Criminal defendants make terrible candidates — the GOP must free itself from TrumpBy Dan McLaughlin
August 15, 2023
Donald Trump is now under indictment in four different jurisdictions over three different controversies.
He faces 91 felony charges in New York, Atlanta, Miami and Washington, DC.
He’s charged with covering up hush money to a porn star, making off with classified documents after leaving office and committing a variety of frauds on state and federal governments in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Some of these charges are bogus.
The New York case, which amounts to accusing Trump of lying to his own checkbook, is the weakest of the bunch.
Others are excessive and overzealous.
Many, if not all, are driven by partisan politics and animus towards Trump.
Even the strongest case, about the boxes of classified documents, involves charges similar to things that Hillary Clinton got away with.
If we’re judging the prosecutors and the charges, these things all matter.
But when Republican primary voters are deciding whom they should nominate to run for president against Joe Biden, the only proper response to complaints about the fairness of indicting Trump should be:
So what?
Nominating Trump again would be a disaster for Republicans.
The criminal charges are one of the biggest reasons why. Even if you think that’s unfair, it’s reality.
Criminal defendants make bad candidates.
As the old saying goes, politics ain’t beanbag. People lose elections for unfair reasons all the time.
If you want to win, you don’t just ignore problems you think are unfair.
Trump still has his strengths as a politician: He’s universally famous, he’s funny, he has devoted fans, he can run on memories of a better economy before 2020, and he’s not afraid to be unfair himself.
But even before the criminal charges, he was deeply hated by half the country and disliked by a lot more than half. He already lost to Biden once, and that was before January 6.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/15/criminal-defendants-make-terrible-candidates-the-gop-must-free-itself-from-trump/