Trump 'leaning into his criminal case' after seeing supporters' reaction to his indictments
Donald Trump has made the four indictments against him a centerpiece of his 2024 presidential campaign after determining the 91 criminal charges only boosted him in the eyes of his supporters.
The former president was charged with keeping top-secret government documents in Florida and for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in both Washington, D.C., and Georgia, and he's charged with business fraud in New York.
Despite all this, Trump and his advisers have realized the indictments haven't hurt him politically -- and may even help him with some voters, reported The Guardian.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
"The multiple indictments were unexpectedly beneficial for Trump insofar as they gave him an opportunity to test lines of attack that portrayed the prosecutions as politically motivated, the success of which could be measured through fundraising and polling gains," reported correspondent Hugo Lowell.
So instead of running away from the charges, "Trump is intent on leaning into his criminal cases to boost his 2024 campaign through the election next year," according to multiple sources, although that strategy may not work with independent voters in a general election -- especially if he's convicted.
"The key message that Trump settled on is the false claim that he has pressed for years but his advisers found had renewed resonance: that the criminal cases were election interference, and they had been brought at the behest of Joe Biden, who was trying to prevent him from running," Lowell reported.
Trump has used the indictments and his messaging to create a "carnival-like atmosphere" and drown out coverage of his GOP rivals on cable TV news, and his advisers believe he'll get the gain the support and endorsements of the top congressional Republicans once he starts winning primary elections next year.
"Some advisers were jubilant that Trump could be forced to appear in court as Super Tuesday got underway because it could look like political interference to prevent him from campaigning. But they later decided having legal coverage instead of his policies could be detrimental."