NEW YORK (GZERO MEDIA) – After losing the Nov 3 election and suffering heavy setbacks to last-ditch legal attempts to contest the election results, US President Donald Trump’s next moves will be reliant on factors such as money and political leverage, says American foreign policy expert Ian Bremmer.

In the latest episode of the World In (More Than) 60 Seconds, a video series by his company GZERO Media, he says that while Mr Trump is nowhere near to giving up, the latter will need to consider how much money he owes and the leverage he has to push for a self-pardon for multiple lawsuits and fraud allegations.

“Some of this is about the money,” said Mr Bremmer, “like, how much money does he owe? And doesn’t he need to try to raise as much money possible to actually get out of that financial jeopardy?”

“Some of it is how much leverage he does or does not think he can have with those that could push for a pardon both before the transition, as well as, potentially, after with Biden for the good of the country,”he adds.

Mr Trump has at least US$1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) of debt which is due over the next two years, reported Financial Times, and will face an array of lawsuits once he is out of office and loses his presidential privileges.

Mr Bremmer also said that while some Republicans have accepted President-elect Joe Biden’s win, others are still strongly backing him, such as US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo who voiced confidence in a “second Trump administration”.

“Pompeo understands that Trump is still going to be powerful. And you’ve got other people that want to run for president in 2024 that are being much more cautious…when Mr Trump becomes a king-maker for the party in 2024, who do you think he’s going to be closer to?”

This GZERO media video is being shown here as part of a media partnership agreement with The Straits Times.

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