In what should be a surprise to absolutely no one, former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has plans to capitalize on the indictment that was handed down to him in New York recently.
Insiders at the campaign recently spoke with the Daily Caller and told the media outlet that they plan to use the indictment to change the tone of the campaign to be about “fear” of the “deep state.”
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts recently, and it didn’t take long for the former president to start railing against the deep state – shifting the tone of his campaign messaging during a speech he gave at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on the night he was arraigned.
In addition to commenting on the Manhattan indictment, Trump’s speech touched on the other ongoing investigations into him. Those close to his campaign told the Daily Caller that his messaging will continue on throughout the campaign. They even said that additional “B.S. indictments” would ultimately help Trump’s campaign politically.
One person who served as a senior official in the Trump administration told the Daily Caller recently:
“Fear is the most powerful motivator in electoral politics, and when you can look a voter in the eye and say, ‘if they’re trying to do this with me, imagine what they will do to you if they have a chance …’ Trump is the master at that type of messaging.”
A separate consultant for the GOP who’s close to Trump’s campaign added that the former president’s speech at Mar-a-Lago was just him “laying out the case that the entire system has been to get him since day one … and teeing up the message that it’s going to be about him against the system.”
The Democratic officials who have been pushing for Trump to be charged in Manhattan were hoping that the fact that he was officially charged with so many felonies would convince people to flee from his side. However, it seems as though the exact opposite has happened in the immediate aftermath.
In addition to his polling numbers skyrocketing well above any of his opponents, Trump’s campaign received more than $12 million in donations after he was indicted. The 34 felony charges levied against him all have to do with falsifying some business records in relation to hush money payments that were made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
The two people close to Trump who spoke to the Daily Caller said that they expect Trump’s bump in recent polls following his indictment to carry through the entire Republican primary race. They believe his GOP challengers will face many obstacles trying to define themselves in relation to Trump.
The GOP consultant, for instance, said:
“I think this indictment changes everything … the entire universe has changed … After what [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg did, it became virtually impossible” for any Republican to criticize Trump without making it look like they were “teaming up with the New York DA.”
