Shortly after a Georgia prosecutor charged former President Trump with racketeering counts, alleging that he conspired with 18 other colleagues to overturn the Georgia 2020 election, Trump doubled down as he always does.
But he went further this time, announcing on his Truth Social site that he would organize a press conference in his Bedminster, New Jersey home on Monday. And provide evidence that there was indeed fraud in the conduct of the election.
The reaction in the media was understandably and predictably negative and swift. The courts have previously thrown out all of Trump's theories, the narrative went. Unless the new evidence was explosive and dispositive, this was Trump again holding on to baseless claims.
Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp, under whose watch the 2020 Georgia election mess happened, was also swift in his response. "The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen," Kemp said on Twitter. "Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor." He did not explain why, if the elections were so fair, Kemp led a massive overhaul of Georgia's election statutes and signed a new law in March 2021, just 14 months after Trump's infamous call to the Georgia Secretary of State.
In politics, timing is everything. Trump's announced press conference is on Monday. As usual, he is dominating media coverage which people will know will be negative. He knows that at least one segment will be devoted to his legal troubles on all the Sunday morning news shows, which typically set the storylines for the following week. All of these don't bother Trump. He likes it this way because he is in the news, and his other GOP opponents are not. Even if they are, they are sure to be questioned about Trump's troubles, and answering those can be a political trap for them.
Trump is betting that his Monday news conference will be a win-win.
If Trump releases new evidence in the report, he could place question marks on several independent minds. The latest proof would reinforce his three-year grievance that the 2020 elections were rigged and strengthen his GOP fan base, further disadvantaging his rivals DeSantis, Christie, and Pence.
If Trump presents a nothing-burger, the Left and the media will pounce on him for the millionth time. He wins even then as the narrative that the Deep State is out to bring about his downfall further strengthens.
Trump's unique ability has been to channel all his legal and other grievances and make them America’s grievances. In his rallies, he gets the loudest applause when he says he is running for the sake of his fans, to protect them from the Left's tactics. "If they can come after me, they can go after you," he thunders and brings the house down. Even out of office, Trump is seen by his fans as a leader who cares for his people - an incredible political asset.
The Left's attacks on Trump have served to strengthen this bond. Americans know that even if Trump may have crossed the line in each of these federal indictments, the sheer volume of charges, brought about by several factories of prosecutors and lawyers working millions of hours on the taxpayer's dime, is extraordinary for any individual to bear. Certainly not in America, which has always been known as free and fair.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the feeling that Trump is being victimized has risen as more truths emerge. We have repeatedly pointed out in these pages how Biden expressly wanted to use all tools in the government's power to ensure that Trump would never run again. This infamous slip followed six months of a partisan congressional J6 committee that spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to convince Americans that Trump was behind an insurrection. But the committee never looked into the potential grievances that triggered hundreds of thousands to march in Washington that day. Although the congressional report was all about insurrection, which was mentioned 78 times, why did Special Counsel Jack Smith not include insurrection as one of the charges against Trump?
Because Jack Smith knew that no insurrection could be proved in a court of law.
These are the reasons why Trump is leading in the polls and how public opinion could help bring a stop to the lawfare nonsense. Throughout history, there have been numerous cases when politicians have dropped out of a race, even with the possibility of a federal indictment imminent. But not Trump. Fighting all these charges that he claims are baseless adds to the Trump brand that he is a fighter. It adds to the Trump brand that he doesn’t need all these headaches and could silently disappear into the sunset, but he is in the race to help America recover from the disaster that has been the Biden administration.
It is a powerful strategy that could help sway millions of Independents toward him. Trump's presser is aimed at them because he realizes that justice for him will come at the ballot box and not in the courtroom.
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