It’s been another eventful week in the world of Donald Trump, particularly related to his legal troubles.
Lawyers for Mr Trump met with Justice Department officials to establish the details and scope of the federal case against him relating to the classified documents found by the FBI in his Mar-a-Lago home. Trump’s subsequent all-caps Truth Social tirade would suggest that the meeting did not go well. In further legal issues, Trump’s lawyers also filed papers to stop E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation lawsuit, claiming his vociferous denial of the verdict against him in the first lawsuit that he carried out the day after, at a CNN townhall was truthful.
On the campaign trail, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christies announced his campaign, squarely taking aim at the former president. Trump hit back on Truth social with a post disparaging Christie’s perceived perception with the word ‘small’ and claiming he has a ‘psychological problem with SIZE’. Trump’s former VP Mike Pence also launched his run for president with an aggressive attack on his old boss. So far Trump has not commented on this development.
In an odd development, Trump posted twice on Truth Social dubbing his supporters “Magadonians”.
Looking at this week’s polls, things are not looking quite as rosy as they were for Trump last month but most leads remain commanding. The Morning Consult had Trump at 56%, 34 points ahead of Ron DeSantis. A National Research poll for American Greatness put Trump on 39% and DeSantis on 24%. In Wisconsin, PPP found Trump at 41% and DeSantis at 25% (although in a direct head-to-head, it was 43%-39%). Interestingly, in Utah Dan Jones & Associates found Trump with a one-point 27%-26% lead.
As you may be able to tell, this edition of campaign diaries was somewhat difficult to write, mainly because Donald Trump is not really actually campaigning. With the exception of the CNN townhall last month, appearances have been limited and he has no events scheduled in the future either. Legal trouble continues to swirl as the federal investigation into classified documents has progressed into an indictment. Despite all this, Trump’s lead in the polls remains commanding even as more and more Republicans jump in the race, many of whom have not been afraid to lay into him and his record.