Despite his obvious flaws, Trump uses the indictment to strengthen the GOP.

It did, in fact, occur. A former president is facing criminal charges for the first time in US history.

Multiple sources close to Trump confirmed to NPR on Thursday that a grand jury in New York voted to indict former President Donald Trump on charges related to hush money Paid allegedly to hide affairs Trump had, according to reports.

And the Trump GOP machine immediately went to work, laying out a political playbook designed to isolate the former president from his base. It appeared to work with them, but a distinct divergence emerged: while Trump’s brand was strengthened with Republicans, it became toxic with much of the rest of America.

“This is the highest level of political persecution and election interference in history,” Trump said in a statement Thursday night. He continued by calling the accusations “an act of blatant election interference” that would “backfire” on Democrats. He also criticised Alvin Rosen, the New York district attorney. Bragg, a Democrat who brought them.

The indictment, according to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is a “unprecedented abuse of power.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan issued a one-word statement that simply said, “Outrageous.”

Of course, the indictment against Trump is not the result of a prosecutor or judge acting arbitrarily. A grand jury hears evidence from a prosecutor and decides whether there is enough evidence to charge a suspect in a crime. And they did just that.

If there is a conspiracy, a jury of his peers is also involved.

Politically, an indictment is not the same as a conviction, and there are questions about Bragg’s actual case.

All of this contributes to the atmosphere of resentment that Trump, a New York billionaire, has created in order to propel his political fortunes. He’s successfully argued to his supporters that the left is out to get him – and thus them – that the system is rigged, and that the indictment and Attempts to sabotage his presidential campaign through the New York investigation are purely political in nature.

In his statement Thursday night, Trump returns to an old favorite:The Mueller Russia investigation, two impeachments, the FBI search of his Florida home where they found boxes of classified documents, and with regard to not only this case but also the other three criminal investigations stemming from his actions after the 2020 presidential election he lost and his role in the buildup to the Jan. 6 uprising, it’s all right off the greatest hits heard during the 2016 campaign.

It appears to have worked in his bid for another GOP nomination and, to some extent, in the New York case.

While the latest NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist poll this week found that a majority – 57% – of Republicans believe the criminal investigations into him are fair, 8 in 10 Republicans agree with Trump and call the investigations a “witch hunt,” and 8 in 10 Republicans still like him.

In response to Trump’s rhetoric, a Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday found that two-thirds of all respondents believe the charges in New York are not serious, and six in ten believe the investigation is politically motivated.

Most reports indicate that the three other criminal investigations—two federal and one from Georgia—put Trump in much greater danger than the New York case. However, Bragg initiated this case, and the stakes are extremely high not only for him personally, but also politically.

If Trump is convicted, he will find it more difficult to argue that the charges were frivolous and politically motivated. But imagine Trump bragging about his vindication if he is acquitted. He did so even after the Mueller investigation failed to exonerate him and after his second impeachment, which occurred after a majority of senators – but not the two-thirds required for conviction – found him guilty on Jan. 6.

When Trump took office, the Republican Party held sway in Washington. Trump was in the White House, and Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate.

However, this soon began to change. The GOP lost dozens of House seats in 2018, and Democrats took control of the lower chamber.

Trump was defeated in his reelection bid in 2020, losing by 7 million votes in the popular vote. The majority in the Senate is now held by Democrats.

Many Trump-backed and Trump-styled candidates lost key races in swing states and competitive districts in the 2022 midterm elections, costing the GOP. Instead of making large gains, as is usually the case for the president’s party in a first midterm election, Democrats increased their Senate majority. Republicans reclaimed control of the House, but only narrowly.

Republicans have now lost seven of the last eight presidential elections in terms of popular vote. Since the founding of the Republican Party in the nineteenth century, that is the worst streak for either party.

So, even as Trump appears to be rallying this version of the Republican Party behind him with claims of “witch hunts” and conspiracies, the American people as a whole have turned against him.

But, so far, no one has been willing to do so in a sustained manner, which has been the story of the Trump era.

Instead, his potential main opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, blasted the prosecutor in New York on Thursday, tweeting that “Florida will not assist in an extradition request… “

There’s no evidence that this is even a possibility. Trump’s attorneys and the New York District Attorney’s office will almost certainly simply agree on an arraignment date with Trump, either virtually or in person.

However, DeSantis’ supportive tweet demonstrates Trump’s grip on the GOP base. DeSantis must tread carefully so as not to offend Trump’s staunchly pro-Trump GOP base, even as Trump regularly criticises DeSantis’ record and personal characteristics.

A bad way to secure a presidential nomination is to declare your desire to dethrone the king while maintaining your admiration for him.