2023: The beginning of the end for Donald Trump?

Heading into 2023, former President Donald Trump faces a number of ongoing legal issues, plus a potential indictment stemming from the Jan. 6 criminal referrals.

Moreover, Trump's faced setbacks in court, dismal polls, scandals of his own making, and has seen his company being convicted of tax fraud.

Trump’s under scrutiny by federal and state prosecutors for his handling of classified documents, the effort to overturn the 2020 election results, and the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s business records and financial statements.

He’s also facing a $250 million civil lawsuit from the New York attorney general alleging he and his adult children were involved in a decade long fraud.

The attorney general is seeking to permanently bar them from serving as an officer or director of a company in New York state, among other penalties.

The Jan. 6 select House committee voted to refer Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation acussing him of obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government, and inciting or assisting an insurrection.

The panel itself does not have the ability to indict anyone, meaning the referrals will not carry legal weight, but they are a “huge” symbolic act, as described by the New York Times, in the sense that it’s an official statement saying they found Trump committed crimes.

Now it’s up to the Justice Department to assess the evidence and decide if they will indict Trump. However, the DOJ’s own investigation into Trump’s activities during the insurrection is already under way.

But even an indictment, or a felony conviction, couldn’t prevent Trump from running or serving in office; as residency, age and natural-born citizenship are the only requirements stated in the Constitution and Congress can’t alter that.

The DOJ is also investigating Trump over his decision to take classified documents with him to Mar-a-Lago and refusal to give them back, despite being asked to do so on multiple occasions.

On top of it all, Trump drew massive backlash from Republicans for hosting a dinner with antisemitic rapper Ye (Kanye West) and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, as well as pushing for the suspension of the Constitution.

Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, referring to the 2020 election, that a"massive fraud" should allow "the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said to reporters: "Anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution could somehow be suspended or not followed, it seems to me would have a very hard time being sworn in as president of the United States."

According to YouGov’s latest poll, conducted in December, just 46% of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to run for their party’s nomination again, and 37% did not want him to run, the highest share yet of anti-Trump Republican voters.

Until now, Trump still had the support of his loyal voters who seemed unbothered by any scandal he got himself into. But the most recent series of post-election polls show that this might be changing too.

There’s still a possibility of Trump becoming the Republican presidential nominee and even of being re-elected. However, several factors suggest Trump will have more challenges this time and 2023 is actually the beginning of the end for him.