Legal expert: 2024 'will become more absurd' as Trump plays out his 'authoritarian revenge fantasy'

13 December 2023

Between July 4, 1776 — when the Declaration of Independence was signed — and December 2023, the United States has survived everything from two world wars to pandemics to terrorist attacks. The U.S. bounced back from Watergate, 9/11 and the Great Depression.

But as 2023 draws to a close, the country is facing something that is unprecedented in its 247-year history: a presidential election in which the winner could be someone who is facing four criminal indictments.

Donald Trump remains the clear frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, enjoying huge double-digit leads over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in poll after poll. And many recent polls have shown Trump with small single-digit leads over Biden in a hypothetical rematch.

POLL:Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

In an article published by The Atlantic on December 13, attorney Quinta Jurecic examines the 2024 election from a legal standpoint — and stresses that it is already shaping up to be unlike any other election in U.S. history.

"In a survey of swing-state voters one year out from the 2024 election," Jurecic observes, "a New York Times/Siena College poll asked an unusual question: If Donald Trump were convicted and sentenced to prison, would you still vote for him as the Republican nominee in the general election? This is, quite obviously, the first time that voters have had to consider the impact of four separate indictments and potential jury verdicts on their choice for president…. Inquiries like 'Do you think that Donald Trump has or has not committed any serious federal crimes?' are a reminder of just how bizarre the 2024 presidential race already is."

The legal expert continues, "One political party is going through the motions of a more or less typical primary season, featuring humdrum anxieties over whether an incumbent president who exists well within the norms of American politics is up to the challenge of reelection. The other remains gripped by an authoritarian revenge fantasy piloted by a man under indictment for attempting to overthrow the same government that he now wants to lead."

This "disjuncture," Jurecic predicts, "will only become more absurd as the general election moves closer."

"The 2024 election is definitely not normal," Jurecic argues, "and it's not even 2024 yet…. In 2020, election workers experienced a wave of harassment by Americans who believed that the election had been stolen from Trump. That abuse has continued in years since."

Quinta Jurecic's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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