Nominating Trump would be 'political suicide' for GOP: National Review conservative

21 February 2024

Despite his legal and financial problems, Donald Trump appears to be well on his way to winning the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Trump leads former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by 63 percent among Republican primary voters in a Morning Consult poll conducted February 17-19. Emerson College finds Trump ahead of Haley by 64 percent in a poll released on February 16.

Trump's financial state grew even worse on Friday, February 16 when Justice Arthur Engoron ordered him to pay nearly $355 million in New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud case. And that $355 million increases to $450 million when interest is factored in.

Engoron's verdict comes after the damages jurors ordered the former president to pay in writer E. Jean Carroll's two civil defamation lawsuits: $5 million in the first case, and $83.3 million in the second.

In a February 20 column, the National Review's Andrew C. McCarthy warns fellow conservatives that nominating Trump would be "political suicide" for the GOP in light of his many legal and financial problems.

Trump, McCarthy observes, "has already had to post about $6 million to appeal the first E. Jean Carroll judgment."

"If he follows through with his promised appeal of the January 26 jury verdict in the second E. Jean Carroll case," the National Review columnist explains, "he will have to file a notice of appeal by early next week and post around $90 million. Judge Engoron's astonishing verdict was rendered last Friday, February 16; hence, to appeal, Trump will have to post over $400 million. In total, then, we're talking about half a billion dollars, or more."

McCarthy continues, "Trump would have to use his own funds for these purposes. It has been widely reported that a big slice of his campaign fundraising has been going to attorneys' fees. I am not sufficiently versed in the esoterica of campaign finance law to analyze the justification for this practice in connection with private lawsuits in which the campaign is not a party — a subject on which experts disagree. Yet, at least according to NYU constitutional-law professor Richard Pildes, a candidate is not permitted to use campaign funds to pay judgments — or, presumably, to pay for bonds posted for purposes of appealing judgments."

The conservative journalist points out that Forbes has estimated Trump's net worth to be roughly $2.6 billion, adding that he "claims to have over $400 million in liquid assets" — a figure that, if it is accurate, is "now markedly outstripped by civil judgments and debt, to say nothing of exorbitant, accumulating legal fees."

"If you're asking me whether Trump can weather this financial storm," McCarthy argues, "I'd say: I don't know his true condition well enough to give a confident answer. But I have my doubts. If you're asking me whether it makes sense for Republicans to nominate Trump for president in these circumstances, my much more confident answer is that it would be political suicide — which, naturally, won't stop them from doing it."

Andrew C. McCarthy's full National Review column is available at this link.

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