{"id":4754,"date":"2023-08-04T15:52:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T20:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4754"},"modified":"2023-08-04T15:52:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T20:52:17","slug":"donald-trump-is-the-leading-2024-candidate-all-thanks-to-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4754","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump is the leading 2024 candidate \u2014 all thanks to Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are experiencing the diminishing returns of their indictments<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-4755\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"671\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4755\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25.png 1024w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25-300x197.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25-770x505.png 770w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25-293x192.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25-120x80.png 120w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-25-390x256.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former US president and 2024 hopeful Donald Trump arrives to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, after his arraignment in court. Trump pleaded not guilty (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Donald Trump\u2019s attorney and spokeswoman Alina Habba took to the streets Thursday in front of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thespectator.com\/topic\/donald-trump-january-6-arraignment-washington-dc\/\">federal courthouse in Washington, DC<\/a>, she described the former president as \u201cthe leading candidate right now for president for either party.\u201d It\u2019s a slight stretch, but only slight: the former president is within the margin of error against Joe Biden in virtually every poll, largely undamaged by the ever compounding series of \u201csolemn days\u201d when he faces new legal woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load\" title=\"Trump attorney Alina Habba speaks outside D.C. court before former president&#039;s arraignment\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"about:blank\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pp0KJE_Hh8Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><noscript><iframe title=\"Trump attorney Alina Habba speaks outside D.C. court before former president&#039;s arraignment\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pp0KJE_Hh8Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The clich\u00e9 usually attributed to&nbsp;NFL&nbsp;great John Madden is simple: if you\u2019ve got two quarterbacks, you don\u2019t have one. And in this case, the left is marshaling not just one case against Trump, but several \u2014 and experiencing the diminishing returns of such indictments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given how much clearer and stronger the Mar-a-Lago documents case appears to be, it\u2019s astounding on a certain level that Special Counsel Jack Smith would even engage in this latest indictment. But urged on by a media champing at the bit for more material and more dire portents for Trump, he\u2019s done it again. In so doing, he\u2019s created a scenario where Republicans can turn the conversation into the weaponization of speech in an even more aggressive way, and, simultaneous with the ludicrous&nbsp;handwaving&nbsp;immunity deal offered to the president\u2019s son, give more oxygen to all the most aggressive Republican critiques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The media has made no secret of its affection for Smith\u2019s strategy \u2014 following on the fawning CNN assessment of his bold, brave decision to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/07\/19\/cnn-mocked-for-calling-jack-smiths-lunch-run-was-a-message-to-trump\/\">get a sandwich at Subway<\/a>&nbsp;in recent weeks, CBS\u2019s Norah O\u2019Donnell gushed over his personal devotion to health and exercise as a sign of his \u201cgrit\u201d and \u201cdetermination\u201d in the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:18px\">CBS News fawns over Special Counsel Jack Smith:<br><br>\u201cHis aggressive approach to his personal health and exercise correlates to how he approaches his prosecution.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0Ap6y97etB\">pic.twitter.com\/0Ap6y97etB<\/a>\u2014 The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TPostMillennial\/status\/1687208540354793476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 3, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJack Smith is someone who has run [in] over and competed in over 100 triathlons,\u201d she rhapsodized. \u201cHe was reportedly at one point hit when he was on his bike by a truck and ten weeks later, he ran another triathlon. This is a man of a lot of grit and a lot of determination. And even what we have seen in these indictments is just a sliver of what they know and his prosecutorial team knows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many commentators might say the political ramifications of this indictment are unclear, because it\u2019s early yet. But we have plenty of evidence to show that these indictments are doing nothing to send Republican voters away from Trump, nor are they boosting Biden\u2019s approval rating, which remains the worst at this stage in a presidency since Jimmy Carter. The likelihood that anyone is going to be shifted away from Trump by some new revelation is essentially nil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what Biden\u2019s team is calculating, despite<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/obama-privately-warns-biden-trump-formidable-candidate-democrats-realize-report\">&nbsp;private warnings<\/a>&nbsp;from people like Barack Obama, is that Trump is the least formidable candidate for them to take on next fall. Even with the lackluster performance of Bidenomics, even with the president\u2019s well-evident struggles with senility, even with the overall sentiment among voters of a wrong track for the country and a world on edge, they seem convinced they can beat Trump by more than the 45,000 votes in three states they needed last time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s a lot of confidence. It\u2019s one thing to believe in your own ability, and have faith you can motivate the right electorate. But we\u2019ve been told time and again by these Biden Democrats that Donald Trump\u2019s threat to the country is existential, that he cannot in any way be allowed back to the White House \u2014 and yet, with their legal strategy lived out through a partisan Justice Department and a cheering media horde, they are ensuring Trump gets one large leap toward that goal.<ins><\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats had better hope their&nbsp;leaders know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/thespectator.com\/politics\/donald-trump-leading-2024-candidate-democrats-jack-smith\/\">https:\/\/thespectator.com\/politics\/donald-trump-leading-2024-candidate-democrats-jack-smith\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They are experiencing the diminishing returns of their indictments When Donald Trump\u2019s attorney and spokeswoman Alina Habba took to the streets Thursday in front of the\u00a0federal courthouse in Washington, DC, she described the former president as \u201cthe leading candidate right now for president for either party.\u201d It\u2019s a slight stretch, but only slight: the former president is within the margin of error against Joe Biden in virtually every poll, largely undamaged by the ever compounding series of \u201csolemn days\u201d when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trump"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4759,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4754\/revisions\/4759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}