Donald Trump has maneuvered his major rivals into an impossible position of trying to take advantage of Trumps liabilities without alienating his devoted supporters in the primary. If they fail to criticize his multiple misadventures they ignore a factor that could undermine their partys possible general election candidate. So far theres no sign that two and possibly more trials looming over Trump will convince most GOP primary voters hes too much of a risk to nominate. The dilemma of GOP candidates over how to treat Trump will be highlighted Friday evening when most of the field is expected at a Republican Party dinner in Iowa the first state to vote in the nominating race early next year. The GOP nominating race has effectively been frozen since last week as Trump and his adversaries wait to see whether special counsel Jack Smith will indict the former president in his criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the election. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all cases. Trump also benefited from fundraising spikes after previous indictments according to a analysis of itemized donations larger than . Trump the puppeteer While Trumps campaign is pushing a narrative that his legal problems are all a result of politicized investigations designed to keep him from power his current strength is not simply a shortterm reaction to adverse events. It is rooted in his years of undermining legal political and media institutions that tell a factbased version of events that conflict with his own falsehoods. Any conventional political candidate in such a position would have seen their hopes of the White House extinguished years ago. Yet the twiceimpeached already twiceindicted Trump the first president to challenge the US tradition of peaceful transfers of power appears as robustly popular as ever among Republicans. In a SSRS poll last month he had the support of of Republican and Republicanleaning voters. No other candidate cracked double figures and no other candidate broke double figures in the same poll. The former property tycoon and reality star shot to power by serving as an avatar for resentment against perceived elites and Washington institutions. He for example claimed massive fraud that robbed him of a popular vote victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in despite winning the presidency. He also constantly discredited government centers of power that sought to hold him in check clashing frequently with the Justice Department and the FBI during the Russia investigation. Most GOP candidates have now vowed to sack FBI Director Christopher Wray despite the fact he is serving a Republican year term meant to insulate him from political interference. These are people Deranged I call them. Pro House Republicans now hold hearings designed to prove his claims that the government is politicallyized against him. And he hounded conservatives who spoke out against his assaults on the Constitution and exArizona Sen. Jeff Flake. He lashed out against conservatives who they disdained. In his first hours in the White house Trump accused the media of falsely underestimating the size of his inaugural crowd. In hindsight this was a first bid to use the power of the presidency to tarnish the Washington media and poison the very notion of truth among his supporters. And his behavior in the runup to the Capitol insurrection are immediately seen as biased by Trump.
Trump’s legal team is fighting a lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, Ivana Trump. The lawsuit was brought by a conservative group, the National Organization for Women. Trump is fighting the suit on behalf of his wife.
