Hes back (officially) but did he ever truly go away?
Donald Trump made it official on Tuesday night by announcing he would once again be seeking the Oval Office in 2024.
Yes, the former president who incited an attempted insurrection at the US Capitol with lies about his 2020 election loss lies he continues to spread to this day, having escaped conviction in impeachment proceedings thanks to his Republican allies and who has spent much of the last few years either vowing revenge against political enemies or battling a suite of criminal investigations now wants American voters to let him once again lead the democratic system of government he has worked so tirelessly to undermine.
In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States, Trump told the crowd at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
“America’s comeback starts right now,” he said. “Two years ago, we were a great nation, and soon we will be a great nation again.”
A few minutes before his scheduled 9 p.m. ET announcement on Tuesday, paperwork for his 2024 run was filed with the Federal Election Commission.
His announcement comes as Republicans largely underperformed nationally in last weeks midterm elections. Many in the GOP have blamed Trump for the outcome since many of his endorsed candidates, such as Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Blake Masters and Kari Lake in Arizona, lost to Democrats.
Since the election, Trump has been on the defensive, using his social media platform, Truth Social, to lash out at possible GOP presidential rivals, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who coasted to an easy reelection victory.
Trumps announcement also comes as he finds himself in a sea of legal troubles related to the cacophony of investigations into him by both federal and state agencies.
The most imminent and urgent of these for Trump appears to be the investigation into his handling of classified documents since leaving the White House, which culminated in an extraordinary search on his Florida compound Mar-a-Lago over the summer. Attorney General Merrick Garland is under immense pressure as he decides whether to indict the former president for violations of the Espionage Act, mishandling government documents, and obstruction of justice.
But Trump also faces the possibility of charges connected to his sprawling efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. He has been subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which said he personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power. A federal judge has also already said Trump signed court documents he knew were false as part of this scheme.
Thats not to mention the numerous state investigations into his postelection conduct and his business, or the defamation lawsuit from E. Jean Carroll, the woman who said Trump raped her in the mid-1990s.
Trump reportedly ended his first term by wondering whether he could pardon himself; in a possible second one, he will have that opportunity.
After functionally giving up on being chief executive late in his first term while presiding over an unchecked pandemic and hundreds of thousands of American deaths, Trump would be asking for another shot at a job hes only ever been fleetingly interested in carrying out. And hed be reengaging with an electoral system and basic democratic principles that he has spent the last few years single-mindedly fixed on eroding. He would be asking his supporters to once again come out and vote for him in a system he swears is corrupt.
There is still time to see if Trump will actually follow through with a campaign.
Trumps third campaign would be substantially different from the first two, and something unseen in mainstream American political history. He would be an explicitly anti-democratic candidate after pressuring state officials for years to overturn the 2020 election results in his favor.
Hockey fans often hear about the dreaded Stanley Cup hangover, when a team falters in the season after their championship. But a Presidents’ Trophy hangover?
Last season, the New York Rangers finished on top of the regular-season standings. This season, it’s looking less likely by the day that they’ll even make the playoffs.
When play begins Monday, the Rangers will be six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. With only six games left, they’ll need to come close to running the table, and will also need help from Montreal’s opponents.
Monday’s game is home against the Tampa Bay Lightning (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Lightning have clinched a berth but will still be playing hard as they have a chance to catch the Toronto Maple Leafs for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
As noted, New York will need to gin up a winning streak here to bolster its chances. As for the Canadiens, they close out with a somewhat easier schedule: home against the Detroit Red Wings, at the Ottawa Senators and Maple Leafs, then home for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Hurricanes.
So that’s the task ahead for the Blueshirts. Will they come through?
With the regular season ending April 17, we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 83 Regulation wins: 27 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 5 Points pace: 88.4 Next game: @ DAL (Tuesday) Playoff chances: 1.4% Tragic number: 2
Points: 74 Regulation wins: 23 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 6 Points pace: 79.8 Next game: vs. EDM (Monday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 72 Regulation wins: 27 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 5 Points pace: 76.7 Next game: @ LA (Monday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 50 Regulation wins: 14 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 6 Points pace: 54.0 Next game: vs. CGY (Monday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
The Utah Hockey Club will open a new practice and training facility for team use on Sept. 1, the team announced Monday.
The 115,780-square-foot facility, built on the southeastern end of a Sandy shopping mall, will house two NHL standard ice sheets. It will also include training, medical and dining facilities as well as team locker rooms.
Building a practice facility quickly was one of the immediate challenges Utah owner Ryan Smith faced in bringing an NHL team to the Beehive State. The Utah Olympic Oval, which is primarily used for speedskating events, served as the team’s practice facility this season, but it was intended to be only a temporary solution.
“We want to be competitive in the NHL, and to do that you got to have a place where these guys can practice and they can recover, and it’s home,” Smith said. “We did a miraculous job with the Oval, but at the same time that’s not this.”
Players on Utah’s roster had input on the practice facility’s design from the dining areas to the locker rooms. The facility incorporates many of their suggestions.
“We tried to involve them as much as we can in every part of this,” Smith said.
Utah’s practice facility will also be ready for public use next January. It will feature event venues, eight community locker rooms, equipment rentals and a team store. The ice rinks will be available to the public when not in use by the team.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Alex Ovechkin for setting an “outstanding record” as the NHL’s top career goal scorer.
In a message after Ovechkin’s 895th career goal broke a tie for the record with Wayne Gretzky in the Washington Capitals‘ game Sunday against the New York Islanders, Putin said the achievement was something Russians would celebrate.
“I congratulate you on your outstanding record. You have surpassed legendary masters in the number of goals scored in National Hockey League regular-season games,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin on Monday.
Breaking Gretzky’s record “has become not only your personal success, but also a real celebration for fans in Russia and abroad,” Putin added. “I wish you health, good fortune [and] fighting spirit to conquer new heights in life and in sports.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Putin and Ovechkin had not yet spoken by phone but that Putin’s message of congratulations showed the president “highly values Ovechkin’s sporting result.”
Ovechkin has been a backer of Putin in the past and in 2017 set up a group called Putin Team on social media to show support for the Russian president, who was reelected the following year.
At the time, Ovechkin told The Associated Press and The Washington Post, “I just support my country,” and said, “It’s not about political stuff.”
Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev referred to that moment in his own statement of congratulations after Ovechkin broke the record Sunday.
He posted on social media that Ovechkin “remains a member of the Putin team and at the same time one of the main faces of world hockey, a favorite of millions and the NHL top scorer.”