In a recent speech, President Trump said that he only needed one more indictment to assure his victory in the 2024 presidential election. It would make him unbeatable, he claimed. He got it. Putting aside his proclivity for hyperbole, does he have a point?
We are not without some evidence in support of his theory. Three prior indictments – and a loss in a sexual assault civil case — were followed by increases in his polling numbers. That seems counterintuitive, and political analysts and sociologists have been trying to explain the reasons for the phenomenon without much success. The left-leaning media is responding with something between utter bewilderment and advanced apoplexy – and vicious attacks on the millions who would still vote for Trump.
In their zeal to bring down Trump and the entire Republican Party – in their own campaign for one-party authoritarian rule – Democrats seem to have forgotten that one half of the nation voted for Trump. They have gotten the court decisions and indictments they wanted, but that appears to have actually exacerbated strident partisanism and locked in the two sides even more. In fact, the only discernible movement has been in Trump’s favor.
To explain Trump’s resilient popularity, you need to understand that at least half of America does not like, trust, or want left-wing Democrats in power. Of course, those on the left are too arrogant to believe that they and their policies are the problem. In fact, millions of voters hate Democrat policies so much that they will accept a Donald Trump as the alternative.
Many believe that the indictments are not justified – and others believe that they are at least excessive. It appears to many to be the weaponization of the justice system. To those on the left, anyone who believes that is an ignorant and evil cultist. Which brings up another point.
In an effort to explain Trump’s support without assuming any responsibility, they declare half the nation to be political zombies. Well, that half of America is sick and tired of being demonized as some sort of Neanderthals hell-bent on destroying the American democracy as declared by a cabal of pompous left-wing media propagandists. Why Democrats and their media pals think that that attacking the American people will win friends and influence people is inexplicable – but it seems that is all that they have.
Even though Democrats use every lever of power – and a massive media industry putting its one-sided propaganda on serial loop — at least half the public is not buying it. The much-maligned FOX News remains by far the most watched cable news network. According to most opinion polls, the public has a little trust in the Washington establishment – especially the Department of Justice, the Congress, and the entrenched bureaucracy.
Public opinion of the Executive Branch is largely dependent on the occupant of the White House. Biden is running unprecedented low favorable ratings – and despite all the baggage being placed on Trump’s back, the best President Biden can do is enter into a tie with Trump. Geez!
They are betting that somehow their myopic anti-Trump campaign will eventually work. “When will the Trump fever break?” they ask. Democrats seem to assume that the more baggage they heap on the former President, the Trump fever will eventually break. But that is not what is happening.
The Democrats’ approach reminds me of the old practice of bloodletting when a person is sick. When the patient does not improve, they simply take more blood – eventually killing the person. Some historians said that is what actually killed George Washington.
To change the analogy, Trump and the GOP seem to be responding more like the “force” in Star Wars. The more you strike it, the more powerful it becomes. But the irrational Trump haters – as opposed to those who may legitimately dislike him and his policies – are determined to employ the same piling-on strategy that has made Trump a more formidable political force in the past. It goes to that old saying that if your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails.
In my humble opinion, had Nancy Pelosi taken a pass on impeaching Trump … and had various prosecutors used their renowned discretion to limit the charges against Trump … and had Democrats and their media mouthpieces not inflated the Capitol Hill riot to an insurrection … and had they not try to sell their fearmongering approach by claiming the Republic is near collapse … and had they not gone on an attack on grassroots Republican voters … I honestly believe Trump would be in single digits or not in the race at all.
That is not to say that Trump should be given a pass for any laws he may have broken. It is just that Democrats and the left have gone waaaaay overboard – and created the pushback that has put Trump in the lead for the Republican nomination and in a nose-to-nose horse race with Biden. They have given Trump a path to the presidency that he would not likely have otherwise had. Good work, guys (and gals)!!
So, there, tis.