Joe Biden couldn't survive a plagiarism scandal when he ran for president in 1988. Gary Hart's "monkey business" cost him a potential shot at the Democratic Party nomination that same election cycle. If there is one quality about Donald Trump, the man can survive anything thrown at him.
Trump is facing two indictments, one over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, whose charges are based on legalese that stretches the boundaries of sanity, and the other regarding the classified document controversy.
The latest indictment is more damning, with serious accounts of alleged mishandling of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago. Even facing two trials, Trump is still running because he knows the play here: the anti-Trump political class brought legal pressure to bear to force him out of the 2024 election. They thought he'd quit, another gross miscalculation. Donald Trump's unique ability to survive in political climates that would have killed off whole crops of candidates continues to amaze and irritate liberal America.
Regarding the polls for the 2024 Republican nomination, Trump remains firmly ahead, though Ron DeSantis was starting to chip away at the lead for the presumptive nomination. The indictment news will lead to a bump in those surveys, which many, including liberal media outlets, point out, shows that these legal woes aren't disqualifying in the eyes of Republican voters (via Axios):
Why it matters: The former president has racked up impeachments, investigations, and indictments at a pace never seen in America. Yet he persists — and often comes out stronger.
Between the lines: Trump has had a lot of practice surviving the unsurvivable. So his team has developed a playbook to repeat during bad news.
Pre-release: Trump will preempt any damaging announcement by releasing new information himself beforehand to try to blunt the impact of coming revelations.
Whataboutism: Trump will try to muddy the waters by pointing to any mistakes — real, exaggerated, or false — by his opponents.
Martyrdom: He will tell his supporters that any allegations against him are part of a larger conspiracy against his cause to fight the establishment.
Solidarity: Even before all the facts are known, Trump has his allies hit the airwaves to claim that he is innocent or his enemies are corrupt.
Shamelessness: Trump never hides or acts embarrassed, even in the face of damning information.
Flood the zone online: Trump's team prepares large volumes of content ahead of time to pump out on social media.
Raise big money: Never waste a chance to raise money — especially if the Justice Department indicts him for obstruction and mishandling classified materials.
Go apocalyptic: "In the end, they’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you — and I'm just standing in their way," Trump said Saturday at a rally in Columbus, Ga., in his first appearance since the Florida indictment. He also said: "This is the final battle."
The big picture: Trump is the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. He's the only former president to be indicted on federal charges. And he expects to be indicted at least once more — this time as part of his efforts to overturn his election loss in 2020.
Impeached twice, indicted twice, and subjected to the greatest hoax and journalistic failure ever with the Russian collusion circus. And yet, he's still the face of the Republican Party. His antics have grown tiresome for many, but it is remarkable that he remains the king of the mountain for now. All these things would've destroyed an ordinary politician years ago.
Trump has the benefit of having a bloc of voters who are loyal to a fault. The Trump coalition is also one of the most efficiently dispersed voter blocs out there. Geographically, these voters cobble together in places where elections are decided, which, as data scientist David Shor said some years ago, is why someone like Trump can still mount national campaigns.
The anger over the FBI's ongoing election interference operations and its unholy alliance with Twitter pre-Elon Musk to censor and suppress speech to influence public opinion is still fresh in the minds of GOP voters, along with the bureau's reported interference on any investigation into the Biden family. The entire Department of Justice is rightfully viewed with skepticism and scorn by conservatives. Trump remains the best shot for the anti-political class wing of America to stick it to the establishment. The fact that he's not dropping out despite two upcoming trials is a testament to that. The more you attack Trump, the stronger he'll become.
The flip side is that Trump's antics, entertaining no doubt, have worn out most voters. Three election cycles have proven that there's an even larger base of voters who can and will block Trump and his crop of endorsed candidates from power. Of course, there are people who could be persuaded otherwise, but these two indictments and his not dropping out only reinforce the unpredictability and chaos that follow the man—and these people are through with it. It's tragic since Trump has an excellent agenda for the country. His 2024 comeback is also hampered by the fact that he's staffed with unqualified personnel. And while social media content is part of the election, it's not the entire campaign. Given what the DOJ has done to Trump's former aides and associates, you can see why no one is jumping at the shot to hop on the Trump train again.