Trump’s Strategy in New Hampshire: Insults and Judicial Histrionics

(CNN) — Donald Trump is unveiling a two-pronged strategy to secure another big election victory in next week’s New Hampshire primary and hopes the race for the Republican Party nomination will end quickly.

The former president is intensifying his efforts to use his legal woes to dominate the spotlight and rally his most beloved supporters. And he’s ramping up pressure on his main rival in the state, former Cabinet member Nikki Haley, who has the best chance to win the primary race against her former boss and extend the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Five days before the primary, Trump gave his clearest indication yet that his legal defense and his presidential campaign are one in the same when he walked straight from a Manhattan courtroom to a campaign rally in New Hampshire.

First, former President E. Jean volunteered to appear in a New York court to meet face-to-face with Carroll, a writer whom a civil jury had already determined he had sexually abused. Carroll testified in Trump’s presence for the first time this Wednesday, in a new trial to determine how much he will pay in damages for defaming her.

The former president publicly called Judge Louis Kaplan “disgusting” and “a guy who hates Trump” and objected to the court’s label. At one point his altercation led Kaplan to threaten to oust him — his latest run-in with the judge in the case against him.

After leaving the courthouse, he returned to the state where 24 hours earlier he had referred to Haley by her birth name, reflecting her South Asian heritage. This appears to be the last time Trump has injected a racial element into his political attacks. The former president also referred to Haley, who is trying to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, as a “brain.”

His histrionics are part of a pattern of behavior that defies standards of decorum and would have ended any conventional political career long ago. While he may cause some consternation among his most loyal supporters, his antics raise new questions about whether the GOP front-runner’s character could alienate moderate general election voters if he emerges as the nominee, particularly in critical suburbanites. Women voters, who are offended. Him – and his party – in the last elections. Still, much of Trump’s appeal to some voters who see him as authentic comes from coming across as what he wants and not trying to be politically correct.

Legal strategy also serves as political strategy

Trump’s decision to attend the Carroll case in person shows how he is trying to build a narrative of political persecution to stifle his GOP rivals and rally Republicans to shape a potential general election showdown with President Joe Biden.

His behavior in court highlights his enduring disdain for the legal system. Trump accused Kaplan of being callous for not suspending the trial so he could attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. However, the judge noted that Trump is not required to be present at the hearing. And after making a big public spectacle of it on Wednesday night, he posted on Truth Social that he was going to Florida for the funeral anyway.

In another controversy, Trump’s use of Haley’s first name recalled President Barack Obama’s frequent use of the middle name “Hussein”, which also implied racial bias and implied that the 40th president was not American and did not deserve it. hold the position. Trump has long used racial innuendos in his rhetoric as a nod to his more far-right supporters. Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is a natural-born American citizen, born in South Carolina.

“I know Trump threw a tantrum at me last night. I heard that,” Haley said Wednesday in Rochester, New Hampshire. Before trying to clarify their position on security.

The former South Carolina governor created an aura of toughness around his campaign, which Trump is now testing with his words and actions. “Everyone who has ever worked for me or worked with me, no one questions my toughness,” Haley told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview Sunday. But Haley has offered only implicit criticism of Trump’s attacks on democracy, false claims of election fraud and tumultuous term. “For better or worse, chaos follows you,” Haley says at nearly every campaign event. While she has accused Trump of lying about it, she has rarely been specific about his deviant behavior, leaving the impression that she fears alienating her supporters.

The former president’s latest extreme behavior came after a comparatively tepid speech Monday night as he celebrated his victory in the Iowa caucuses. His quick return to vitriol was, therefore, another example of how he could not be trusted. Sticking to the script and showing how a more professional campaign structure in 2024 hasn’t really changed that.

Trump long ago removed the standards of behavior expected of a presidential candidate and commander in chief. Therefore, recent events are unlikely to change the perception of his character. And at a time when many Americans are struggling with high food prices and interest rates and not realizing the economic recovery, Biden is arguing, Trump’s perceived loss of character may not be a dominant issue in the 2024 election.

His supporters often ignore such outlandish behavior or share the view that he is simply reacting to what they see as unfair treatment, a belief widely held among Republicans that is itself a powerful aspect of Trump’s political arsenal. His willingness to say things other candidates might consider vulgar is also an important part of his appeal to grassroots voters, who value his disdain for the systems stacked against him.

Trump’s ability to rewrite conventional reality is also highlighted by his success in convincing millions of Republicans that a fair election was stolen in 2020. Entrance poll Caucus Iowans on Monday night showed that a majority of respondents do not believe Biden was legitimately elected and would be fit for office even if the former president were convicted of a crime.

2012 Republican presidential candidate, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Wednesday expressed his dismay at how the GOP front-runner has transformed his party’s belief system. “I think a lot of people in this country are out of touch with reality and will accept whatever Donald Trump tells them,” Romney — who will not seek re-election next year — told CNN’s Manu Raju. “There are a lot of things about today’s voters that I find very difficult to understand.”

Trail to trail

Before returning to the Granite State, Trump spent the day in court while Carroll testified in a case that will determine how much he should be paid for defamatory statements.

In the first trial last year, a jury found that Trump had sexually abused her (enough to hold him liable for assault) and defamed her, and awarded her $5 million for statements she made in 2022. But the jury didn’t think Carroll would prove it. He raped her. Kaplan said the ruling will be carried over to the defamation trial, for statements Trump made as president in 2019, so the trial is limited to damages.

“For the president of the United States, one of the most powerful people on earth, to call me a liar for three days and call me a liar 26 times (I counted) ended the world I was living in,” Carol Trump said, referring to statements he made in 2019. said. Trump claimed he had no idea who Carroll was until she accused him of raping her in a luxury department store in 1996. The former president denies any wrongdoing in this and all other cases against him.

After Carroll’s attorney complained that Trump could be heard saying things like “it’s a witch hunt” and “it’s really a scam” during his testimony, Kaplan warned that Trump could be thrown out of the courtroom. “I would love to,” Trump said.

“I know you will,” Kaplan said. “Obviously you can’t control yourself under these circumstances.”

Ty Cobb, Trump’s former White House lawyer, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday that the former president had no official role in the trial and only wanted to use it for his own purposes. “It’s just there for show and free publicity,” Cobb said. “This is Trump at his worst.”

While the former president has based his 2024 campaign on allegations that he has been persecuted by the Biden administration and legal authorities, there is growing evidence that he enjoys benefits that are not generally available to other Americans who have previously been so. behaving judge

This attitude is consistent with Trump’s apparent belief that the rules that apply to other Americans do not limit him. On appeal in his federal election interference case, for example, he argues that former presidents have absolute immunity for actions taken in office. And at his civil fraud trial in Manhattan, he also showed contempt for the authority of Judge Arthur Angoron.

Trump always pushes the boundaries of acceptable behavior.

“Even the most notorious defendants have a constitutional right to speak freely, so judges often give litigants some warning before finding them guilty of contempt,” said CNN legal analyst Elliott Williams.

“Besides, it’s amazing how far a former president has gotten his way in court. Even as a candidate for an office that’s entitled to a lot more freedom than the rest of us who aren’t, it really puts a strain on him right now.”