When Paul Manafort entered an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom on Thursday, he did so in a wheelchair. And dressed in a green prison jumpsuit.
Manafort was widely considered to be past his political prime — he came of age, professionally speaking, during the Reagan years — when Trump suddenly named him campaign chairman and chief strategist in May 2016. Manafort’s hire was meant to send a message to Washington Republicans: Trump was serious about representing the party in 2016 and was putting respected, veteran aides around him to accomplish that goal. (Manafort replaced Corey Lewandowski, a controversial figure whose qualifications for the job were primarily his unswerving loyalty to Trump.)
(A quick survey of respected GOP officials at the time would have, inevitably, turned up considerable doubts about both Manafort and his business practices.
