Russian Roulette

In the age of Donald Trump, we’ve all gotten used to living in a whiplashing, contradictory news environment. But sometimes events come together in a way that still makes me shake my head. On July 31, The New York Times and Siena College (who tend to be among the most reliable polling outfits) released a poll showing that Trump has an almost 40-point lead over his nearest rival for the Republican presidential nomination. The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/us/politics/2024-poll-nyt-siena-trump-republicans.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">headline and subhead</a> say it all: <blockquote> Trump Crushing DeSantis and G.O.P. Rivals, Times/Siena Poll Finds The twice-indicted former president leads across nearly every category and region, as primary voters wave off concerns about his escalating legal jeopardy. </blockquote> Three days later, as had been widely anticipated, Trump was arraigned in Washington D.C. after being indicted by a federal grand jury for his role in the January 6th attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He’s charged with defrauding the United States, attempting to obstruct government business, and attempting to deprive people of their right to have their votes counted. I don’t need to tell you that this is Trump’s third indictment so far — he faces over 70 charges at this moment — or that another set of charges is likely to come soon from prosecutors in Georgia. Trump will spend most of the next year fighting to stay out of prison. As the Times poll indicates, none of this seems to matter in the race for the GOP nomination. Most of Trump’s rivals refuse to attack Trump over his alleged crimes (they seem mostly to be echoing Trump’s claims that he is the victim of a massive conspiracy), and Republican voters seem to still prefer him over the alternatives. <a href="https://medium.com/bouncin-and-behavin-blogs/russian-roulette-2c01c945fe07">Click Here</a>