How Trump’s ability to 'cast himself as a victim' helps among his MAGA base

20 July 2023

Already facing two criminal indictments, former President Donald Trump made a bombshell announcement via his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, July 18: He had received a target letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), indicating that a third indictment isn't far away.

Trump has been angrily railing against the DOJ and special counsel Jack Smith in response to the letter. And right-wing media outlets like Fox News, Fox Business and Newsmax have been rushing to his defense.

In a report published by Axios on July 19, journalist Erin Doherty cites the Truth Social announcement as the latest example of Trump's ability to "frame the news on his terms" and "cast himself as a victim."

"The unusual strategy — most criminal defendants aren't eager to publicize such things — allows Trump to minimize surprise among his supporters, go on the offensive against prosecutors, and continue to say he's being targeted by a partisan 'witch hunt,'" Doherty explains. "The likelihood of an indictment in the Justice Department's probe of his role in the January 6 riots — combined with his insistence that he and the Republican Party are the real victims — all but ensures that his legal woes will continue to overshadow coverage of his GOP rivals in the 2024 primary."

Smith has been conducting two Trump-related investigations: a probe of classified government documents he was storing at Mar-a-Lago, and an inquiry into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump is facing a 37-count criminal indictment in the Mar-a-Lago case as well as a 34-count prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. And Trump's post-2020 election activities are also the focus of a criminal investigation by Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis.

Doherty observes that whenever an indictment wasn't far away, Trump used Truth Social to fire up his MAGA base.

"Trump's preemptive announcements force his primary opponents on the record, as his supporters and conservative media pressure candidates to speak out for Trump," Doherty notes. "Dedicated supporters of the former president — and others who are more lukewarm but fear a backlash from the party's conservative base — have followed Trump's lead. Without commenting on the seriousness of the charges facing Trump — or even knowing what the likely charges are — many Republicans have accused the Biden Administration of 'weaponizing' the Justice Department against the GOP."

Trump's legal woes, according to Doherty, hurt his opponents in the 2024 GOP presidential primary by drowning out their messages.

Attorney Bradley Moss told Axios, "Preempting the government's eventual announcement if an indictment is issued allows Mr. Trump to crowd out media coverage on any political rivals and put out his own narrative long before the indictment itself drops…. There is no such thing as 'bad news’ in his view. So long as he is the center of attention, he is fine with it."

Axios' full report is available at this link.

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