Indictments or threats of them can boost Donald Trump’s standing in the short run. The fact that Trump is leaning in so energetically shows he believes the same thing.
The weekend has arrived, and Donald Trump, contrary to his predictions, has not been indicted. He has nonetheless used this possibility to make himself the center of attention of both the legal and political worlds, offering a window into his campaign strategy while highlighting the dangers he poses to the stability of the country.
Trump predicted a week ago that he would be indicted by a New York grand jury for his role in the payment of hush money to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. The investigation, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, does appear to be nearing a decision point, with the grand jury scheduled to meet again Monday.
In typical fashion, however, Trump didn’t wait for the grand jury to speak, calling on his followers to stage protests in an echo of what he had tweeted ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol (“Be there. Will be wild.”). On Friday morning, the former president posted an even more troubling message on Truth Social, calling Bragg “a degenerate psychopath” and warning of “potential death and destruction” if he is indicted in connection with what he termed “a false charge.”
In the past, statements like that were not taken seriously enough. But after his lies about the 2020 election, the storming of the U.S. Capitol and everything else he has done to undermine the integrity of the voting process, that’s no longer possible. No one today discounts the possibility of violence surrounding the former president or instigated by him.
His call for protests prompted law enforcement officials in New York to erect security barriers around the criminal court complex. His declarations on Friday led House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to warn that Trump’s “reckless, reprehensible and irresponsible” rhetoric could “get someone killed.”
For much of the week, commentators chewed over the question of whether an indictment in this case, given the unprecedented nature of a former U.S. president’s being charged with a crime, would help or hurt Trump politically.
Numerous times, Trump has faced serious allegations without paying much of a price in his political standing, especially within his party. He was twice impeached (and twice acquitted). He weathered the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign, an inquiry that some of his adversaries believed would have taken him down.
