Donald Trump is turning the last dash to the Iowa caucuses into a showcase for his claims of political persecution as he seeks to suck oxygen from his trailing Republican opponents.
Trump’s expected juggle of courtroom appearances and campaign events this week will stand as an metaphor for an entire election overshadowed by the former president’s legal entanglements.
His strategy of anchoring his campaign on his falsehood that he won the 2020 election – which is at the heart of two of his four looming criminal trials – and his explicit calls for “retribution” have helped make him the strongest front-runner for a presidential nomination in years. It has also complicated efforts by his chief rivals – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who meet in a CNN debate this week – to disqualify him as strong nominee.
While Trump’s rhetoric puts off many Americans, his refusal to accept decorum and to recognize the constraints of the rule of law is a key part of his brand among disaffected grassroots Republican voters. By setting Trump – who faces 91 criminal charges across four separate cases – on the road toward a third straight nomination, Iowa’s January 15 caucuses would encapsulate the fateful collision between the ex-president’s legal plight and the 2024 election.
Trump’s increasing autocratic mindset, which pulsated through his weekend events, meanwhile appeared to justify President Joe Biden’s warning last week that his predecessor could destroy US democracy if he wins in November – the core theme of the president’s campaign.
The next few weeks are likely to show the extent to which the nation’s future remains entwined with Trump, who’s making clear how he’d be an even more untamed force in a second term, in which he’d likely seek to end federal cases against him.
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