Former President Donald Trump is riding high headed into the July Fourth weekend, boosted by an unexpected run of political good luck that began as soon as he became a convicted criminal.
Since then his campaign has raked in cash, President Biden bombed on the debate stage and the Supreme Court delivered him a favorable immunity ruling.
“I am not sure any presidential candidate in modern history has had the incredible run of luck of Donald Trump,” GOP strategist Scott Jennings recently said on CNN. “Democrats hoped the month of June would totally change the trajectory of this campaign and it did. Now they are in a nosedive and they don’t know how to pull out of it.”
The Biden debate debacle has sent the Democratic Party into a panic, unearthing lingering wariness about the 81-year-old’s mental wherewithal and ability to string together thoughts and triggering an avalanche of speculation over whether he should step aside.
Pressure intensified on Mr. Biden this week after Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Texas Democrat, became the first sitting member of Congress to call on him to pass the baton.
Trump critics were dealt another blow after the Supreme Court dampened their hopes by ruling he had broad immunity as president, raising doubts about prosecuting him for trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
For Democrats, the decision also had an unwanted trickle-down effect.
Entering the week, there was a chance Mr. Trump’s conviction would result in him being sentenced to prison or home confinement before the Republican National Convention later this month.
That possibility was wiped away this week after New York State Judge Juan Merchan pushed Mr. Trump’s sentencing date from July 11 to Sept. 19 to have time to review the impact of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has shifted into cruise control.
The 78-year-old took a victory lap at a rally with supporters the day after the debate in Virginia and did a round of media appearances.
He’ll lay low for a bit. There are no events on his public calendar — a decision that has helped keep the spotlight on the Biden campaign turmoil.
Mr. Trump has poked fun at Mr. Biden on social media, circulating an ad highlighting Mr. Biden’s struggles.
“When you think of the Joe Biden you saw in the debate, ask yourself a question, do you think the guy who was defeated by the stairs, got taken down by his bike, lost a fight with his jacket, and regularly gets lost, makes it another four years in The White House?” a narrator says in the ad.
Some of Mr. Trump’s loyal allies have not fared as well.
Former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon started a fourth-month jail sentence for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee on Jan. 6 and former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was disbarred over the “false and misleading” statements he made contesting the 2020 election as Mr. Trump’s attorney.
Taken together, it all has been a firm reminder of the “Teflon Don’s” political durability.
Mr. Trump’s political fortunes were far less certain in late May after he became the first former president in history to be found guilty of a crime.
A New York jury unanimously found him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Trump kept chugging along.
There were no major defections within the Trump-ruled Republican Party and, the following day, Mr. Trump announced his campaign had raised $39 million since the verdict was announced through a boom in small-dollar donations.
The cash has since kept flowing.
This week, the Trump campaign announced it had raised $331 million over the past three months, outpacing the $264 million that Mr. Biden and the Democratic National Committee pulled in, leaving the presumptive GOP nominee with more money in the bank than the incumbent.
Trump senior advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said the Biden campaign has yet to move the needle despite burning through money.
“This fundraising momentum is likely to grow even more as we head into a world-class convention and see the Democrats continue their circular firing squad in the aftermath of Biden’s debate collapse,” they said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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