Dual Accusations: How Trump’s newly acquired jail time and Biden’s impeachment inquiry will affect the upcoming election

TRUMP

Former United States President Donald Trump turned himself into the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24 for his attempts to reverse Georgia’s election results. 

After his surrender, some of Trump’s counterparts such as Trump 2020 Campaign Official Mike Roman and pro-Trump lawyer Robert Cheerly also turned themselves in. Despite this recent development, Trump still plans to run in the 2024 election, but some people, however, are doubtful that he will recover from this blow, according to CNN.

“I’m sure Trump has lost supporters because of his recent incident,” said junior Maggie Wells. “People who never supported him are using his arrests as leverage to get him away from politics.”

Trump surrendered on account of over a dozen charges for trying to overturn election results but only spent 20 minutes in jail after his bail of $200,000 was posted, according to CNN. Although Trump was released from custody, he’s currently facing a potential indictment for 13 charges and will be tried in Georgia on Oct. 23. 

With these countless charges, senior Rowan Gibson doubts Trump’s ability to maintain his voting numbers — but adds that his support network is right alongside him. 

“I think it will slightly [affect] the voting demographics that are undecided,” Gibson said. “But I think for his republican base, they already view the charges against him as fraudulent so that won’t affect them.”

As a part of bail, Trump agreed to refrain from commenting on social media in any way that would negatively talk about his co-defendants or witnesses, according to BBC. 

These 13 charges include accusations of racketeering, conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, soliciting a public official to violate his oath of office, making false statements and conspiracy to commit forgery. 

His surrender quickly hit the media and people were seen flocking to the jail he was held in. This is not his first surrender of the year, it was his fourth, according to the BBC. Earlier this year, he was arrested multiple times on account of a money scheme, mishandling of classified documents and involvement in a plan to overturn the 2020 election results. 

His campaign for the 2024 election is still underway, and a memo sent to local donors from Gov. Ron Desantis says his approval rate is remaining stagnant in some states while decreasing in others.

BIDEN

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy proposed an impeachment inquiry on President Joe Biden in an attempt to subpoena  Hunter Biden’s bank records on Sept. 12. Officials have been conducting an investigation into his potential abuse of power for months and the impeachment inquiry is to be a next step in the process of convicting him, according to NBC news. 

While the name could be deceiving, this recent development doesn’t necessarily mean the president is or will be impeached. If it passes, the impeachment inquiry will open a formal investigation into potential illegal activity from Biden, but will still not guarantee an official impeachment vote. 

While the investigation has been proposed, other house speakers such as White House spokesman Ian Sams are claiming McCarthy doesn’t have enough support in the house to carry out the inquiry. It’ll require a vote to be truly put into place, but without support from the majority of the house, Biden’s crimes can’t be officially inspected under an impeachment inquiry. 

With former business partner of Hunter Biden Devon Archer testifying on July 31 that his bribery allegations are true, this leaves questions for democratic voters and unease for people planning on voting for him, according to junior Anna Ravis. 

“I really see no viable options for the upcoming election and feel uneasy letting people with so much potential criminal background lead our country,” Ravis said. “I think a younger candidate would benefit us. I guess we’ll just hope for the best.”

Some voters are even questioning the morals and motives behind the inquiry. McCarthy announced the inquiry after fellow house members pressured him to make moves against the President. 

“I don’t think it affects [Biden] at all because I think the populus knows that the inquiry is purely political,” Gibson said.

Biden still plans to run in the 2024 election, but some voters believe that his numbers will be down due to his recent troubles and potential involvement in illegal international affairs. 

“A recent poll had Joe Biden down ten points but I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff about how that’s possibly misleading,” Gibson said. “It’s very up in the air. I’m predicting and hoping that Biden wins.”