Before an appeals court this week, lawyers for Donald Trump made a "legally insane" argument this week that will hurt his re-election bid and then the former president made things worse by going on Fox News where his "poor impulse control" was once again on display.
That is the opinion of MSNBC analyst Michael A. Cohen -- no relation to former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen -- in a column where he admitted he was stunned by Trump's attorneys' attempt to argue that an American president is immune from all criminal charges including murder.
As much as that will haunt Trump's bid to be re-elected, Cohen claimed it paled in comparison to the former president boasting during a Fox News town hall that he is responsible for Roe v. Wade being overturned.
Regarding the appeals court presentation from the Trump legal team, Cohen wrote: "Only a president, they asserted, who has first been impeached by the House and then convicted by the Senate can be charged and prosecuted for a crime committed while in office," before adding, "From a political perspective, this is an even more insane argument. Next fall, Joe Biden can run ads claiming that Trump believes he has the right to kill his political rivals — and they would be 100% true. One has to imagine that outside the MAGA cult, there are a few Americans who might find the idea of an unaccountable political leader a tad unnerving."
Labeling that argument "the second-worst political gaffe committed by Trump," Cohen focused on the Trump abortion claim as yet another unforced error by the former president that will blow up in his face as the 2024 presidential election grows nearer.
"There is, quite simply, no greater political vulnerability for Republicans right now than abortion," he wrote and then explained, "Trump didn’t just lean into the issue. He gave it a bear hug. There is perhaps no greater gift that Trump can give to his political opponents than trumpeting his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. One can fully expect to see this quote appear in millions of dollars’ worth of campaign ads this fall."
Calling the former president "the gift that keeps on giving" for Democrats, he claimed, "He is a politician and man of such poor impulse control and so prone to self-aggrandizement that he simply can’t help but make dumb, politically inadvisable statements," and then added, "Trump’s high floor is matched by a low ceiling — and that ceiling will keep falling as long as Trump keeps saying dumb things about abortion and his lawyers beclown themselves and their client in court. Yes, there are reasons for Biden supporters to be concerned about 2024, but there’s also one big reason to feel pretty good."
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