Trump, the raid and new controversies

NOT surprisingly, being the epitome of the neo-populist movement in this millennium, former United States President Donald Trump is embroiled in another series of controversies. Last week, two events occurred back to back. The first, on August 8, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted a raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump's home and private club in Palm Beach, Florida. This unprecedented FBI search was the continuation of a criminal investigation into his improperly removal of classified documents after he left the White House. The second took place two days later, when he was being questioned by the New York Attorney General in a legal interview as a part of an ongoing civil investigation into his Trump Organization (TO), which is alleged to inflate the value of its assets, like hotels, golf clubs and other properties, to obtain loans and evade taxes.

For various reasons, the two episodes are quite gawky in appearance. The nature of the allegations, as well as Trump's reaction to the investigations, have raised many stinging questions about the recent transformation of the political culture of the US. In his almost six-hour long legal interview with the attorney general, Trump answered only one question about his name, while for the rest of the questions, he maintained complete silence on the pretext of invoking his right against self-incrimination — the Fifth Amendment. Ironically, while addressing a rally in Iowa in 2016, Trump loudly condemned invoking the Fifth Amendment as an admission of wrongdoing: "If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" So, his opponents are justified in assuming that he is guilty because he invoked the Fifth Amendment?