These things are not analogous. Trump isn’t saying “vote for me and if I win I’ll use my newly invested powers to give you xyz”.
He’s saying “vote for my friends and I’ll use the power I already have to give you xyz”.
There’s definitely a difference, the second being much more coercive. Imagine if instead he threatened to send people to fight in Iran if republicans didn’t win the midterms. Whether this is illegal I don’t know, but it should be.
It’s also much weaker rhetorically. You can’t say “I haven’t given you the $5k yet because I didn’t have power before”.
These things are not analogous. Trump isn’t saying “vote for me and if I win I’ll use my newly invested powers to give you xyz”.
He’s saying “vote for my friends and I’ll use the power I already have to give you xyz”.
There’s definitely a difference, the second being much more coercive. Imagine if instead he threatened to send people to fight in Iran if republicans didn’t win the midterms. Whether this is illegal I don’t know, but it should be.
It’s also much weaker rhetorically. You can’t say “I haven’t given you the $5k yet because I didn’t have power before”.