Are Trump Indictments Only Serving to Endorse Him?

I had lunch with an old friend in Brooklyn on Wednesday, the day after former President Trump was indicted for the third time in four months, and he summed things up nicely.

"Why do they keep forcing this guy (Trump) on me? I was ready to move on, I would have voted for another candidate.

"But now," my friend told me, "I gotta support him. They can't get away with this."

And in that moment I knew he was right. We have to support Donald Trump now — if only to push back against the violations and lies of the Biden administration, the Department of Injustice, the FBI and Democrats in Congress, and the mainstream media.

I hear even some conservatives say, gee, it would be nice to move past President Trump. He is so combative, and ill-behaved, and unwilling to yield.

But those weaknesses are also Trump's strengths, and they are why so many millions of Americans love him and will vote for him again. Kimberley Strassel, the Potomac Watch columnist for The Wall Street Journal and author of the new book "The Biden Malaise," talks with me about this on the latest episode of the podcast "What's Bugging Me." 

The latest Trump indictment is every bit as flimsy, overdrawn, and politically motivated as were the first two. Next up, look for the state prosecutor in Georgia to indict Trump for interfering in the state election in 2020 for two U.S. Senate seats — with a phone call.

And it makes you wonder: What are these people persecuting Trump so afraid of — and why are they working so hard to derail his campaign, even if it requires putting him in prison?

Now President Trump is like a superhero who gets stronger and more invincible with every attack against him. Most candidates would have ended their campaigns and slunk away, hoping to be forgotten, while Trump stands defiantly, rises in the polls, and sends out a new round of fundraising appeals.

The first Trump indictment came on April 4 from the New York district attorney, the aptly named Alvin Bragg, who ran for office by promising to pursue charges against Trump. Some three dozen felony counts for one hush-money payoff to one porn star — even though the Federal Elections Commission dropped its case in 2021.

On June 8 came the second indictment of President Trump, 37 counts related to classified documents at Mar a Lago. Some 31 of those counts were one each for 31 supposedly purloined documents — of thousands of pages searched by the feds.

Then last week the special prosecutor, a Democrat shill named Jack Smith, added three more charges in the Mar a Lago case, alleging Trump staff dared delete private video recorded inside his home. Wouldn't you want the right to delete any private video taken inside your home?

Now comes the third Trump indictment: four new felony charges related to the 2020 election and Trump's statements and actions leading up to the Jan. 6 "insurrection." Although that is a catastrophic description of a bunch of amateurs, ushered by guards into the Capitol, where they strolled around aimlessly for a few hours, unarmed and lacking any plan.

The latest case is a blatant and unconstitutional attack on free speech. The special prosecutor argues Trump committed a crime by expressing his doubts about the election outcome.

Further, the latest indictment says Trump tried to overturn the election based on "knowingly false" claims of election fraud — but how could anyone have known for sure, in the weeks after the election, that zero fraud was involved? Especially given the myriad anomalies still unexplained to this day.

Two counts of conspiracy, two counts of obstruction. A conspiracy charge often means the actual criminal act never happened, or prosecutors are unable to prove it, so they charge you with planning the crime. And conspiring about it, and covering up what didn't happen.

Thus, this latest indictment of President Trump accomplishes the impossible. Even though he is a billionaire, and he has been elected president, and now he is the front-runner for the Republican nomination, somehow, you end up feeling sorry for the guy.

Dennis Kneale is a writer and media strategist in New York and host of the podcast, "What's Bugging Me." Previously, he was an anchor at CNBC and at Fox Business Network, after serving as a senior editor at The Wall Street Journal and managing editor of Forbes. Read Dennis Kneale's reports — More Here.