Democrats’ martyrdom of Trump will put him back in the White House

There has been a theory bouncing around the inner circles of politics and the media that has gained more traction of late. It holds that many Democratic power brokers believe that former President Donald Trump would be more beatable in the general election than, say, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). For those who believe that, the critical question then becomes: how can we help ensure that Trump will be the Republican nominee come November of 2024?

Here's where the (up to now) diabolically clever plan comes into action. Some of those same behind-the-scenes Democratic strategists may think: “The more we can indict Trump for anything under the sun, the more his base will rally around him. The more they do, the more his numbers go up in the primary polling against DeSantis and the rest of the motley crew the Republicans are running this cycle.”

Now, is such a “theory” a sanctioned political plan? Of course not. Even if it were, no one would dare admit to it until years later, when the political memoirs start rolling out. But, admitted or not, planned or not, that theory seems to be bearing lush political fruit for any Democrats who do believe that Trump would be the easier candidate to defeat in 2024.

With each indictment, Trump’s base has rallied around him. His polling numbers have shot up dramatically against DeSantis. Things do seem to be falling into place.

One of the legs supporting that theory is that because Trump is so utterly despised by tens of millions of Democrats and far-left activists, that, just like in 2020, millions of them will step up in 2024 only to cast a vote against the hated Trump. The other leg of that theory is that those same millions might stay home if the GOP nominee were DeSantis or someone like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

So, no Trump, no motivation to vote for Biden.

As theories go, this does have some basis in reality once one looks at the voter breakdowns for the 2020 election.

But now, a new theory could be cancelling out the heretofore prevailing theory of “make Trump the nominee and we win.” This theory holds that the strategy has gone way too far and is now making Trump sympathetic to voters who were once over him, and a potential martyr to others.

To a growing number of voters — and legal experts — the latest indictment of Trump and 18 other defendants in Fulton County, Georgia crossed a line where it now seems as if charges are being invented simply to get the former president.

Suddenly, a covert plan to file semi-plausible indictments against Trump becomes a massive overreach that is defeating the original intent of manipulating the outcome of the Republican primary.

Voters not attached to the extremes of either political party may now be saying, “Wait a minute. They are now charging Trump with what? These Democrats now want to criminalize speech and past public statements? I may not like that Trump character, but this is starting to seem un-American.” 

People from all walks of life who never gave one thought to the term “prosecutorial misconduct” may be paying close attention after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 associates in a wide-ranging scheme to reverse his 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia to Joe Biden.

But the way Willis is going about it is raising a number of eyebrows in and out of the legal profession. A relatively obscure Georgia state law against racketeering may now be used to try to prosecute a former president. Applying charges traditionally used to take down organized crime figures risks making the case a legal and logistical nightmare. 

Naturally, Trump assailed the indictment as a political “witch hunt” and accused Willis, an elected Democrat, of trying to sabotage his 2024 presidential comeback bid. Now, it’s one thing if the former president and his ultra-loyal base believe that to be true. It’s quite another if more and more Americans come to view the Democrats’ indictment-roulette against Trump as entirely politically motivated. 

This is a conclusion many voters might arrive at when they find out that Willis has rolled out a 98-page indictment thin on detail, which lists 161 overt acts. One of those “overt acts” in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations charges against Trump is a text message from Trump’s chief of staff asking for the phone numbers of two Pennsylvania legislators.

That’s it. Suddenly, asking for the public phone numbers of two state legislators could be a criminal act that lands one in prison. 

It’s not hard to imagine more and more voters saying to themselves: “If they can do this to a former president of the United States, they can surely do it to me or someone in my family.” 

So, a new question for those Democratic strategists who believe “the more we indict Trump the more likely he becomes the Republican nominee” would be this: 

“What if we have now collectively and brazenly overreached — and because we have, the voters who are now beginning to see Trump as a sympathetic character and even martyr overwhelm the millions of Trump-hating voters we wanted to bring out in November of 2024?”

Watch out what you wish — or manipulate — for. 

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.