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Is Trump Really Playing 4D Chess with His Enemies?

To propel his campaign, Trump has brought decades of experience manipulating a desperate-for-clicks media that just loves to hate the mean, old Orange Man vying for the White House. In this environment, grievance and personal sleights will win out over high-minded policy successes. 

Donald Trump 2021. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Donald Trump 2021. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

As the world was worrying about the possible run on America’s banks as a result of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and other possible collapses of America’s regional banks, former President Donald J. Trump shocked the world with his post on Truth Social about how he was set to be indicted—and, therefore, arrested—by a Manhattan district attorney named Alvin Bragg. Trump is being charged with misusing personal funds to pay hush money to the pornographic film star, Stormy Daniels, to keep quiet about an alleged affair the two had in 2006 while in Lake Tahoe. 

The payment of $130,000 was made by the Trump Organization going into the 2016 Presidential Election and it is widely believed that the payment was to prevent Trump’s profligate sexual history from becoming too much of a distraction in that campaign. 

Whatever may happen to Trump (he has at least two other possible indictments pending in Georgia for election interference in 2020 and in Washington, D.C., for his supposed mishandling of classified documents), the Stormy Daniels flap is the least of his worries. Most legal experts are perplexed by the decision by the decision of the relatively new Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, to bring these charges forward and possibly indict a former president. 

Of course, as many have speculated (such as the Republican Senator of Kentucky, Rand Paul) Bragg is doing this both to appease the Far Left which has been pressuring him to bring these charges before a grand jury as well as to enhance Bragg’s own standing in the Democratic Party. These accusations against the Far Left, George Soros-backed Manhattan DA are probably accurate. 

After all, Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance, Jr., no moderate himself, ultimately shied away from bringing the case before a grand jury due to a lack of evidence as well as the fact that the maximum sentence for such a misdemeanor would be no more than four years (which Trump is unlikely to get under any circumstances).

With the legal authorities in predominantly Blue Cities, such as Atlanta, New York, and Washington, D.C., methodically moving their cases against the forty-fifth president through the normally turgid court system, Trump was reported to have been “very anxious” about the Stormy Daniels case. 

Since grand juries are secretive affairs, Trump might have been trying to flush his Democratic Party rivals in the justice system out by dropping his “Truth” bomb on Truth Social about his supposedly impending indictment (which never came about, by the way). Trump might have gotten wind that an indictment was forthcoming, and he wanted to see how serious that rumor was. 

Now, the Trump camp knows the extent of the threat that the Stormy Daniels probe poses. What’s more, Trump’s actions have likely delayed whatever plans (at least for this week) that the Manhattan DA’s office may have had for the former president, who is currently campaigning for reelection. It is obvious to everyone that the forty-fifth president, who is currently leading in the polls as the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary is slowly getting underway, that these court proceedings are, in part, designed to neuter Trump’s unconventional reelection campaign. Even foreign leaders, like Mexico’s Far Left president, believes this is the case. 

Trump does as well. This is why the former president is likely trying to outmaneuver the prosecutors doggedly pursuing him by releasing such bombshell information.

Putting the Republicans On Notice

Trump’s leak of his purported impending indictment also put the forty-fifth president’s Republican Party challengers in 2024 on notice—especially Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to even officially announce his campaign for president. 

Whereas DeSantis was starting to dominate the news cycle increasingly with his incredible policies in Florida, Trump just pulled the rug out from the well-organized, disciplined Ron DeSantis. With a simple, explosive social media post, Trump was able to steal away whatever limelight DeSantis was starting enjoy and refocus the entirety of the news cycle on himself. 

If DeSantis does decide to enter the presidential race in May of this year, when the Florida legislative session has ended, he can anticipate more of these shenanigans from Trumpworld. Thus far, DeSantis has responded meekly to these moves by Trump indicating a real weakness. 

The GOP base does not care about policies at this point. Some do, but not enough. In this environment, when Trump is involved, they want visceral, emotive, personal politics. The Republican Primary in 2024 is shaping up to be a perverse popularity contest. 

It is perverse because Trump has cracked the code for winning GOP primaries, as he proved in 2016: be domineering, be brash—even crazy—but always look like you’re “a fighter” who will “stand up” to the Leftist establishment (including that of the Republican Party) that has consistently failed and abused the ordinary folks in America. 

To propel his campaign, Trump has brought decades of experience manipulating a desperate-for-clicks media that just loves to hate the mean, old Orange Man vying for the White House. In this environment, grievance and personal sleights will win out over high-minded policy successes. 

Trump Really Does Have Dangerous Enemies

And Trump has a whopper of grievances to slam both his Republican opponents as well as the so-called “Deep State”—mainly because there really is (and has been since 2015) a conspiracy to diminish him and prevent him from acquiring the power with which to establish the globalist elite in Washington, D.C. 

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Unless DeSantis can figure out the art of mockery much better, and learn to hit back as hard—or harder—as Trump does, he will continue to be upstaged by the greatest showman on Earth, Donald J. Trump.

Time is running out for DeSantis to make his own spectacle. Thus far, he’s bombed.

Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who serves as a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive.com. Weichert is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower(Republic Book Publishers), The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (March 28), and Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (May 16). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Written By

Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who recently became a writer for 19FortyFive.com. Weichert is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as a contributing editor at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (March 28), and Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (May 16). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

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