By TN Ashok
Washington, Mar 28 (IANS): Former US President Donald Trump might turn to "wild extremism" and whip up a frenzy on a possible second visit to Waco, Texas, ahead of an expected indictment from lower Manhattan courts on multiple probes of tax fraud and evasion, but the salacious stand out being the alleged "hush money" he paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump is virtually igniting his White House bid for 2024 in what the American media says is an unprecedented peril in the criminal investigations against -- a confluence that could send the US into a new political and legal collision.
On his first visit to Waco on March 25, Trump turned to wild rhetoric at his first 2024 campaign which the media described as a preview of a divisive national moment ahead, should he be indicted in any of the multiple criminal probes, ranging from New York attorney Alan Bragg's Hush Money case to New York Attorney General Letitia James civil suit on tax evasion plus the criminal probe on the same matter from the same office.
The former President has whipped up a demagogic fervour in Waco in a Republican state, where Senator Ted Cruz rules the roost, in a daring bid to secure a new presidency in what Trump would call it "retribution" for his extremism, media reports say.
Law enforcement agencies have gone on high alert as they fear violence that may be triggered by the demagogy of Trump as the nation stands on the edge.
Political observers say Trump will go to the extreme of taking the country into a dark corner in order to survive the multiple probes against him to keep his campaign for the presidential bid going and save himself from possible ignominy, reports say.
CNN in a special report claimed that Trump's chilling warnings that President Joe Biden's administration's "thugs and criminals" have created a "Stalinist Russia horror show" by "weaponising" justice against him is posing an electoral danger for the Republican, deeply injured by his authoritarianism in the 2022 November midterm elections, where most of his candidates lost.
The loss forced his fiercest supporters, such as media baron Rupert Murdoch, to dump him in favour of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The unusual protracted attack on a rising star and a fellow rider in the party, DeSantis, Trump's biggest potential rival of 2024, shows the former President's extreme mental fragile state.
The Florida Governor Ron DeSantis might have to encounter a political firestorm if he jumps into the White House campaign for 2024 against Trump, still popular with extremist rightists in the Republican Party.
Even with the former President's reputation for hyperbole and inflammatory rhetoric, such demagoguery has never previously been heard in the first official rally of any modern American election campaign, CNN said.
Republican-held House committee chairs are likely to appeal to the Trump base of using the power of the Republican majority in the house to thwart Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's inquiry into Trump -- even before it releases any possible indictment or evidence. Trump had probably indirectly referred to this development on board his Trump Force one plane to reporters when he said the courts might just drop the Briggs case against him.
House Oversight Chair James Comer was quoted by the agency that the party moves were justified because the investigation into Trump's alleged role in a hush money scheme to pay an adult film actress was based purely on politics.
"This is the, for better or worse, leading contender for the Republican nomination of the presidential election next year, as well as a former president of the US," the Kentucky Republican told CNN.
Trump has always been antagonistic to CNN reports of him often dubbing the agency as Clinton News Network.
Leading legal experts across the country wonder whether the Bragg probe will actually produce any strong case against Trump, who faces several other probes over his actions around the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.
Trump has maintained he's done nothing wrong. Thus far the former President has not been charged in any of the criminal probes against him.
The multiple probes against Trump especially in New York on tax evasion and the former president's alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill and his inability to control the "mob" that posed a danger to the Vice President Mike Pence and other senators is having a huge national impact, media reports say.
So, any possible attempt to use a business accounting violation in this year's long hush money case to suggest a possible violation of campaign finance law could be especially controversial.
Comer's comments imply a former President or White House candidate could be protected from any investigation, even if they had committed a criminal offence, that Trump is above the law.
Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan have written to the Bragg with intensifying demands for his testimony, boosting Trump's campaign rally at Waco in Texas.
Political strategists say that this is an indication that the new house of Republicans is aiding the Trump campaign.
Bragg's response to the house chairs that it was not appropriate for Congress to interfere with local investigations and he will be guided by the rule of law has won support and a strong back up from nearly 200 former federal prosecutors, who have written a letter denouncing congressional efforts to intimidate Bragg.
Trump's legal problems seem to be worsening as confrontation over Bragg's inquiry on hush money case seemed to be escalating as other investigations around Trump appeared to be nearing their own conclusions.
In yet another probe relating to the interference in Georgia in the 2020 election, a district attorney there said that decisions were "imminent" in the investigation into Trump's attempts to overturn President Biden's victory in the key swing state.
CNN claimed that prosecutors are considering bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges. Such charges would test the moral fibre and the raw nerve of the strength of the country's political and judicial institutions, because a former president and current presidential candidate is involved.
And the fact that Trump is showing such willingness to inflame the country's politics in his own defense and self interest makes this a deeply serious moment for the nation, reports said.