Analysis | Indictment breathes life into Trump’s grievance-driven 2024 campaign
- Former US president’s white, working-class base could see him as being persecuted
- Charges, even conviction, won’t disqualify Trump from 2024 presidential campaign
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Donald Trump indicted in New York for paying hush money to a porn star
Just when Republicans were beginning to believe that Trump was vulnerable if he ran a campaign about all the people he believes are out to punish him, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg gave the one-term former president no reason to change his tune.
Charges – and even a criminal conviction – don’t legally stop Trump from running, or even serving as president. It’s all up to his opponents to make or break Trump’s political future if prosecutors can make a charge stick.
For Trump, the indictment is like capturing lightning in a bottle, allowing him to fully unleash his unscripted, hours-long speeches about his previous two impeachments, and the long series of “hoaxes” and “witch hunts” he says that Democrats created to block him from “saving America” for his white, working-class base, who believe an elite ruling class has ignored them.
“When they go after me, they’re going after you,” Trump said during his first 2024 campaign rally on March 25 in Waco, Texas, where he said “either the Deep State destroys America, or we destroy the Deep State” in a speech focused on his grievances. “Our enemies are desperate to stop us because they know that we are the only ones who can stop them”.
That approach could very well win him the 2024 Republican nomination, as he has continued to maintain the support of about a third of Republican voters, enough to win in a crowded field.