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Former President Donald Trump has been logging as much time in the courtroom as he has on the campaign trail, a potential obstacle that he is turning to his advantage.
Since the beginning of October, Mr. Trump has spent four days campaigning in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida and four days stewing alongside his defense attorneys in a Manhattan courtroom.
The former president, 77, is charged in a civil fraud case with fudging his business assets to secure loans and make deals that otherwise would have been outside his reach.
“Trump in the courts more than [the] campaign trail is unheard of,” Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University, said in an email. “But, Trump is actually on the campaign trail — from the courthouse!”
“I call it the Courthouse Campaign,” he said.
From the Trump perspective, Mr. Schmidt said, “The more accusations, charges, trials, indictments, the better.”
Conventional campaign wisdom suggested that being stuck in the halls of justice would be the death knell for any candidate. That has not been the case for the boisterous former star of “The Apprentice” reality show.
Mr. Trump, always the showman, is making the most of his new stage. He is taking advantage of the bank of reporters and cameras waiting outside the courtroom to gobble up whatever he wants to get off his chest. Not only is he offering legal defenses in these media encounters but he is also keeping attention on his presidential campaign.
“This is a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time,” Mr. Trump said on his first court appearance earlier this month.
Mr. Trump described New York state Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, as a “racist,” “corrupt” and “radical lunatic” and said she has been consumed with tearing him down.
“This is an attorney general — Letitia — that went out and campaigned on ‘I will get Trump. I will get Trump no matter what,” he said in his most recent court appearance. “She shouldn’t be allowed to be attorney general.”
Maintaining his innocence, Mr. Trump has said he was “the perfect client” for banks and his financial statements were “phenomenal.” He said he is the victim of the Biden administration’s ploy of weaponizing the justice system against him.
“This is all coming out of Washington,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump likely will have to get used to using the courtroom as a bully pulpit.
He faces more than 90 felony criminal charges in separate cases involving an attempt to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actress, mishandling classified documents and interfering with the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty in the cases.
Mr. Trump, however, can go only so far without facing potential consequences.
The judge overseeing his civil fraud case slapped him with a $5,000 fine for violating a gag order barring him from attacking the judge’s law clerk.
The federal judge in his election interference case issued a limited gag order prohibiting Mr. Trump from publicly targeting special counsel Jack Smith and his staff, as well as court employees. That order was temporarily lifted after the Trump legal team appealed.
For now, the dynamic is working in his favor.
“In a curious way, polling suggests that Trump’s appearances in court may be his most effective form of politicking,” said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University. “He is running against what he views as the weaponizing of the criminal justice system.
“In that sense, these appearances take on a performative political meaning that clearly resonates with his followers,” he said. “The daisy-chaining of these trials until the election only magnifies the concerns of many voters.”
Still, some warning signs have emerged.
Polls show Republicans have rallied behind Mr. Trump because they believe sinister motives are behind the legal charges. Yet the surveys also show that the public writ large is far less sympathetic to Mr. Trump than the Republican primary electorate and more likely to think it is time for him to pay the price.
“For the general election in 2024, it could be a problem,” Mr. Schmidt said.
The political theatrics have made for some dramatic split-screen moments.
With Mr. Trump stuck in the courtroom, his Republican presidential rivals are racing across the early primary states trying to convince voters that the best way to boot President Biden from office is to put forward a less radioactive nominee.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a recent campaign stop that Mr. Trump’s over-the-top antics and undisciplined ways have alienated voters.
“If everything becomes a sideshow, if we have all this constant drama and chaos in the background, that detracts from your ability to actually get the job done,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who is rising in the polls, is hammering home the message that it is “time for a new generational leader.”
“We have got to get past the headlines of the past,” Ms. Haley said during a recent appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The signs suggest that Mr. Trump’s rivals are battling to be the first loser — unless the justice system takes him down.
Even then, questions would linger about whether Mr. Trump would carry out his campaign from behind bars, opening up the theoretical possibility that he could pardon himself.
For now, Mr. Trump is pumping out his chest and telling voters he is willing to go to jail if it means strengthening the nation and exposing the evildoers who he insists are destroying the nation.
“The people of our country understand it,” Mr. Trump said Thursday outside the Manhattan courtroom. “We are being railroaded.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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