MAGA Draws a Line in The Sand and Trump Rolls
They might be dragged kicking and screaming into the general election, but the small percentage of Republicans who currently support another candidate better get comfortable with the idea that Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee in 2024. Frankly, the Trump phenomenon is a modern political miracle, and eight years later, despite extraordinary efforts to destroy the man and the movement, it looks like the crusade to restore American pride and dignity is only strengthening.
If you need irrefutable proof of Trump’s dominance, just look at the most recent RealClear Politics composite polling data.
Currently sitting at a comfortable 52.4%, Trump’s lead over his nearest challenger, Ron DeSantis, is 31%, and the most recent Fox News poll shows the gap is actually widening. In fact, a person with no prior knowledge might look at the polls and assume Trump was an incumbent rather than part of an open field.
The Indictment Strategy Backfires
Democrats simply haven’t been able to figure Trump out since he first appeared on the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy in 2015. Their strategy in 2016 was fatally flawed, and their “victory” in 2020 relied on deceitful tactics, rendering the election illegitimate to a large number of voters.
Yet, the most obvious proof that the Trump phenomenon remains remarkably resilient is the response from Republican voters after two criminal indictments were brought against the former president in 2023. On March 30th, a grand jury handed down the first indictment, which revolved around alleged hush money payments that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg twisted into some sort of bizarre campaign finance violation.
Interestingly, Yahoo News had Trump at +16 in a poll conducted over the period of March 16-20, about a week and a half before the indictment. Immediately after the arraignment, a second Yahoo News poll showed Trump at +31, an astounding jump of 15 points in less than two weeks.
On June 9th, Trump was indicted a second time for allegedly mishandling classified documents. He was charged with violating the Espionage Act, an archaic 1917 law that prohibits interference with the U.S. military. Most legal scholars believe it is superseded by the Presidential Records Act in the Trump case. In their poll spanning May 17-18, Harvard Harris had Trump +42. In a poll taken in the immediate aftermath of the latest indictment, Harvard Harris showed Trump gaining three points to +45.
The Resistance Digs In
What all this means is that the MAGA resistance has dug in its heels and sent a message back to the Leftist regime that no amount of bullying, brow beating or intimidation can force them to disappear quietly into the night. More than anything else, Donald Trump has become a representation of the frustration, anger and resentment that has been building among patriotic Americans for decades.
These are decent, hard-working people of all backgrounds, races and ethnicities. They simply want to be left alone to pursue their version of happiness without feeling the hot breath of the federal government, fueled by the woke leftist movement, breathing down their necks. Ever higher Trump poll numbers mean they see through the sham of these indictments into the fetid underbelly of a weaponized system that attacks those who dare to defy the regime, as it turns a blind eye to the criminals who further their authoritarian aims.
So, perhaps unwittingly, the Democrats have chosen the Republican candidate after all because it is difficult to see a pathway to victory for anyone other than Trump. At 21.5%, it’s looking increasingly likely that Ron DeSantis made the worst calculation of his political career by choosing to challenge Trump instead of waiting for his turn in 2028. The rest of the field polls at 5% or less, and none of them appear to have a realistic path to victory.
The Left’s Next Move
For months, I warned that the left would try to “Arpaio” Donald Trump. In the mid-2000s, the DOJ and numerous leftist non-profit groups inundated Arpaio with lawsuits, ultimately leading to a criminal conviction and a subsequent pardon from Trump. The public in Maricopa County, weary of the expense and exhausted by the drama, abandoned Arpaio, and he went from winning handily to losing his final election for sheriff by a significant margin in 2016. The left always looks for small scale templates they can use on a bigger stage, and there is no doubt they are employing the Arpaio strategy by unleashing the fury of federal law enforcement and the judicial system on Trump.
Even worse, there are two more potential indictments lurking in the shadows, including the January 6th insurrection farce and a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger related to an investigation into obvious and substantial voter fraud.
Now that the left realizes that these third-world, politically motivated prosecutions tend to galvanize Trump’s support, they have a choice to make. If they really want to run against Trump, which would be a gross miscalculation, then I imagine they will ease off and delay the trials and verdicts until after the election. However, if they believe there is a legitimate chance Trump could be victorious in 2024, they will likely convict him in the January 6th case with the intent of disqualifying him from running for president.
While it’s generally agreed among legal scholars that even someone with felony convictions can run for president, it’s important to note an exception in Section 3 of the Fourteenth amendment, which states that citizens can be barred from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States.
It is important to note that of the four charges recommended by the House of Representatives Select Committee that investigated the January 6th protest, one of them specifically accuses Trump of inciting or “engaging in an insurrection.”
Leftist Democrats believe that most Americans who oppose them are weak-kneed cosmopolitans, who complain a lot but avoid confrontation at all costs. If the Democrats realize they can’t deny Trump the nomination by eroding his support, the only alternative would be to permanently eliminate him from consideration by convicting him on a bogus charge of inciting an insurrection.
If that happens, how will MAGA supporters react? To what extent does the patriotic base in America want its voice to be heard?
Stay tuned because this is getting interesting…
