The drop was amazing. In perfect harmony with the character who was the main victim. Last Monday, the accounting firm Mazars cut its long-standing ties with the Trump Organization, believing it could no longer recognize the reliability of the accounting for the past 10 years of the American populist firm.
In January, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who was investigating the financial affairs of Donald Trump, announced that it had collected evidence of tax evasion, notably by repeatedly overvaluing real estate assets in order to obtain large loans. For the former president’s accountants, these findings led them to question the reliability of the Trump Organization’s financial statements released between 2011 and 2020.
And they added in a passing letter to the attorney general that “information received from internal and external sources” influenced their decision in favor of severing ties with the alleged billionaire company for future accounting exercises. This tile that just fell on Donald Trump is not the first. But now it risks exacerbating the rift forming in the image, reputation and influence of the ousted president, mired in lawsuits, and whose grip on the Republican Party appears to be eroding.
One Public opinion poll The US network NBC revealed it a few days ago, it already shows that more than half of Republicans (56%) now consider themselves more favorable to the Republican Party than the figure of the former president (36%) who embodied his destiny. over the past six years. At the start of 2020, those same voters said the exact opposite, saying they vote Republicans more for leader Donald Trump (54%) than they vote for the party (38%).
This change in behavior does not surprise Republican political strategist Keith Naughton, who explains in part the bitterness the populist has consistently expressed since his defeat in November 2020.
ghost loser
“One of the great assets of Donald Trump, says the man who called him duty In Pennsylvania people see it as a winner. However, his obsession with his electoral defeat [qu’il associe à tort et surtout sans preuve à une fraude électorale]As his interference in several Republican primaries to talk about this defeat rather than important issues makes him a loser. It shows that he is living in the past, while voters want to look to the future instead. »
Fatigue with allegations of election theft by Democrats, in contrast to the facts, is also evident among the American population who, at 64%, believes the Republican Party should move forward now, according to a political newspaper. The Morning Consult poll was published last Wednesday. More than half of Republican voters are heading in the same direction, while the former president may, ironically, face crime charges.Interfering with the electoral process in Georgia With the intent to fraudulently reverse the outcome of the presidential vote.
A reminder of the facts: He tried to persuade Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Ravensburger, to “find” 11,780 votes to secure his victory in this state that has finally flipped into the Democratic camp. A criminal investigation is underway, led by Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis. At the beginning of February, on CNNShe is determined to convict the populist, if compelling evidence – including a recorded telephone conversation – is used against Donald Trump by the grand jury that will begin its criminal investigation on May 2.
[Trump] He lives in the past, while voters want to look more to the future.
Republican primaries
Other weaknesses: Republican primaries in several states, aimed at selecting candidates for next November’s midterm elections, also reveal the erosion of the former reality TV star’s influence on the party, with endorsements that are ultimately only effective. Formidable as the former president hopes.
Such is the case in Georgia, where David Purdue, backed by Donald Trump in hopes of ousting Republican Governor Brian Kemp, hated by a populist for not responding favorably to his demands to scrap the 2020 ballot, is struggling to force it into the election. current campaign. Thursday a sounding Launched into the conservative electorate, Purdue is nine points behind Kemp, whose coffers are filled with twice as many donations as its pro-Trump opponent.
The same scenario is taking place in Alaska with Lisa Murkowski, the only senator out of seven Republican senators running for reelection after the vote to impeach Donald Trump in the wake ofThe Capitol Uprising of January 6, 2021. She has a 20-point lead over Kelly Chebaka, the “barrier” candidate the former president is trying to put into his hands.
Trump-backed candidates to take on Republicans who are out of luck for the ousted president also face stronger-than-expected opposition from party voters in Alabama and North Carolina. “Trump’s grip on the Republican Party has always been more fragile than most politicians and the media realize,” says Keith Naughton, to illustrate the first signs of weakness of a person who, for years, has acted like a feared emperor within his political formation. Support for Trump has always been more about what he supports and what he opposes, rather than Trump himself. It is anti-elite, anti-political and anti-establishment. His dominant personality allowed him to be a representative of this line of thought,” by preventing other characters from taking his place on the stage.
The dominance that the former president’s legal disappointments, just like the image of a bad loser that he cultivates through his obsession, can now give up. A judge on Thursday dealt another blow to the billionaire by forcing him and two of his children to comply within 21 days to subpoena Attorney General Letitia James in the ongoing investigation into the Trump Organization’s tax evasion. Testimonials can be a bargaining chip for the strong character of the Republican Party.
Last month, the Harvard CAPS-Harris poll on election prospects certainly showed that Donald Trump remains the favorite in a potential GOP leadership race, given the upcoming presidential election. by 57%. But he is now closely followed by Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, and former Vice President Mike Pence, who may exploit his weakness to quickly climb to the top of the political formation.
A beneficial possibility for the party, but not entirely, according to one Politico poll conducted at the end of January which shows that another duel between Biden and Trump in 2024 will indeed win the Democrat, 46% to 45% of the vote. And this, despite the low approval rating of the current president, more than a year after taking office.
Yet in the face of another Republican, just 37% of voters will vote for Biden, versus 45% to replace a potential Donald Trump, provided that none of his current rivals: DeSantis, Pence or Ted Cruz, all of them are doomed. Defeat against the incumbent president. Another challenge for the Republican Party.
