Trump’s Most Dangerous Gift: For months now, he has been spinning his tale of tyranny and martyrdom, styling himself as the victim of an administration that plays dirty.

The New York Times ^ | Jun 08, 2024 05:52 PM | Brenda Wineapple

[E. Pluribus Unum]

When a Manhattan jury found Donald J. Trump guilty, it should have sent shock waves through the nation. Yet, though the trial and conviction of a former president was unprecedented in American history, it seems most people couldn’t have cared less. As Michelle Goldberg recently noted, only 16 percent of respondents to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll said they had followed the first few weeks of the trial very closely, and when asked how they felt, many replied, “bored.”

In its way, that must have annoyed Mr. Trump: how insulting, that no one would care. There was media coverage, but no frenzy, no rallies around the world in protest when he was convicted. But to win in the court of public opinion, Mr. Trump must now transform a trial in a run-down Manhattan courtroom from a shoulder shrug into an unforgettable event, with a story powerful enough to keep his supporters energized, if not outraged, and to drum up sympathy from the undecideds.

For months, Mr. Trump has been laying the groundwork, spinning his tale of tyranny and martyrdom (his own of course) and styling himself as the victim of an administration that has to play dirty to eliminate a rival as formidable as he. That story of persecution has only grown louder in recent days. Moments after hearing the jury pronounce him guilty, he predictably called the trial “rigged,” the judge “conflicted,” and a trial by jury as well as government institutions like the justice system irrelevant compared with the verdict that galvanized voters will presumably hand him in November. Politics, not the law, is his métier, and history is not his concern. His preoccupation, and his talent, is storytelling.

Instinctively he grasps the kind of broader stories that break through from the courtroom to the public. These stories...

[FormerFRLurker]

Even if it is overturned, it can take away Trump's right to campaign long enough to sway the election.

They can't take away Trump's right to campaign. Even if they do jail Trump, and that's a big if, Trump will have his own wing of the prison to accommodate his Secret Service protection. There is nothing to stop journalists from interviewing him during visiting hours. It will be a very different situation than if you or I were jailed.

It's true that some states will remove Trump from the ballot, but those states are mostly blue states Trump is going to lose anyway. Can you remember the last time Colorado voted red? And of course we can still write him in. If this trial was a plot by the left to stop Trump from winning a second term, it's not a very good one.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Intentional election interference while claiming they are not, while they tell the lie that Trump is doing it. It might not have the effect they want, but that is no excuse.