From outward appearances, they want him to quit, but he won’t listen. The Department of Justice slapped Donald Trump with an indictment over classified materials, which should also be handed to Joe Biden once he’s left office because both men did the same thing.
Trump was careless with some sensitive materials, stashing them in the ballroom and bathrooms of Mar-a-Lago. The audio recordings are incredibly damning. The Stormy Daniels indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is political theater. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s legal action is a different animal, though spare us the no one is above the law nonsense. We know the FBI is interfering in the investigations into Joe Biden, who also left boxes of classified materials in his garage and other locations. The latest indictment will again re-entrench GOP support around Trump, who has a commanding lead in the Republican primary, but one wonders what would have happened if the FBI had never ransacked Mar-a-Lago.
Would Trump have a 30-point lead in the 2024 GOP polls right now if the Biden DOJ didn’t execute their “make sure Donald wins the nomination” plan? No doubt the FBI’s raid served as an in-kind contribution. It rallied support for the former president; the rest of the party was furious. The unified reaction from Republicans was pervasive, though maybe this was a test balloon for the actual objective.
I even wrote that the August raid signaled the end of the GOP primaries. That remains somewhat true, as Trump would be our nominee should the primary contest end today. But the FBI fanning the flames is something we have said here to be wary of because none of these legal actions are coincidental. Undoubtedly, one of the aims is to get Trump to quit, but that’s more of a tertiary action item. Don’t get me wrong—all liberal America would rejoice if Trump dropped out over his legal woes, except for the Biden White House.
They want him to be the nominee and not get too conspiratorial, but the fact that this classified document investigation emanated from the executive, with Biden signing off on it, reeks to high heaven if this is Joe’s aim. Democrats are correct that Trump is the easiest candidate to beat. Ron DeSantis is the wild card, but his support among independents and his anti-bull in the China closet persona make it more likely that the coalition of voters who can block Trump in 2024 could peel off. Joe Biden isn’t popular, but Donald Trump isn’t seen as a better alternative. The GOP should have gleaned that from the 2022 midterms. Voters would rather have sucky Democrats in power because at least they are stable, unlike the unpredictability that comes with some in the GOP camp.
Everyone saw it, especially Democratic operatives and Biden White House officials, many of whom probably were expecting a shellacking. It should have been, but the GOP barely managed to retake the House with a meager five-seat majority.
There are other factors at play here with DeSantis, most of them unknown, but what Democrats do know after the 2018, 2020, and 2022 election cycles is that Trump is kryptonite, and there are enough voters who will reliably turn out to stop him. Before the Mar-a-Lago raid, it was a bit quiet in Trump’s world, even though everyone and his mother knew his 2024 election announcement was coming. The FBI raid helped pad the numbers. Trump would probably be comfortably ahead, but not 30-plus points. The raid poured accelerant on the Trump fire, and the indictment was the second spark to keep this wildfire going in the hopes that it will put things out of reach for DeSantis, the only candidate who has a shot at beating Trump for the nomination.
The FBI has been engaged in operations to influence public opinion through its partnership with Twitter pre-Elon, where it created a system of censorship and suppression with Twitter staffers to influence the wider audience. The Russian collusion hoax is another one of these rogue activities. Why shouldn’t we be skeptical of the real intent behind these federal charges and the classified document probe? Some have already taken the bait, hoping Trump runs on a platform of pardoning himself, which is insane. It comes off as ludicrous, and while I find it entertaining, the patience level with most voters on these antics is well beyond depleted.
No doubt there is some hope Trump quits, but the FBI, the media, and the Democrats secretly want him to win to secure Biden an easy second term. And the journey to get him there was to ensure Trump’s path to the nomination was clear, which meant an FBI raid and federal indictment to irritate the GOP base to help seal the deal.
