Keller @ Large: Could indictments lead to another Trump presidency?
WINDHAM, N.H. - Former President Donald Trump returned to New Hampshire on Tuesday to deliver a speech advertised as focusing on issues of concern to veterans and the military. And he took the opportunity to tout his management of foreign affairs and the Veterans Administration, drawing unflattering comparisons with President Joe Biden's handling of the same, and to make a vow: "We will abolish every Biden COVID mandate and rehire every patriot who was fired by our military with an apology and with back pay."
But Trump couldn't stay on message very long before returning to the multiple indictments he's facing. "We built the economy twice; we built the greatest economy in the world, and then we did it a second time after COVID [sic], but these incredible numbers are the primary reason why crooked Joe Biden has weaponized law enforcement," he told the crowd at Windham High School.
That was a reference to the latest polling of New Hampshire Republicans, which shows Trump enjoying close to five times more support than his nearest competitors. When the pollsters asked about Trump's legal troubles, more than six in 10 said they'd vote for him even if he's convicted of a felony, while nearly that many said they'd back Trump if he was incarcerated.
Said Trump of Biden and the recent Justice Department indictment: "What he's done is a scandal the likes of which this country has never seen, and the fake news hates to talk about it."
There were the usual Trump touches his fans have come to expect, including schoolyard taunts about Chris Christie's weight and Ron DeSantis's personality, with some left over for a local Trump critic, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. "You know, you do need some personality if you're gonna be a politician, just a little. Some of them don't have too much, like your governor, y'know?"
But Trump kept returning to the charges against him, and no wonder. As he noted: "Every time [I] get indicted, I like to check the polls. One more indictment, and I think this election's over."
Will backlash against the Trump prosecutions be enough to return him to the White House?
So far, the primary race in New Hampshire is just like 2016 - Trump with less than half the vote, but the opposition divided among multiple candidates. That formula won him the nomination, but fallout from the January 6 uprising wound up costing Trump-backed candidates last fall. No two elections are the same, but history does have a way of repeating itself.
for more features.
