With his legal team turning against him, is former President Trump losing ground?

However, the two new members are considered to come from small law firms and hold views that are completely opposite to those of Trump's previous advisors. The current situation suggests a bleak future for the former president immediately after leaving office.

Who will protect Trump?

Attorneys David Schoen and Bruce Castor are two new additions to former President Donald Trump's legal team just days before his appointment.impeachment trialIn the Senate, the tight deadline is actually secondary; finding people willing to defend Trump at this critical moment is the real concern. It's not hard to understand why all five of the former president's veteran lawyers turned their backs on him at this most critical time. The five names – Butch Bowers, Deborah Barbier, Josh Howard, Johnny Gasser, and Greg Harris – are all highly experienced lawyers who seem to have conflicting viewpoints with former President Trump.

According to some sources, while Trump still wants his lawyers to defend the argument that widespread election fraud occurred and the election was stolen, the lawyers disagree. They believe that focusing solely on the constitutionality of convicting a former president would be easier to win than Trump's original goal.

Former President Donald Trump before his impeachment trial in the Senate, scheduled to begin on February 9th. Photo: AP

At this point, it is unclear whether the two new lawyers joining Trump's team, Schoen and Castor, will accept this view of the former President, but both agreed in their latest statements that the upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate is unconstitutional.

In his statement, Mr. Schoen also emphasized his honor in representing the 45th President and the Constitution of the United States. Expressing even greater enthusiasm, Attorney Castor affirmed that this was a privilege, and that the strength of the Constitution was undergoing unprecedented challenges in history. It should be noted that Attorney Schoen specializes in both civil and criminal cases. Meanwhile, Mr. Castor, while not as famous, is a fairly well-known lawyer in Pennsylvania.

In a recent statement, former President Donald Trump's spokesperson, Jason Miller, made no mention of the staffing crisis within the legal team. Instead, he emphasized that a majority of Republican members of the Senate agreed that impeaching a former president is unconstitutional. This could signal a shift in Donald Trump's stance regarding the upcoming impeachment trial!

Many winning options?

Looking at the current situation, public opinion can see that former President Trump is at a disadvantage before the upcoming impeachment trial, having been abandoned by his veteran lawyers. This is not a pleasant feeling, considering that just on January 13th, after the House vote, with 232 votes in favor and 197 against, Trump became the first president in US history to be impeached twice. However, analyzing the possible scenarios in the Senate impeachment trial, observers believe that Trump still has a good chance of winning! Simply put, Trump can only be convicted if two-thirds of the senators support the effort. This means that in addition to the 50 Democratic senators with their slim majority, 17 Republican senators must vote in favor of impeaching Trump. However, the reality is that, despite their dislike, the Republicans cannot completely abandon the former president.

Attorneys David Schoen and Bruce Castor are two new additions to former President Donald Trump's legal team. Photo: AP

It's no wonder that recently, the press reported on a meeting between Mr. Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in Palm Beach, Florida, at the end of January. Notably, the two discussed strategies to regain a majority in the House for the Republican Party in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Mr. Trump also pledged to help the Republican Party achieve this goal. Despite pressure from some members of the Republican Party to relinquish the influence of former President Trump, Mr. McCarthy seems to remain focused on factors that could help the Republicans regain control of the House.

Observers commented that, although many typical Republican members, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, haveTurning away from TrumpThe fact that 10 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted in favor of impeaching Trump shows that the Republicans still need the support and influence of the former president.

Therefore, key Republican members will have to play a difficult role: they must both solicit support from Trump, thereby raising funds for the party, but also avoid being overly familiar or effusive to prevent displaying hardline views and constantly attacking and accusing the former president. This is because McCarthy and his team are still using a fundraising website for the 2022 midterm elections under the domain name "Trump's Majority."

"Heating up" internal tensions

The most talked-about scenario right now is that Republican senators in the Senate will vote to acquit Donald Trump, not on whether the former president is guilty or not, but on whether he should be impeached and convicted in this way. This is seen as the best way for the Republican senators – who initially condemned the violence but now don't want to lose Trump's supporters with impeachment votes.

These internal contradictions are creating deep rifts within the Republican party in both the House and Senate, not to mention between Republicans and Democrats. Meanwhile, anticipating the possibility of Trump's acquittal, which would mean the goal of "removing him from the presidency" would not be achieved, the Democrats have prepared several contingency plans. One example is a resolution to reprimand Trump.inciting riotsJanuary 6th, or using the provisions of the 14th Amendment to disqualify him from future presidency if he intends to run for re-election.

Democrats accuse former President Donald Trump of instigating the riots at Capitol Hill on January 6. Photo: Getty

The outcome of the impeachment proceedings in the Senate remains uncertain, but this historic event is inadvertently raising one of the biggest challenges facing newly elected President Joe Biden. With his commitment to uniting America through crisis, this impeachment is once again putting Biden in a difficult position at the very beginning of his term.

The goal is to heal America and quell partisan divisions. Although, immediately after taking office, Biden has attempted to sign a series of executive orders to reverse his predecessor's policies, focusing on measures to gain bipartisan support, such as accelerating vaccine distribution, reopening schools, and strengthening food security during the pandemic... However, the deep-seated "divisions" within America will be difficult to heal with just a few executive orders or short-term campaigns.

Some even question the necessity of the impeachment trial against Trump, given that the outcome is almost certain. If it doesn't take place, President-elect Biden will avoid suddenly giving Trump public airtime to stir up divisions and conflicts in American politics. This is certainly something Biden would not want!