IF last week’s debate was not victory enough for former president Donald Trump, he had another windfall land in his lap this Monday. On July 1, 2024, the US supreme court issued its decision, stating that the former president enjoyed presidential immunity for official acts during his term in office. The supreme court remanded the case back to the trial court for a decision on what the ‘official acts’ would be.

The stunning decision took a very broad interpretation of immunity, including the president telling his own Department of Justice to prosecute political opponents and other people he did not like. It also follows that some of Trump’s acts on Jan 6, which included refusals to call the National Guard and other law-enforcement against the protesters, could be immune from prosecution if they fall under official acts.

The political scene in the US was already in disarray since President Joe Biden’s dismal debate performance last Thursday. For those who did not watch the event, it showed the 82-year-old Biden faltering, hesitant, pale and losing his train of thought. In sum, all the attacks that the Trump team had been making on Biden’s inability to hold office at his age were given full credence. So awful was the performance that even after the first 10 minutes were over, Democratic operatives were in a state of panic about what would happen next.

Many already began to float the possibility of an open convention in which Biden would release the delegates that have pledged support for him to be free........

© Dawn