European media outlets have labelled Trump as being “unforgivable” and America a “banana republic” as criminal proceedings against the former president begin.
Many of these news organisations wholeheartedly embraced their Trump derangement syndrome of old, with a pundit for one outlet branding the president as “unforgivable”.
Writing in Ireland’s paper of record, the Irish Times, Senator Michael McDowell branded the former American president as “unforgivable” and a “demagogue”, expressing fear that he could end up using the criminal proceedings as a launchpad into the 2024 election.
“For my part, these criminal trial possibilities are distractions from the main issue in relation to the presidential election in 2024,” he wrote. “That main issue is simply this: Donald Trump is a dishonest, dangerous and vindictive man who ought never to have been elected to the White House.”
“The result of his megalomania and dishonesty is that the American public, to a not insignificant extent, believes his lies,” he continued, expressing fear that Trump — who he described as willing to “subvert democracy”, will use the chaos to his advantage.
This was a relatively common theme in reporting throughout Europe, with many publications discussing how the “defiant” former president could very well end up turning the indictment into a win as a result of the media circus behind thje proceedings.
“Every supporter who ventured an opinion to me believes that the indictment has made him a stronger candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination and for a return to the presidency,” Paul du Quenoy wrote in the European Conservative, adding that other forthcoming legal issues facing Trump are likely to “propel him to greater heights”.
“His supporters are energized rather than dissuaded by his transparently political prosecution,” he continued. “No matter the truth of the allegations against him, many believe the unprecedented indictment is a tragedy for American political life and yet another powerful blow to the fading legitimacy of our institutions. ”
Other outlets opted to focus less on Donald Trump himself, and more on what the former leader’s arrest means for the United States as a whole.
“This country, this great ongoing experiment, just arrested and indicted a former president. This is the stuff of banana republics,” Maureen Callahan wrote in the UK’s Daily Mail, before claiming that the images of Trump walking into the courtroom are “a defiling of the office he once held”.
“America deserves better. Anyone taking glee in these events would do well to consider: next time, it’s very likely your candidate – your side,” she added. “The precedent has been set.”
Others still spent time discussing protesters outside the courtroom, with German commentator Marc Pitzke painting both pro and anti-Trump demonstrators in a poor light in high-circulation magazine Der Spiegel.
“It smells of sweat and marijuana,” he wrote of the anti-Trump side present in New York, before referencing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s complaints regarding the overwhelming presence of drugs on the streets of New York.
“On my way to my hotel in NYC, I’ve seen many people so drugged up they can’t even stand up,” the Republican congresswoman wrote online. “They just fall over on the sidewalks from using drugs at Mayor Adams free drug use centers.”
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