumed that Taft – who went on to become a Supreme Court judge did not think this for himself, but for his predecessor in the White House and former ally Theodore Roosevelt. At the end of Taft’s first term, Roosevelt competed against him, first for the Republican candidacy and then for the presidency: the two men eventually lost to Woodrow Wilson.
It’s hard not to think of Taft’s advice when contemplating Donald Trump’s future. Although he is due to leave the White House next week, he has done nothing to suggest – even after he was blamed for last week’s riots – that he will retire from the public sphere.
In last Wednesday’s “March to Save the United States” that was transformed into the Capitol Dam, Trump, his family, and the remaining top advisers didn’t seem to be remembering his four-year term in the White House, but looking to the future, towards the next phase of a movement that divided the Republican Party and shook American democracy.
In a video released by the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., last week, members of the president’s close circle are shown dancing behind the scenes with the music of the 1982 pop music hit “Glory” before the event, as if this was just another campaign rally. Trump and his advisers repeatedly hinted that he would compete once again in 2024, but now he faces a much more difficult path, the House of Representatives is moving toward the second political trial against him in a year.
A number of potentially devastating legal challenges await him when he is ex-president. Prosecutors, both federal and local, in New York are already investigating him, and there are calls for him to begin investigations into his phone call in which he asked the Georgia secretary of state to “find” votes for him. , as well as its role in the violence that erupted on June 6.
A small, but growing, number of Republican lawmakers called for the president to resign or face a political trial. Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account, stripping the president of his 88 million followers.
It would be naive to rule out Trump’s political possibilities or assume he lost most of his fan base. However, he directed them from a smaller pulpit, and not just because they closed his social media accounts to him.
“There’s no way Donald Trump realizes how overnight you step from being the most powerful human on the planet and you become a nobody,” notes Douglas Brinkley, the presidents ’historian.
“Think: ‘I’m a big celebrity and I have fans and I’ll be back in 2024. But now you’re fighting without an official power around you. Nothing. Even those who don’t have big egos, like Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush, had a hard time. to adapt to civilian life “.
Bush’s father immersed himself again in White House politics after his defeat, following the election of his son as president, whom he repeatedly accompanied for the daily summary classified for the president in his visits to Washington.
Carter, meanwhile, was sometimes criticized for getting too involved in the affairs of his successors, such as when he was deemed to interfere in Bill Clinton’s policies toward North Korea and those of Bush Sr. with respect to Kuwait.
For some former presidents who came out in less-than-ideal conditions, the post-presidential period offers an opportunity for redemption, financial or otherwise. But the PGA (Association of Professional Golfers) has just snatched a tournament from Trump’s Bedminster Golf Course major in 2022 and its hotel business may face wider consequences.
Also, the happiest former president at the moment seems to be George W. Bush, who returned to Texas and happily dedicates himself to painting.
If Donald Trump goes ahead with another fight for the White House, he will not be the first ex-president to do so. Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Herbert Hoover and Roosevelt attempted to return to the presidency of the United States after leaving office. however, only one -Cleveland- was successful.
judges
Democrats in Congress began lobbying Donald Trump on the indictment of the insurgency in connection with last week’s violent attack on the Capitol.
challenge
The House of Representatives may vote on the challenge tomorrow, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. Approval will make Trump the only EU president challenged twice.
Chapters
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed Congress last week, forcing lawmakers to move to a safe place when they certified Joe Biden’s victory, which left five dead.
meeting
The acts of violence came after Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol at a rally, repeating the false claims that his resounding electoral defeat was illegitimate.
