#Nytimes election needle trial#

Trump as a form of political retribution.”Įntirely unconvinced, commentator Jonathan Chait called these arguments “lunatic” and “deranged” in New York Magazine - insisting Trump’s legal problems were “easily and parsimoniously explained by the fact he has habitually flouted the law throughout his career.” They hope GOP voters will respond to the indictments by nominating Mr. … All of this has Democrats elated because they want Mr.

#Nytimes election needle trial#

Trump on trial also means his competitors for the GOP presidential nomination can barely get media attention.

Trump all day, every day,” The Wall Street Journal editors agreed the same week.

“This is exactly where Democrats want voters to focus: On Mr. He added, “If they thought they made Trump a stronger general-election candidate and the favorite to beat Joe Biden, would they still pull the trigger?”Ī week later, National Review’s Andrew McCarthy stated emphatically, “The Democrats are trying to get Trump nominated because they know they would beat him decisively in November 2024.” In late July, Rich Lowry wrote in the New York Post, “Consider this thought experiment: If the Justice Department and the other prosecutors knew that the indictments guaranteed a Ron DeSantis or Tim Scott nomination, would they still go through with them?” But, Democrats may have also learned from their midterm experiment, believing even more now that they have a better shot of winning the presidency if Trump is on the ballot. The conservative National Review called last year’s election an “across-the-board failure” of major Trump-supported candidates.īut one could argue Trump candidates don’t share the same charisma or appeal of Trump incarnate, and the former president has a better chance of victory than his political acolytes. Majewski in Ohio, Karoline Leavitt in New Hampshire and Yesli Vega in Virginia, and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire. In at least some cases, that calculation paid off, with the losses of Kari Lake in Arizona, Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Hershel Walker in Georgia, Dan Cox in Maryland, J.R. Much of this had the twisted logic of Denver Nugget fans rooting for the 8th-seed Miami to beat the top-seeded Celtics in order to face a weaker team in the Conference finals. It wasn’t so long ago Democrats spent heavily (at least 44 million across eight states) to actually help nominate “Trumpy” midterm candidates in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Maryland - sometimes investing more ad money than the candidates themselves. In some countries, election campaigns last no more than a few weeks. Alas … the political theater has only just begun in America, with one debate down, and 14 months to go.Ĭampaign narratives ebb and flow, but the prevailing consensus among conservatives at the moment is the indictments against Donald Trump represent an unabashed attempt to stop the former president’s elevation to the Republican nomination as president.īut what if exactly the opposite is true?