 Well, folks, I hope that you've got some popcorn ready because things are about to get very interesting in the United States because former president Donald Trump may very soon face a criminal indictment. So over the weekend, the New York Times reported that criminal charges against Trump are likely after he was told that he could appear before Manhattan grand jury to testify. Which experts say is a strong indication that he will indeed soon be indicted. Yeah. Now in response to this news he went on a predictably unhinged rant via Truth Social, so we'll get to that and then afterwards I'll tell you my thoughts on what will happen potentially if he is indeed indicted. But first he writes via Truth Social this morning, these four radical left investigations of your all-time favorite presidents, me, goddamn there's four investigations, is just a continuation of the most disgusting witch hunt in the history of our country. No different than the Russia-Russia-Russia hoax that Ukraine-Ukraine-Ukraine impeachment scam, the spying on my campaign, the no-collusion muller report, et cetera, whether it's the Mar-Lago-Ray, the unselect committee hoax, the house that hoax, the perfect Georgia phone call, I love that he calls it the perfect Georgia phone call, what a moron, or the stormy horse-faced Daniels extortion plot, all-sick fake news. Mm-hmm. All of the investigations against him are indeed fake. Now, listen, it does seem likely that he will be indicted, although I for one will believe it when I see it. But for those of you who have your hopes up about whether or not this is going to sink his 2024 chances, not necessarily. And I think that on MSNBC, Zeeshan Alim wrote a really interesting op-ed, albeit so bring op-ed, that tells everyone not to get your hopes up, because even if he is indeed charged criminally, that doesn't necessarily mean that his political campaign is over. In fact, it's not unreasonable to think that maybe it helps him. So Alim explains, there is an increasing amount of buzz surrounding the possibility of former president Trump facing criminal charges in the near future. The New York Times reports that the Manhattan District Attorney's office has recently signaled to Trump's lawyers that he could face charges for paying hush money to a porn star who alleges she had an affair with him. And as Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and a legal analyst for NBC News pointed out, Trump's invitation to testify before a grand jury in New York this week suggests prosecutors are seriously considering charges. This is the kind of news that thrills many Americans who are eager to see Trump face any kind of legal consequences for his many abuses of power and seemingly illicit behavior in office. But they shouldn't get too excited, neither an indictment nor a conviction would necessarily kick Trump out of the race. And there's little reason to think that if he were to be charged and convicted, he would pay a substantial penalty among Republicans as he seeks his third presidential nomination. The Constitution's requirements for eligibility to run for president don't say anything about a candidate's criminal record or legal status. There is even historical precedent for a presidential candidate running and winning votes while in prison. It is worth noting, however, as my colleague Jordan Rubin has pointed out, that some unprecedented complications could arise depending on what Trump might get charged with. It seems that certain convictions related to the January 6th insurrection could conflict with the 14th Amendment. But overall, there's nothing inherently disqualifying about Trump's getting in trouble in the criminal justice system. Shame certainly wouldn't inhibit him. Trump said at the conservative political action conference this month that he has every intention of running even if he's indicted and that he thinks being charged could even help him. I wouldn't even think about leaving Trump told reporters at the conference. Probably it will enhance my numbers. Trump's confidence in his ability to defy expectations is unsurprising, but there may be some truth to it. So let's say that he does get indicted with criminal charges. Well, it seems very unlikely that that alone would prevent him from running for office. So the one barrier to him getting elected because of these charges potentially would be the political ramifications, and I don't necessarily think that that's going to lead to much because ask yourself this question. If Trump is indicted, do you think that the Republican base will care? I don't think they will. I don't think they will. And another potential thing to consider is, well, if somebody was indicted running for office, what would you expect them to respond? Like, if it's a normal politician, I would think, OK, they don't think that they can win at that point. So they're going to drop out of the race. Not Donald Trump. That will just give him more reason to charge ahead because in the event he is elected president again, well, then he's hoping that can give him executive immunity and he may be correct about that. So why would you drop out if you're indicted assuming that you can use that against against your opponents? Because other Republican politicians running against him in 2024 can say, well, look, he can't win because he's getting indicted. But then he can use that as evidence that while the establishment is against him and this is just the swamp trying to take him down. So it could be a political winner for him, although this is nothing more than speculation. We don't necessarily know how this will affect him. But if you were hoping to see the situation where Trump is indicted, that's announced and then he drops out or he's barred from running. Unfortunately, that's not likely going to be the case. So it's going to get really ugly and interesting. You'll probably see more pressure exerted on him to drop out from the Republican establishment, but. It's not going to work. I think that he's going to continue to charge ahead full steam. And he's going to try to spin this as a win for him. And to the extent that it does hurt him politically and the GOP base thinks that this makes him less electable, which I don't think that will be the case. But in the event, let's say, hypothetically speaking, the GOP base was temporarily taken aback by this indictment. I think that with time, his numbers would begin to recover because we just saw he took a political hit after the midterms and then DeSantis started to creep up on him and then with time, the base, I guess, forgot. So I feel like Trump is not necessarily untouchable. But I think that unless he actually goes to jail, there's not really going to be any real political ramifications. And in the event he's in a prison cell, he could still run for president. So what do we do? Well, we we watch because it's going to be a shit show, but don't expect much because we have a criminal justice system that disproportionately punishes poor people. But when rich people do things like Donald Trump, they oftentimes get away with it and get a slap on the wrist or can still do what they want to do and that is run for president. So don't expect much, but hopefully at a minimum, this is at least entertaining.