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TRUMP’S STUNNING GUILTY VERDICT SHATTERS HIS AURA OF INVINCIBILITY
 
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Greg Sargent
May 31, 2024
The New Republic
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_ Democratic operatives sometimes say there’s no sense in talking
about Trump’s trials, because his “negatives” are “baked
in.” Nonsense. A guilty verdict is powerful new information. The
force of this truth should inform how Democrats proceed. _

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One of the most bizarre things about the Donald Trump era has been the
persistence of his aura of invincibility. Trump, who never reads books
but somehow harbors deep knowledge of what history tells us about how
autocrats succeed, cultivates this aura relentlessly. The nonstop
lying about his poll strength, the absolute refusal to concede the
slightest error in any situation, the endlessly hallucinogenic
fabrications about his crowd sizes—all of it flows from his
seemingly instinctual sense that conceding any hint of weakness must
be resisted at all costs, lest it unleash forces that shatter him
entirely.

The guilty verdict that a Manhattan jury handed to Trump in his
hush-money trial—he was convicted
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all 34 felony counts—is surely such a powerful spectacle in part
because it upends that dynamic. Only hours ago, it was possible to
still see Trump as a seemingly untouchable figure on the verge of
defying us all again. An entire political party had lined up behind
him to cast the proceedings as illegitimate
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No matter how sleazy, grotesque, and damning the revelations, his grip
on the GOP seemed to only grow stronger. His poll numbers refused to
budge. He was violating his gag order with impunity, insulting the
judge and his family, hypnotizing millions of rank-and-file
Republicans into seeing him as a victim of overzealous law
enforcement, and generally unfurling a big, fat middle finger at the
justice system and at the rule of law itself.

He was getting away with all of it. Again.

Until he didn’t.

The force of this truth should inform how Democrats proceed now.
Democratic operatives sometimes say there’s no sense in talking
about Trump’s criminal trials, because his “negatives” are
“baked in,” as the grating consultant-speak has it. Indeed,
according to a source familiar with the situation, the Biden campaign
has no plans for any paid ads on the verdict. The campaign did put
out a powerful statement
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verdict, and it’s somewhat understandable that Biden himself is
cautious about commenting on Trump’s legal travails, given that his
own Justice Department is prosecuting Trump.

But that can’t set the tone for the whole party. Other Democratic
groups and elected officials must do all they can to make sure that
voters know about this conviction, and, importantly, that Republican
lawmakers—who are running for reelection as we speak—lined up like
little robots to savage the justice system, all to put Trump above
accountability and the law.

After all, Republicans are in a terrible trap. Look what happened when
Larry Hogan—who is running for Senate in deep blue Maryland—dared
to say the absolute minimum of what’s responsible here, that the
system should be respected:

What that really shows is how devastating it would be for Trump if
more Republicans follow suit. Chris LaCivita, Trump’s campaign
manager, knows perfectly well that nothing about any of this is
“baked in.” In a way, the baked-in idea is just another version of
the invincibility thesis. And it’s nonsense: A guilty verdict is
powerful new information—the fact that one of the major party
nominees is a convicted felon is an unprecedented and deeply jarring
situation. We should hold institutional Democrats responsible if they
don’t _use it,_ and use it ruthlessly and effectively.

True, the hush-money affair is less serious than Trump’s alleged
crimes related to the insurrection and the theft of national security
documents. But it shouldn’t be hard to make the case that
an extremely serious offense lurks beneath the tabloid trash
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Trump committed extensive fraud to deceive the American people about a
tawdry affair and cheat his way into the most powerful position in the
world, one he never should have been granted in the first place. The
GOP presidential nominee is now a convicted criminal. As Dan
Pfeiffer put it
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Democrats should “call Trump a convicted felon at every
opportunity.”

The larger story is also a powerful one. The system sought to hold
Trump accountable despite a roar of second-guessing—and in the face
of incredible strains inflicted on it by Trump and his GOP enablers
and media propagandists, who make up an extraordinarily powerful elite
cadre. The system held. That reflects positively on our country. There
is time for the Biden campaign to figure out how to tell that story as
well.

No question, Trump could still defy political and legal gravity in
plenty of ways. Though some polls suggest Trump will pay a political
price for his conviction, it’s anyone’s guess whether voters will
make good on that, and a lot rides on whether Democrats succeed in
driving it all home. Beyond that, Judge Aileen Cannon seems to have
delayed Trump’s trial for theft of state secrets. The Supreme Court
could still stall Trump’s insurrection-related trial until after the
election. But I suspect that has now become somewhat less likely: Now
that Trump has been branded a felon, dubiously helping Trump delay
justice will become harder to justify, and will come at a greater
political and institutional price.

Trump’s aura of invincibility has never been earned. He was
impeached more times than any other president in U.S. history. He
presided over the worst string of GOP electoral losses in many
decades. He lost reelection after only a single term, which he won
only after losing the popular vote. He has never once commanded
majority support in this country. He had already been losing in court
already—he’s been nailed
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sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll, and his company was found
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have systematically lied about its worth—even though he enjoys the
priciest legal representation, funded partly by donor money that he
fleeced
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his own party, another privilege that pretty much no other defendant
has enjoyed, ever.

And now, after Trump and his elite enablers attempted mightily to
wreck the whole system to keep him beyond accountability at all
costs—an effort that for a time looked like it just might
succeed—a jury of ordinary Americans heroically stood up and said:
No.

_Greg Sargent
[[link removed]] @GregTSargent
[[link removed]] is a staff writer at The New
Republic and the host of the podcast The Daily Blast
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with over two decades of experience, he was a prominent columnist and
blogger at The Washington Post from 2010 to 2023 and has worked at
Talking Points Memo, New York magazine, and the New York
Observer. Greg is also the author of the critically acclaimed book
[[link removed]] An
Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Disinformation and
Thunderdome Politics._

_The New Republic was founded in 1914 to bring liberalism into the
modern era. The founders understood that the challenges facing a
nation transformed by the Industrial Revolution and mass immigration
required bold new thinking._

_Today’s New Republic is wrestling with the same fundamental
questions: how to build a more inclusive and democratic civil society,
and how to fight for a fairer political economy in an age of rampaging
inequality. We also face challenges that belong entirely to this age,
from the climate crisis to Republicans hell-bent on subverting
democratic governance._

_We’re determined to continue building on our founding mission._

_Subscribe to The New Republic
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* hush money indictment
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