George Stephanopoulos Opens His Show With a Blistering Commentary: ‘Bedrock Tenets of Our Democracy Are Being Tested’
This Week’s George Stephanopoulos opened Sunday’s show with a blistering commentary on the state of American politics today brought about largely by “what’s happening in courtrooms” and not on the campaign trail.
Stephanopoulos checked off the litany of legal cases against Donald Trump, and reminded viewers that none of this is “normal.”
“Until now, no American president had ever faced a criminal trial,” Stephanopoulos began, continuing:
No American president had ever faced a criminal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president has faced hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse.
Until now, no American presidential race had been more defined by what’s happening in courtrooms than by what’s happening on the campaign trail. The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But, that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenants of democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.
Despite this vast scale of “abnormality,” a new CNN poll showed that Trump is leading Joe Biden by a staggering six point margin, 49% to 46%, if they were to go mano a mano in November. Factor in the two Independents and one Green Party candidate, and Trump is up 42% to Biden’s 33%, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 16%, Cornel West at 4% and Jill Stein at 3%.
Trump’s criminal hush money trial continues in Manhattan this week. He’s charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly covering up a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in order to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Civilly, Trump has been ordered to pay journalist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages for sexual assault and defamation, plus an additional $83.3 million for defamation. He was also ordered to pay $355 million after being found liable for inflating his company’s worth.
Trump still faces the Georgia and federal election interference cases, as well as the classified documents case. He has also been named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Arizona election interference case.
Watch the clip above via ABC News.
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