Donald Trump's indictment makes me support him – but more indictments would help
By: Rex Huppke (USA TODAY)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
I don’t want a commander-in-chief who has only been lightly indicted. That could be a sign of weakness, or perhaps an indication he has not done enough to own the libs.
A New York grand jury’s decision to indict former President Donald Trump has certainly made me like him better. But I’m going to have to learn exactly how indicted he is before deciding whether he’ll get my vote in the GOP presidential primary.
Don’t get me wrong, Trump’s new status as the first former president ever charged with a crime is impressive – a real feather in his MAGA cap when it comes to voters like myself whose reasoning makes perfect sense.
But I’m not one of those naïve folks who just run off with the first candidate to get charged in connection with an alleged hush money payment to an adult film star. No, before I decide who I’m willing to trust the future of my country to, I need to make sure that person has been REALLY indicted. Hopefully multiple times.
Trump's indictment has Republicans rallying
Now that doesn’t mean I’m unfaithful to Trump. Like a number of high-profile Republicans , I’m treating his indictment like it’s the worst thing that has ever happened to America. And I’m wisely doing that before seeing the indictment, the charges themselves and the testimony and other information that convinced a grand jury, made up of regular people doing their civic duty, that a former president should be criminally charged.
As former Vice President Mike Pence told CNN : “I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage. It appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution.”
And Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said : “From a political point of view, it’s going to solidify Trump’s standing in the Republican Party.”
There's no way our defense of Trump following his indictment will blow up in our faces
I agree with those thoughts, and there’s definitely no chance we’ll all end up looking bad once the actual evidence against Trump is revealed. That would be ridiculous! (Pardon me a moment, I need to submerge my face in a pie and then wonder why I have pie on my face.)
So I’m mad about the indictment, but the measure of how much the indictment increases my support of Trump as a candidate remains to be seen.
For example, how many counts are in the indictment? Is it just a couple measly charges, or will he be facing dozens? I don’t want a commander-in-chief who has only been lightly indicted. That could be a sign of weakness, or perhaps an indication he has not done enough to own the libs.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been working overtime to own the libs in his state — fighting with Disney, flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, being mean to teachers — so what if he suddenly gets indicted and it’s a bigger indictment than Trump’s?
Heck, there could be a potential candidate out there we haven’t heard of yet, maybe someone who’s going to be indicted for allegedly paying hush money to TWO adult film stars. If I consider Trump’s indictment a vile political prosecution, I’d have to consider that other theoretical candidate’s double-indictment even worse. That’s just math.
We just need to wait and see if Trump's campaign has the additional indictments needed to win
The point is, I’d feel like a real fool if I had already thrown my support behind the former president only to have someone more indicted come along as the clear people’s champion.
That’s basic political common sense.
So while I’m outraged beyond measure at a thing I have no way of fully understanding, and while I wholly support Trump and believe he’s being martyred by socialists, I’m holding out hope that more indictments will come from the numerous other criminal investigations he's facing.
If Trump was to nab an indictment for violating the Espionage Act by hiding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, my support for him would skyrocket.
If the Fulton County district attorney in Georgia indicted him on racketeering charges relating to his alleged efforts to overturn the state’s presidential election results? Well, in my book, that’d be a slam dunk for his candidacy.
I pledge to support whichever GOP presidential candidate garners the most indictments
Time will tell. As much as I’d love to join the masses in the Republican Party hoisting Trump on a pedestal for this New York indictment, I’m going to have to take a healthy pause.
It’s only fair to give the others who decide to run for the GOP nomination a fair shake.
May the most indicted candidate win!
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www.salon.com /2023/03/31/historic-criminal-indictment-all-but-clinches-another-presidential-nomination/
Trump's historic criminal indictment all but clinches another GOP presidential nomination
Heather Digby Parton 7-9 minutes 3/31/2023
If you wondered what that shrill, high-pitched wail you heard late yesterday afternoon was, it was the sound of millions of MAGA Republicans hysterically keening over the news that their Dear Leader, Donald Trump, had been indicted in the New York porn star hush-money case. According to social media and Fox News, this so-called "weaponization" of the government by the Democratic Party spells the end of the Republic as we know it, and "the people" aren't going to stand for it.
Trump released a statement that began:
Same old, same old.
His devoted minion, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, hit all the highlights with a statement he immediately released when the news was announced:
Many other elected GOP officials pounded the same drum with statesmanlike sentiments such as "the anti-American left is going to fuck around and find out" from Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins .
Meanwhile, Fox News, which has had a bit of a fraught relationship with the former president lately, immediately jumped to his defense with everything they have. Under a chyron that said, "Third World Banana Republic," host Tucker Carlson said it was a worse assault on the system than January 6 (which is interesting since he claims that was merely a peaceful tourist visit). He told his audience that it's "probably not the best time to give up your AR-15s ..the rule of law appears to be suspended tonight — not just for Trump, but for anyone who would consider voting for him."
Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo. ,told Fox News host Jesse Watters that "this is burning down the rule of law. They will regret doing this because I think the American people won't stand for it." South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican babbled incoherently on the network:
Even the pious Mike Pence went full MAGA, proclaiming it a "political prosecution." (If he thinks the Trumpers will forgive him his trespasses by doing this, he's dreaming.)
It's going to be very hard to run against Trump when he's under indictment.
They're all rending their garments over "the rule of law" being destroyed because a district attorney is bringing a criminal case against a man he says committed a crime. How this is an assault on the rule of law I don't know, particularly since none of them even know what the charges are much less the evidence that's been amassed. Essentially, they are all saying that a private citizen who was once president and wants to be president again cannot be prosecuted. These are the same people who spent the last seven years lustily chanting "lock her up" at the mere mention of Hillary Clinton.
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Still, it's a bit surprising that the reaction was so overwrought considering that there have been reports that this indictment was imminent for the last couple of weeks and Trump himself had been screeching about it non-stop since he announced they were planning to arrest him last Tuesday. But since that didn't happen and some new witnesses were called in this week, I suppose they may have convinced themselves that Trump's claim that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg had backed off was true. Trump himself posted on Truth Social on Thursday morning:
That didn't work out the way he hoped it would, did it?
Despite all the bluster over the past couple of weeks, according to the New York Times' Maggie Haberman, Trump and his team were caught off guard by Thursday's announcement. They had come to believe that any indictment would not be handed down until next month. But they nonetheless wasted no time in getting out the fundraising requests . As much as Trump may be dreading arrest, he's anticipating a massive haul from his followers who are always thrilled to give the supposed billionaire their hard-earned cash when they feel he's being persecuted.
And Trump is also buoyed by the recent spate of polling that has him substantially expanding his lead over his potential primary rivals . Fox News released a poll this week that has him over 50%, doubling his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to 30 points. That's a 15-point gain since last month which, coincidentally, is when Trump went on the attack against DeSantis and the rumors of imminent indictment started to circulate. Quinnipiac's latest survey shows that 75% of Republicans believe that an indictment should not disqualify him from running for president and 62% of the general public thinks the Manhattan DA's case is motivated by politics, not the law. 47% of Republicans support him compared to only 33% for DeSantis.
Perhaps this explains why, after trying to subtly diss Trump by repeating the words "hush money" and "porn star" when responding to the rumor that Trump would be indicted, DeSantis has reverted to unalloyed support with his statement last night in which he vowed not to "help" extradite the former president to New York. Of course, Trump's lawyers had already announced that he would voluntarily appear for the arraignment so it was just a bit self-serving — but that says something in itself. DeSantis knows that when it comes to Trump and his legal troubles he simply cannot cross him. The GOP base won't have it. That is the most likely reason why Trump's poll numbers are up and DeSantis' are down. It's going to be very hard to run against Trump when he's under indictment.
Count me among those who think it's quite likely that instead of harming his chances of winning the Republican nomination, this indictment and any that follow, will almost guarantee it. As we can see by the reaction from the elected officials, it's not just the MAGA hardcore who feel compelled to rush to defend him. This is an organizing tool and a fundraising vehicle for the whole party and it may just vault him to the nomination without much competition. It's even possible that DeSantis might decide not to run after all.
It may have been possible for someone to challenge Trump unless he was indicted at which point the whole party has to circle the wagons to defend him. That's how perverse the Republican Party has become.
It remains to be seen if the rest of the electorate will be so forgiving. That Quinnipiac Poll may show that Republicans think an indictment has no bearing on his ability to run for president, but by a 57 - 38 percent margin, the general public disagree and believe a criminal charge should disqualify him. Those GOP officials quoted above can read that poll too but, as always, have decided their interest lies in supporting him even if it destroys the party. When he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes, for once in his life he wasn't lying.
You've had a long day. Let me pour you a cold one..................