Our democracy needs two functioning parties, and Republicans are at a crossroads.
"Racketeering" seems like a word out of a black-and-white crime movie, one with mobsters furtively loading cases of contraband into a covered truck, only to be busted by a crusading Treasury agent with a shotgun. But it is very much a modern legal concept, and now that Donald Trump has been charged with it in Georgia, it has also become an important factor in the 2024 presidential race. |
As The Times editorial board wrote on Tuesday, the 41-count indictment unveiled Monday night in Fulton County, Ga., raises the stakes for every voter in the upcoming Republican primary process, which begins in January in Iowa. Yes, Trump has already been indicted three times, including by the federal government for attempting to overturn President Joe Biden's legitimate election victory in 2020. |
But the new indictment — which focuses on some of the same actions as the federal case — goes further, using some legal tools that only a state prosecutor can wield. It accuses Trump of leading what was essentially a criminal gang to illegally suppress votes in order to remain in power, and goes into great detail about how the conspiracy worked, both before and after he left office. He was charged, along with 18 others, with being part of "a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in various related criminal activities" to keep him in the White House. |
Stepping back, it's kind of amazing that any politician would remain a legitimate candidate when facing a charge like this one, not to mention the 90 other federal and state felony counts in the earlier indictments. But Trump remains his party's leading candidate, having convinced many people that the charges are political hogwash, and Republican voters are now confronted with the question of what kind of second term they think Trump has earned. |
As the editorial notes: "A president facing multiple criminal trials could not hope to be effective in enforcing the nation's laws — one of the primary duties of a chief executive." In one of the federal indictments, Trump is accused of compromising national security by holding onto classified documents when out of office, which would give him little credibility in his negotiations with foreign allies and adversaries. "No document could be assumed to remain secret, no communication secure," the editorial says. "The nation's image as a beacon of democracy, already badly tarnished by the Jan. 6 attack, may not survive the election of someone formally accused of systematically dismantling his own country's democratic process through deceit." |
Trump has always put himself before the health of the country and the strategic good of his own party, the board writes. Will primary voters finally reject a candidate credibly accused of so many felonies against the common good, or will they elevate him as their party's leader a second time? |
The stakes of the upcoming decision are high. "A healthy democracy needs at least two functioning parties to challenge each other's honesty and direction," the editorial says. "Republican voters are key to restoring that health and balance." |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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