Former President Donald Trump’s campaign expects the drama surrounding his indictments to continue pushing him in the polls — even with some potential court appearances coming close to key primary dates — Trump insiders told the Daily Caller.
The former president was indicted for the fourth time Aug. 14 on charges related to the Georgia election interference case. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has requested the trial to begin March 4 — the day before Super Tuesday. Trump could face a list of other trial days, including related to his classified documents case; Jan. 6 case; alleged civil fraud case; a second defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carrol and the Stormy Daniels hush money case, right around critical points in the 2024 election. (RELATED: Trump’s Trial Dates Just So Happen To Align With Major Primary Contests)
The list of indictments, however, don’t seem to impact his support as Trump continues to dominate the Republican primary field and numbers show him being neck and neck with President Joe Biden, those close to Trump noted.
“His poll numbers keep going up, up, up!” Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung told the Caller.
“The latest CBS poll shows more than 90 percent of Republicans think the indictments are ‘politically motivated,’ and even CNN is admitting that President Trump is polling very strongly against Joe Biden. President Trump is undeterred by the Democrats’ clear efforts to interfere in the election and remove his name from the ballot. He is on track to return to the White House,” Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc., said.
A GOP consultant close to the Trump campaign said they don’t expect prosecutors to get the dates they are requesting for the trials.
“This is clearly an attempt at election interference. There’s no other reason for all these trials to be set right in the middle of the primary. The only real reason to do that is to try and interfere in the election. Now I do expect that some of these cases will get pushed back, I don’t think the prosecutors will end up getting the exact dates that they’re requesting,” the GOP consultant close to the campaign told the Caller.
The Caller granted anonymity to sources familiar with Trump’s thinking to allow them to speak openly on a sensitive matter.
Trump is also “absolutely” benefitting from the earned media he’s getting around the indictment, the consultant said. “He’s obviously gotten a boat load of earned media, and in conservative circles, sympathetic earned media around these indictments.”
There could “possibly” be campaign strategy changes, but “I would be shocked and frankly disgusted if these judges allow these trials to happen right around these major primaries,” the consultant added.
Republican strategists are also seeing the indictments as a net positive for Trump.
“As usual, conventional wisdom does not apply to Donald Trump… The indictments have done nothing but supercharge his support within the party. I just think the trial dates and other legal machinations are going to help to remind Republican voters that he is their perceived champion,” Jason Roe, Republican strategist and former executive director of the Michigan GOP, told the Caller. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle To Attend First GOP Debate Despite Trump Absence)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 14, 2023 shows Former US President Donald Trump in Orlando, Florida, on February 26, 2022 and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on August 14, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA and Christian MONTERROSA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA,CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
The indictments won’t absorb Trump’s time — they’re helping him consume “all the oxygen” from the other candidates, Roe added. The trial dates are “going to help him. It’s going to give him something to talk about.”
Republican strategist John Thomas agreed the indictments are “a boon to the campaign both for keeping Trump’s small dollar operation alive and the money machine flowing into the campaign” and “that it’s turned Trump into a mythical martyrdom-like status.”
The indictments may pose a negative in terms of being a “giant money suck and distraction,” Thomas said, adding that “it also makes it more difficult to recruit top-notch staff, because they are concerned about getting caught up in his legal problems and financing that themselves.”
Amy Tarkanian, Republican strategist and former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party, told the Caller she doesn’t “think it’s going to affect his campaign at all.”
“If you’ve seen already, every time there’s another indictment, his support increases… I don’t think these indictments, or the fact that any of these court appearances happening right around key moments of this election are going to change one bit,” Tarkanian said. “You’ve got a base that has dug their heels in and they have fed into the victimhood mentality, which president Trump and his team have really done an excellent job with that.”