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| image source nbcnews.com |
Palm Beach, Florida - Just hours after leaving his mark on a Manhattan court and American history, former President Donald Trump returned to his base at Mar-a-Lago Club here to declare he is being unjustly persecuted by prosecutors.
"They can't beat us at the ballot box, so they're trying to beat us through the courts," said Trump, the first former president ever to be indicted, to a room of supporters including prominent figures in his movement such as failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, voter fraud crusader Mike Lindell, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, among others.
"We're a declining nation, and these radical left lunatics now want to use law enforcement to interfere in elections," said Trump, tying his indictment and multiple investigations he faces to false claims of 2020 election fraud. "It can't be allowed."
Trump, who spoke for less than 30 minutes, seemed more subdued than usual, and the long day appeared to have taken a toll on him. But he didn't just condemn the lawsuits against him in New York; rather, he turned his attention to additional legal peril he faces.
He called on prosecutors in Atlanta to "drop" their lawsuit against his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, denounced the ongoing federal investigation into the handling of classified documents, mocked the New York state investigation into his business, and referred to Jack Smith, the special prosecutor overseeing federal investigations into his actions regarding the handling of classified documents and the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, as a "lunatic."
President Trump said, "Despite all of these things being said, and the dark cloud that is now over our beloved country, we are confident that we will make America great again."
The image of a single man at the center of twin dramas - the defendant who first ran for office and then became a favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination - sharply highlights a series of unique Trumpist paradoxes that capture the nation and test its ideals.
The despicable claim that Trump protected his 2016 campaign by deploying a fixer to buy the silence of a porn star is now wrapped in the 34-count indictment of a felon who allegedly doctored business records to keep voters in the dark about previous allegations.
As the world watched Trump claim innocence, legal experts say he incited a riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the election results in Georgia and mishandled classified documents.
Yet, the most incongruous truth may be that Trump's political fortunes are at least on the rise in Republican primary contests.
On Tuesday's interview, Green said that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump's prosecutor, was responsible for expanding the former president's lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
"Alvin Bragg is making the best case for Republican voters to vote for Donald Trump. Alvin Bragg is also making the best case for independent voters to vote for Donald Trump," Green said.
The latter claim is not supported by recent polls but is raising the specter of a Republican nightmare. Trump's suffering may propel him to the nomination and leave him with nothing more than the cost of White House in November 2024.
Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and author of many books, says of the American presidency, "But this can be understood as the first effort to restore a sense of accountability to those with the highest levels of power, and even if it fails, there is relevance to that."
The contrasting black-and-white narratives of Trump's supporters and critics - each portraying him as a martyr or a fraudster, respectively - may avoid the ambiguous issue of when political action becomes criminal activity.
During President Bill Clinton's impeachment, law professor Kim Wehle, who worked in Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office, stated that Trump's candidacy and status as a former president do not make his actions more political than criminal.
"To call this political is a category mistake that involves a contradiction in terms," Wehle said. "The fact that he's been involved in politics doesn't change the legal standards for what constitutes a crime."
She believes that Bragg would only prosecute Trump if he believed he could prove that a crime had been committed.
"If the facts are very weak and don't rise above reasonable doubt, and the prosecutor is just doing it to have a political impact, then that's probably a different issue. And this is an experienced prosecutor. He understands the stakes, so I don't think this is going to be a thin case."
Before returning to Mar-a-Lago Club with a mean victory, Trump demonstrated his ability to shape his own narrative as he rolled towards court on the caravan, posting a note to his followers on the Truth Social media platform.
"It looks very surreal - wow, they're going to arrest me," he wrote. "I can't believe this is happening in America. MAGA!"
Although Trump did not strike a mugshot pose while being arrested, he did mug for the news cameras when he took the stage at Mar-a-Lago. Early that day, his campaign emailed supporters offering a shirt with a fake Trump mugshot emblazoned atop the word "innocent."
Asked whether the New York case would hurt Trump in a general election, Lake replied, "No. Are you kidding?"
"President Trump has been bullied every day since he stood up for the American people."
Trump found warm embraces from hundreds of people who came to his club to greet him, many of whom were wearing clothing bearing his name. They included a group of Trump-supporting bikers wearing sleeveless leather jackets with the number "45" emblazoned in the center of the back.
Lance Winkler, a retired church musician, said he was a first-time visitor to the club on Tuesday and a Trump supporter despite concerns about the state of the country.
"I had no interest in coming here except for being worried about this country," Winkler said. "He was arrested today, but I'm convinced it was political."
Winkler said he believes Trump's political enemies are trying to steal the 2024 election.
"He'll win, but he might not be president," Winkler said, discussing Trump's prospects if he is the Republican candidate.
Not all of Mar-a-Lago's Tuesday guests were committed to Trump as the 2024 presidential candidate.
Laura Petriello, a club member with homes in both New York and Florida, viewed the Manhattan case as a "witch hunt." But the stay-at-home mother expressed uncertainty about whom she would support in the Republican primary and voiced concern about the possibility of legal troubles hindering Trump in a general election.
