New York Times Journalist Paints Dark Picture Of Second Trump Term: 'Not Hypothetical'
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman predicted on Monday what a second Donald Trump presidency would be like, emphasising that her grim take was “not hypothetical”. (Watch the video below.)
Asked about possible staffing and policy scenarios, the Pulitzer-winning journalist told CNN host Kaitlan Collins that the former president, according to what he has said or what Haberman and fellow Times reporters have found, Trump:
- Will appoint what he has called a “real special prosecutor” to go after President Joe Biden and his family in perceived revenge for the four indictments against Trump.
- Is already deploying a policy staff “working on a very, very radical immigration plan”.
- Has “outside groups working on helping him gut the civil service and to try to take greater control over pockets of authority ― of independence within the government”.
“So, this is all from his own mouth and/or from his close allies or his advisers,” Haberman said. “And this is what would happen next time. And he’d be walking into a presidency with a weakened Congress, with the people who have been the most opposed to him in his own party, such as Liz Cheney, not in her seat anymore, Mitt Romney leaving, go down the list.”
“There were not many of them, and they are basically gone because he has bent the party to his will and he has a supermajority of conservatives on the Supreme Court, which could change things as well,” she continued.
Trump holds a commanding polling lead in the GOP race. The former president, Collins and Haberman agreed, is using a I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I strategy to deflect Biden’s repeated claims that Trump is a threat to democracy. Trump has stepped up efforts to accuse the incumbent of the same, Haberman said.