Donald Trump hurtles towards 2024 presidential nomination post-indictment

In October 2009, then-Italian Premier  Silvio Berlusconi bemoaned , “In absolute terms, I am the most legally persecuted man of all times—in the whole history of mankind, worldwide…” Wallowing in self-pity, the brash and flamboyant tycoon-turned-politician was before Milan’s chief prosecutor for allegedly bribing his former British lawyer David Mills to provide false testimony in another trial. The late ‘Teflon Don’, who shared his nickname with the Gambino crime family’s late boss John Gotti for dodging convictions, was  convicted only once  in a raft of scandals and corruption cases—yet he was post-war Italy’s longest-serving prime minister. Fast-forward to 2023. “… This has been going on for seven years. They can’t stop because it’s election interference at the highest level,”  Donald Trump said  after being  indicted by the Department of Justice (DoJ) on 37 felony counts  in the classified documents investigation case. The bile against his successor Joe Biden, the Democrats and the DoJ was the former President’s game plan to snag the 2024 Republican Party nomination and design his criminal defence strategy. Twice impeached and indicted and  facing a barrage of legal cases , yet the 45th President is hurtling towards nomination in his usual unabashed, self-aggrandising and vitriolic way. He is again masquerading as a victim of the “Deep State” and a torchbearer of the ‘deprived and persecuted’—non-graduates, earning less than $50,000, small-town residents, Republican-leaning women and white Evangelicals. Indictments fail to dent Trump’s voter base The latest indictment could be the PzH 2000 Howitzer Trump desperately needed to catapult him to lead a GOP riven by Trumpism and comprising mostly wobbling rivals too scared to stir up his hornet’s nest of core supporters. An 28 April-3 May ABC News/Washington Post survey  revealed that 75% of Republicans thought Trump should not face criminal charges in the classified documents case. Even in  his indictment on 34 felony counts by a grand jury  over hush money payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, 79 per cent of Republicans believed that the charges were politically motivated, according to an 2 April ABC News/Ipsos poll . Similarly, an 14-18 April  NBC News poll  showed that 68 per cent of Republican Primary voters believed that Trump’s arraignment and arrest in the Daniels case was politically motivated to stop him from contesting. And 46 per cent of them picked him as their first choice for President in 2024. A March  NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll  showed similar support for Trump with 80 per cent saying that the Daniels case was a witch-hunt. Another  NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll  one week after his latest indictment showed that the unwavering support for Trump had increased—76 per cent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had a favourable opinion of him compared to 68 per cent in February. In fact, 83 per cent of Republicans thought that Trump should contest and 50%, compared to 45% in March, believed he is innocent. And 68 per cent would supported him if he remained in White House race. A  CBS News poll  conducted just before and after the second indictment threw up more stunning numbers with 80 per cent of Republican Primary voters saying Trump should be President even if convicted and 76 per cent terming the indictment politically motivated. Shockingly, the respondents still batted for Trump, who has been repeating the ‘state persecution’ and ‘stolen election’ theories ad nauseam, despite 96% preferring to hear his plans for the USA and only 39 per cent about the investigations and 32 per cent regarding the 2020 election. Trump’s path to nomination becomes easier Unsurprisingly, Trump’s popularity has jumped despite the two indictments and the GOP’s jolting House and Senate loss in the 2018 and 2022 Midterms, respectively. The major factor in his increasing chances of getting nominated is the spinelessness of most of his Republican presidential rivals in squandering away their chances of hammering him post the indictments. In a pathetic and cringey display of support, most of Trump’s presidential rivals coalesced into his defence after the second indictment. Florida governor Ron DeSantis called the indictment the “ weaponisation of federal law enforcement ”. Ironically, he had avoided Trump’s unsubstantiated pile of “rigged” 2020 presidential election claims like a plague during last year’s Midterms campaign. Similarly, former Veep Mike Pence demanded that attorney general Merrick Garland explain the “unprecedented” indictment and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley termed it “prosecutorial overreach”. The worst was entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who vowed to pardon Trump if elected because the indictment selectively omitted “both fact and law”. Except for former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who termed the indictment “damning” and slammed Trump for his “irresponsible conduct,” and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who didn’t support accusing the DoJ without evidence, other Trump rivals only made his nomination bid smoother and the rest were mum. Most of  his rivals had reacted the same way  after his first indictment. DeSantis called it the “weaponisation of the legal system to advance a political agenda”, Pence termed it “an outrage” and Haley alleged that it was “more about revenge than it is about justice”. Do Trump’s rivals defending him have any other option? NO. Their predicament: supporting him would alienate independent voters and attacking him would rile his core vote bank and GOP conservatives under the thrall of his cult status. If the rivals want to remain in the party, they have to wholeheartedly embrace Trumpism and his victimisation narrative, and continue to get gaslighted and attack the DoJ with a sledgehammer—else, they would be shown the door. The most recent example was the Republican National Committee (RNC)  rejecting Hutchinson’s call for amending the loyalty pledge  to potentially support a convicted felon. “Candidates who are complaining about this to the press should seriously reconsider their priorities and whether they should even be running,” RNC senior adviser Richard Walters said in a statement. The melodrama is both idiotic and hypocritical—the opponents are seeking votes for themselves yet defending Trump and pushing him closer to the nomination. In the process, they have reduced themselves to his sidekicks in the Trumpism saga. He’s the ‘outsider’, the messiah in the crusade against the establishment and his contenders are merely bolstering him and toeing his line. Even the Republican Party, in general, can’t afford to antagonise Trump’s loyal voters—like the Forza Italia party, which forged behind the scandalous Berlusconi despite a series of trials, including the  Bunga orgies . Despite the plausibility of being  indicted for the January 6, 2021, insurrection  and trying to  overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results , denying Trump the nomination would be akin to the GOP surrendering to the Democrats and his bête noire, the “Deep State”, out to “persecute” him. Trump’s rivals aware of their slim chances Trump’s contenders are aware of their slim chances of winning the nomination due to his mesmerising effect on Republican voters and his vice-like grip on the party. The CBS News poll proves it. If America votes today, 61 per cent of the respondents will vote for Trump, only 23 per cent for DeSantis, a paltry 4 per cent for South Carolina senator Tim Scott and Pence each and 3 per cent for Haley. When it comes to whom they are considering right now, 75 per cent of them supported Trump, 51 per cent DeSantis, 21 per cent Scott, 16 per cent Pence, 15 per cent Haley, 13 per cent Ramaswamy, 9 per cent radio host Larry Elder, 7 per cent Christie, 6 per cent Hutchinson and 4 per cent North Dakota governor Doug Burgum. Interestingly, the CBS News poll also revealed the overarching Trumpian influence on GOP voters with 74 per cent preferring a nominee like Trump if not him! The most revealing data was  Trump’s 32-plus-point lead over DeSantis  among Republican voters in national surveys. According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump’s support had increased from 46 per cent on 1 March to 53.5 per cent on 17 June while DeSantis’s support decreased from 29.7 per cent to 20.9 per cent. An  Economist/YouGov poll  too showed Trump leading DeSantis by 33 per cent. Trump leads DeSantis even in his home state. An April 13-14  Florida Atlantic University/Mainstreet Research poll  showed 59% of registered Republicans will vote for him in the upcoming presidential primary compared to 31 per cent who will support the governor. In a nutshell, the latest indictment, his rival’s reluctance to challenge him and their fear of riling his avid supporters have immensely boosted Trump’s chances of nomination. The writer is a freelance journalist with two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .