‘Trump-Biden 2.0’ will be nothing like the first clash in 2020 which occurred during COVID lockdowns, a shuttered economy, and days before the announcement of a vaccine.

This time around the presidential racetrack President Joe Biden also has a record as president, and while his age (and what seems to be an increasing infirmity that contrasts badly with the energy of former President Trump) is issue number one in the minds of many voters —Democrats, Independents and Republicans—the next tranche of issues are the open southern border, the impacts of three plus years of inflation on groceries, gas and housing, crime and support for Israel in its war with Hamas.  All four favor the former president over the current one.

Two events are certain to impact the campaign as well. Trump will name a running mate. I have written before: I hope it is a veteran like Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Joni Ernst, or former Secretary of State Pompeo. I also hope Trump issues a list of appointees who will serve in the most important Cabinet positions though not necessarily with specificity as to job —say Pompeo back to State or to Defense, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to CIA, former Ambassador to Germany and acting DNI Rick Grennell and former National Security Advisor Ambassador Robert O’Brien to some combination of Secretary of State, Chief of Staff or National Security Advisor, Senator Tom Cotton to Defense or Justice, former State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus to the U.N. or the Department of Homeland Security and many more.

Such a list would operate like Trump’s 2016 list of potential Supreme Court Nominees, and would reassure a crucial segment of the voting public about the national security team and provide sharp contrasts with Team Biden. The choice at the top is going to drive the election but swing states could depend on small percentages of votes so key personnel decisions could help in critical states.

But one other huge development is certain to occur between now and November: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Trump which is scheduled to commence this month. The merits off this phase of the ‘lawfare’ being waged against Trump are in my view, and the views of many others like respected former Southern District of New York Prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy, well known: They stink.

It is a rank political prosecution built off an alleged misdemeanor which was never prosecuted and for which the statute of limitations had passed but which Bragg resurrected via resort to a fable: that the alleged payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen somehow can be bootstrapped into 34 felony charges.

This is ‘count stacking’ of the sort that drives defendants and their counsel crazy when they see it and which is usually condemned as an abuse of criminal process —unless an observer really, really, really hates the defendant. Then it is applauded as a necessarily evil means to the good end.

‘Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime’ was the infamous boast of Stalin’s Chief Secret Police Lavrentiy Beria. Manipulating the criminal justice system to take out political opponents is the stuff of the most corrupt regimes in history and of tyrants and juntas. This is the category for Bragg’s stunt.

I find it hard to imagine Trump can get a fair trial in Manhattan, and the odds before D.A. Bragg and the judge start tossing prospective jurors aren’t great. Overall in New York City four years ago Biden received 2,321,759 votes, 76%, to Trump’s 691,682 votes, or 23%. Hillary Clinton 79% did better, winning 79% of the vote in Gotham to Trump’s 18% in 2016.

Add in the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2017 and the non-stop and one-sided campaign of vilification against Trump by the stacked and manipulative House Select Committee on January 6 —the first and only such ‘committee’ in the House’s history that was engineered to replicate a Kangaroo Court of the worst sort— and the potential jurors willing to head Trump’s case with an open mind falls even more.

Even should 34 convictions result and a significant sentence handed down. however, this soon-to-open rival of any Broadway spectacle or New York City circus holds the very real prospect of adding jet fuel to Trump’s campaign, even as it did to his primary romp.

‘Trust the people’ was a saying of which Winston Churchill was very fond. It applies here. Not only will the McCarthys of the world —serious former prosecutors who have never been huge fans of Trump but who also have enormous respect for the rule of law— be speaking out daily about the abuse of process here, so too will every defendant who ever felt wronged by a prosecutor be thinking that what is happening to Trump is just what happened to them. Which demographic is most often associated with overcharging and prosecutorial misconduct? African American males? NBC’s Steve Kornacki has confirmed for me that Trump is always polling better with this crucial demographic in the upcoming election than any Republican since 1968.

On National Public Radio’s Morning Edition yesterday I pronounced myself an ‘outlier’ on the Manhattan case. I think this prosecution will almost inevitably help Trump’s campaign. Contrary voices have counseled me that it will be weeks of the Access Hollywood tape recycled again and again and again, with Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels on the stand and Trump seated and unable to speak, glowering all the while. Expect a ridiculous gag order to restrict the former president. Expect a huge sentence.

And expect an even bigger backlash against this abuse of the criminal justice system. Trust the people.

Democrats and the Left generally wagered everything on getting Trump renominated and combing that with ‘lawfare’ to handicap him in the general election. Thus far it has got them a 9-0 thrashing in the United States Supreme Court on the Colorado Supreme Court absurd decision and the tawdry display of Fanni Willis and Nathan Wade in Georgia.

‘The best laid plans of mice and men….’ occurs to many minds. When the dust settles on Election 2024 and a former president pulls a Grover Cleveland in the 21rst century, one of the people to thank will be Alvin Bragg. 

Hugh Hewitt is one of the country’s leading journalists of the center-right. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990, and it is today syndicated to hundreds of stations and outlets across the country every Monday through Friday morning. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and this column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his forty years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio show today.

Grappling with negative approval ratings and trailing former President Trump in the latest polling average of their general election rematch, President Biden has a golden opportunity to try and turn the narrative around with eight months to go until the November showdown.

That high-stakes primetime moment comes Thursday evening, when the president will deliver a greatly anticipated and closely watched State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.

‘It’s going to be a moment that’s incredibly important to him,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. ‘He’s looking forward to … talking about the accomplishments that he’s made the last three years and also the vision that he has for this country.’

With it far from certain that the president and Trump will face off in general election debates in the autumn, the speech may deliver Biden his largest national audience between now and the November election.

It’s not clear whether Biden will directly mention his Republican challenger in an address that will be repeatedly edited and fine-tuned until the moment the president arrives on Capitol Hill.

But Biden re-election campaign communications director Michael Tyler, pointing to the rematch with Trump, emphasized Tuesday that ‘I think the State of the Union Address is going to serve as another moment to further cement the choice in this election for the American electorate writ large.’

At 81, Biden is the oldest president in the nation’s history. And polls indicate a majority of Americans harbor serious questions about his physical and mental ability to handle another four years in the White House.

Longtime Republican strategist Colin Reed, pointing to ‘a series of misguided decisions,’ including ‘the decision [by the president] not to conduct a Super Bowl interview when you’ve got the largest built-in audience you’re ever going to get, the pressure is mounting on President Biden to demonstrate that voters’ concerns about his age are somehow not as bad as people think.

‘The stakes are high going into a speech which normally washes out in the next day’s news cycle,’ Reed emphasized. ‘But because people view President Biden as this creaky, rickety, frail human being and voters have deep concerns and reservations (about his ability) to perform the job, this event has taken on heightened importance that otherwise would not exist.’

Reed is a presidential campaign veteran who most recently was a top adviser to a super PAC supporting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2024 nomination challenge against Trump.

‘My suspicion is [Biden] will take it on because he can’t avoid it,’ Reed said. ‘It’s become the overriding factor in the conversation.’

Asked what the president needs to say in his speech regarding concerns about his age, veteran Democratic consultant Maria Cardona told Fox News Biden ‘does need to do it in a way that unequivocally transmits a dynamic and robust vibe.’

‘He has to vibe that age is not an issue. He has to vibe that he might not be young in years but is young at heart and importantly young and modern in ideas and vision for the future,’ added Cardona, a Democratic National Committee member who did tours of duty on multiple presidential campaigns.

She added that Biden needs to make the point that the ‘American electorate will be better off with him because of his wisdom, because of his experience, because of his understanding of what’s at stake than the other guy, who is a dangerous, existential threat not just to our democracy but to our rights and freedoms.’

While Biden will paint contrasts with his GOP challenger, Cardona said, ‘I suspect that he’s not going to mention Trump by name, because I think that will give Trump too much importance.’

‘But there’s no question Trump will be in the room,’ she emphasized. ‘And, more importantly, Trump’s past policies and future intentions will be in the room as well as President Biden will make it clear without a shadow of a doubt this is who he’s running against.’

Reed agreed that Biden will spotlight Trump, even if he doesn’t mention his name.

‘If this election is about Joe Biden, that’s bad news for Joe Biden,’ Reed said. ‘If this election’s about Donald Trump, that’s Biden’s only path forward. …. [Biden] has to lay out clear contrasts with what he’s proposing and wants to do and what his opponent does.’

Plenty of top Trump supporters who are Republican members of Congress will be in the audience as the president gives his address. And there’s the chance Biden will be interrupted, as he was a handful of times when he delivered last year’s speech.

Democratic strategist and communicator Chris Moyer said that ‘more important than what [Biden] says is how he comes across. Will he be sharp and mixing it up like he did with Republicans during last year’s State of the Union? A repeat performance would be a home run for him and his campaign.’

‘Most voters will remember how they felt watching him, not necessarily the specific agenda items he shares. That’s what will stick,’ emphasized Moyer, who’s served on a handful of Democratic presidential campaigns.

Former President Donald Trump is calling for debates between himself and President Biden ahead of the 2024 general election, saying he is willing to participate ‘anytime, anywhere, anyplace.’ 

Trump, the 2024 GOP frontrunner and presumptive nominee, posted his offer on his Truth Social on Wednesday afternoon — just hours after former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his last-standing Republican opponent, suspended her campaign. 

‘It is important, for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate Issues that are so vital to America, and the American People,’ Trump posted Wednesday. ‘Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE! The Debates can be run by the Corrupt DNC, or their Subsidiary, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).’ 

‘I look forward to receiving a response. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’ Trump added. 

The Biden campaign fired back, shortly after Trump’s invitation. 

‘I know Donald Trump’s thirsty for attention and struggling to expand his appeal beyond the MAGA base — and that’s a conversation we’ll have at the appropriate time in this cycle,’ Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told Fox News Digital. ‘But if he’s so desperate to see President Biden in prime time, he doesn’t have to wait!’ 

‘He can join the tens of millions of Americans who will tune in to watch the State of the Union tomorrow night,’ Tyler continued. ‘He might even learn a thing or two about bringing people together and actually delivering for the American people.’

Trump, also on Truth Social on Wednesday, signaled he would be watching Biden’s State of the Union — but will use it to campaign. 

‘I am pleased to inform you that tomorrow night we will be doing a LIVE, Play by Play, of Crooked Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address,’ Trump posted. ‘I will correct, in rapid response, any and all inaccurate Statements, especially pertaining to the Border and his Weaponization of the DOJ, FBI, A.G.s, and District Attorneys, to go after his Political Opponent, ME (something never done before in this Country!).’ 

Trump added: ‘We did this once before to tremendous success – Beating All Records. It is important for the Country to get the TRUTH!’ 

Meanwhile, as for potential debates, the Republican National Committee (RNC) in 2022 unanimously voted to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). 

The RNC clarified that it is not moving away from the presidential debate format, but is rather objecting to the CPD’s control over the process. The CPD has organized presidential and vice presidential debates for more than 30 years.

‘Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates,’ RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement at the time. ‘The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage.’

The RNC, at the time, also added that a majority of the CPD’s board members had publicly disparaged former President Trump prior to the 2020 debates.

Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if Biden would debate Trump, but she did not directly respond. 

‘That’s something for the campaign to speak to,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson launched a fundraising hub in an effort to grow the Republicans’ majority in the House of Representatives in 2024 following former President Trump’s near-sweep of critical Super Tuesday primary contests. 

The Trump victories prompted former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to suspend her presidential campaign Wednesday morning. 

In a video first obtained by Fox News Digital on Wednesday afternoon, the House speaker congratulated Trump and declared the former president the GOP nominee. 

‘Congratulations to President Donald Trump on now winning primary victories across our country!’ Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. ‘President Trump is our nominee and the American people are ready to return to secure borders, economic prosperity, and peace through strength we experienced under his leadership.’ 

Johnson said he looks forward ‘to working together to retake the White House and grow our majority in Congress.’

‘When we grow this majority and when President Trump is returned to the White House – I’m convinced all those things are going to happen – we’re going to do a 180-degree turn,’ Johnson said. 

Johnson introduced a new website, growthemajority.com, which details ‘three reasons why the 2024 election is critical.’ 

‘1. The GOP House majority is one of the smallest majorities in American history,’ the website states. ‘We only have a razor-thin advantage over Democrats. That means we have to defend EVERY seat we have and gain more to be in a position to reverse the chaos caused by the Biden administration.’ 

Next, the website states that if Republicans ‘don’t win in 2024, open borders, amnesty, and voting rights for millions of illegal immigrants will be a top priority for Democrats.’ 

And the third point on the website said: ‘If the Democrats have their way, 2024 may be the last chance to win a majority in both legislative chambers for DECADES.’ 

‘The battle to defend and expand our House majority begins right here, right now,’ the website states, asking voters to donate. ‘We can’t afford to lose this time around.’ 

The website requests visitors donate ‘$20.24’ in an effort to ‘expand the majority in 2024.’ It also gives other more traditional donation amounts, and an ‘other’ section. 

The website launch comes after Johnson spent Presidents Day last month with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The two discussed the 2024 election cycle. 

‘Speaker Johnson met with President Trump in Florida on Monday to discuss growing the majority and securing Republican victories up and down the ballot in November,’ Johnson campaign spokesman Greg Steele told Fox News Digital on Feb. 20. 

Attending the meeting with Johnson was Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm. They were in Florida for the House GOP leadership’s annual retreat.

House Republican leaders have made an unprecedented show of unity around Trump as he seeks the GOP nomination for president.

Johnson endorsed Trump for president in November last year, days after he won the speaker’s gavel.

Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case on April 25. 

The Supreme Court last week agreed it would review whether Trump has immunity from prosecution in Smith’s case and said it would fast-track the appeal. 

A ruling from the high court is expected by late June. 

Trump’s criminal trial has been put on hold pending resolution on the matter. 

Trump and his legal team, in requesting the Supreme Court review the issue of presidential immunity, said that ‘if the prosecution of a President is upheld, such prosecutions will recur and become increasingly common, ushering in destructive cycles of recrimination.’ 

‘Criminal prosecution, with its greater stigma and more severe penalties, imposes a far greater ‘personal vulnerability’ on the President than any civil penalty,’ the request states. ‘The threat of future criminal prosecution by a politically opposed Administration will overshadow every future President’s official acts — especially the most politically controversial decisions.’

Trump’s request states that the president’s ‘political opponents will seek to influence and control his or her decisions via effective extortion or blackmail with the threat, explicit or implicit, of indictment by a future, hostile Administration, for acts that do not warrant any such prosecution.’

Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Those charges stemmed from Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in August.

This will be the second time this term the Supreme Court will hear a case involving the presumed Republican presidential nominee. 

On Monday, the Supreme Court sided unanimously with the 2024 GOP frontrunner in his challenge to Colorado’s attempt to kick him off the 2024 primary ballot. 

The high court ruled in favor of Trump’s arguments in the case, which will impact the status of efforts in several other states to remove the likely GOP nominee from their respective ballots. 

The court considered for the first time the meaning and reach of Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars former officeholders who ‘engaged in insurrection’ from holding public office again. Challenges have been filed to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot in over 30 states.

In reacting to that ruling on Monday, Trump shifted his sights to the issue of presidential immunity. 

‘A great win for America. Very, very important!’ Trump told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Monday morning. 

‘Equally important for our country will be the decision that they will soon make on immunity for a president — without which, the presidency would be relegated to nothing more than a ceremonial position, which is far from what the founders intended,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘No president would be able to properly and effectively function without complete and total immunity.’ 

He added, ‘Our country would be put at great risk.’ 

Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.