Don’t matter if he’s been caught doing SEVERAL criminal things…..
As he had ALL his adult life….
He’s crying and whining and attacking those who seek stop his efforts rip things off…
Being an ex-President just means he plays bigger to the media need for headlines…
Time after time?
His peacock dance seems to have worked….
BUT?
This time…
He’s in deep LEGAL shit…..
This does expose the question of what is Trump’s REAL worth?
These are civil and criminal efforts to right WRONGS….
It is NOT about politics as Trump would like to use as a shield against….
The Republican base is still going down the rabbit whole with him so far as things go deeper and sideways….
But the ‘spin’ FOR Trump still is out there….
Ever since his 2016 presidential campaign, and continuing through his post-presidency, Trump has maintained his status in the GOP not in spite of scandals piling up around him, but in part because of his ability to capitalize on them, his brand of grievance politics animating the Republican base. The New York lawsuit was the product of a state attorney general’s investigation. But it was also coming from a Democrat, in a state epitomizing for Republicans the coastal elite.
“The more Trump is attacked, the higher he climbs among Republicans,” said Frank Luntz, the veteran Republican consultant and pollster. “He knows how to play the victim card perfectly.”
If the New York attorney general “is trying to ensure his renomination, which I wouldn’t rule out, this is a good way to do it,” another prominent Republican strategist said.
In the New York civil suit, Trump is facing accusations that he and his family engaged in long-time deception, including about his net worth, as part of a fraudulent effort to minimize tax bills and otherwise benefit financially.
The case is not without reputational liabilities for Trump. Even before the lawsuit was announced, there had been concerns inside Trump world that the former president’s ongoing focus on the 2020 election — and Trump’s effort to overturn it — may damage him by casting him as a figure of the past. That has turned up in polls showing Republicans’ openness to alternative candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024, and in Trump’s approval rating ticking down….
…
Another Republican strategist who works on national races said potential rivals will gain little by belaboring Trump’s legal troubles. After all, there’s already been a “rally around the flag effect” in favor of Trump in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search last month.
“I don’t think you go after him on the scandals. Everyone is aware of those. All you do is make enemies out of the hard core members of the base,” the strategist said. “The only way to run against him is to say he’s a loser. You have to basically say, I love everything you did. I loved the policy. I think you’re great to shake up the country. But you lost the Congress, Senate, the White House – and you did that in four years – that’s a record.”…
…
But while Trump and his allies have tried to brush off the suit as just another form of political targeting, there is a recognition that her lawsuit could drag on in the courts — and be at the very least embarrassing for Trump.
The former president built his brand around a picture of wealth and success, and grossly overvaluing his worth creates an “emperor has no clothes” situation for the businessman turned politician.
In particular, for a former president who has long boasted about his wealth, James said on Wednesday that Trump “falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us.”….
Trump’s Legal Woes Mount Without Protection of Presidecy
Associated Press: “Stark repudiation by federal judges he appointed. Far-reaching fraud allegations by New York’s attorney general. It’s been a week of widening legal troubles for Donald Trump, laying bare the challenges piling up as the former president operates without the protections afforded by the White House.”
“The bravado that served him well in the political arena is less handy in a legal realm dominated by verifiable evidence, where judges this week have looked askance at his claims and where a fraud investigation that took root when Trump was still president burst into public view in an allegation-filled 222-page state lawsuit.”