Kangaroo Politics #3
Law and Order: Presidential Edition
Welcome to the third edition of Kangaroo Politics.
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This week we take a look at the legal woes facing both parties in the lead up to the 2024 election. ⚖️
And in case you haven’t had **THE** chat about the birds and the bees, we will explain where President’s come from! 😉🐣🍼
Speaking of babies…Joe Biden’s son is proving to be a problem - Let’s jump in.
Legal woes follow Trump to the Iowa Fair
Not for the first (or probably the last) time this election cycle, the drama is taking place in the courtroom rather than at the ballot box.
Donald Trump has been indicted...for the THIRD time.
For those following along at home, the 45th President of the United States is now facing 78 felony counts across three separate indictments!
He is accused of:
Paying a porn star hush money to keep their illicit affair a secret. 💰
Taking classified documents and storing them in the shower. 📄 🚿
Exploiting violent riots to overturn the 2020 election. 🚨
Despite this, Trump continues to lead the sizeable Republican field.
If anything, his control of the primary seems to be tightening.
The man who remains Trumps main challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had another less than stellar week.
Both men headed along to the Iowa state fair (think the Royal Easter Show with less show bags and more politicians.)
While DeSantis tried to follow the political playbook - flipping burgers and pressing the flesh - Trump took a more agressive tact.
Team Trump was there before the man himself. They followed DeSantis around the fair ground with Trump signs. Supporters of the former President mocked the Governor with chants of ‘loser’ and tried to put him off his game.
Then in grand fashion, the man himself arrived drawing enthusiastic crowds that every other candidate, DeSantis included, could only dream of.
Trump was mobbed everywhere he went with crowds falling over themselves to get a selfie or high five from the former (and future?) President.
All of this indicates that despite his accumulating legal woes, Trump is the out and out frontrunner in the Republican primary…as long as he remains a free man on election day.
Son of a gun…Hunter Biden
Back in 2016, the defining chant from Trump crowds was ‘Lock Her Up.’
This call-and-response, about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, was deployed to fire up Trump rally crowds and have them baying for blood.
Fast forward to 2024 and Trump might have found his new crowd fodder. This time in the form of President Biden’s son, Hunter.
Hunter Biden has long lived in the shadow of his older brother Beau.
Beau was a military hero who became Attorney-General of Delaware and was destined for a long and storied political career before being tragically struck down by Cancer at the age of 46 in 2015.
Photograph of Hunter Biden reportedly obtained from his laptop after it was discovered in a Deleware computer repair shop
Hunter’s story is….less impressive.
The most notable items on his CV include serving on the board of a Chinese Investment firm and a Ukrainian energy company.
He was briefly a Naval reservist before testing positive for Cocaine use and being discharged.
In the 2020 campaign, Trump sought to muddy the waters by inferring that Joe Biden had somehow used his position to influence international diplomacy in order to create advantage for Hunter’s commercial interests.
Although these allegations amounted to little at the time, Hunter has remained a millstone around the neck of his father’s political fortunes.
Fast forward to 2023 and his legal woes have not gone away. Earlier this year he was charged with tax code violations and a firearms offense relating to posession of a gun despite admitted drug use.
Democrats rejoiced in June when a deal was struck with prosecutors where Hunter Biden would plead guilty to minor charges, avoid jail time, do some community service and all legal (and political) probelms would go away.
Not great but not political dynamite either.
That calm was shattered this week with a judge throwing the deal out amidst allegations it was too favorable to Biden.
Leagally, the situation is more confused than ever.
Biden’s own justice department has now elevated the investigator to special prosecutor status [allowing stronger investigative powers] meaning that the saga will go on, potentially all the way to election day.
Politically, it is very bad news for the Biden campaign.
Whether Hunter Biden is locked up or not, the ongoing judicial process means that it is not just Republicans that will have one eye on the courts during the campaign.
EXPLAINER: Where Presidents come from?
There are only three requirements to run for President of the United States.
To be eligible you must be:
a ‘natural-born citizen of the United States’. 🐣
a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. 🏡
at least 35 years old. 🎂
Easy right?
Surely there has been a wide array of individuals who have charted a path to the Oval Office given the lack of eligibility criteria for the office…right?!
Well…no.
In reality…the 45 men (yes, all men) who have served as President have a few, ahem, similarities.
44 of them were white.
20 of them were born in New York, Virginia or Ohio.
37 of them were 50 or older.
Ok…so demographically they are fairly uniform.
But, in a country like the U.S. - the capitalist engine room of the world - Presidents have had a diverse range of professions right?!
Well…. also, no.
40 held a public office prior to becoming President.
20 of them were Governors (think State Premier)
17 of them were members of the House of Representatives
17 had served as Senator at some point prior to becoming President.
In fact, the only thing as common as previously holding political office is military experience.
32 had military experience prior to their election, 9 were Generals. 🪖
The only man to have not served in the military or held significant public office before being elected to the Presidency…. Donald J. Trump.
So, if you want to be President and you happen to be older than 35, born in the US and lived here for 14 years or more…the path is clear…become a reality television star. 📺⭐️
Last Bounce
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See you next week!
Ryan
P.S. Do you want something explained? Need to rant about politics? Drop us a line at [email protected]