Trump Trials: What Makes Him Different?

Louisa Corbett

April 17, 2024

On May 25, 2023, Donald J. Trump made history as the first former president of the United States of America to face indictment. Trump has been indicted in a total of four criminal cases—two federal and two state—and faces a total of 88 criminal charges. The most severe charges entail a maximum of 20 years behind bars. Despite Trump’s ongoing legal troubles, and his prior convictions for defamation and sexual battery in two civil cases against E. Jean Carroll, Trump still leads Biden in 2024 election polls.

Typically, when U.S. presidents become embroiled in scandal, their political careers suffer: Richard Nixon resigned from office after Watergate, and Bill Clinton was formally impeached following the Monica Lewinsky scandal. But today, Trump’s legal hardships seem to increase his popularity. Polls from 2019, before any criminal charges against Trump had arisen, showed him trailing behind Biden significantly. Recent 2024 polls suggest the opposite: he leads Biden 46% to 45.2% as of April 3rd.

What sets Trump apart from other political figures? Why do scandals, civil and criminal charges, and implications of treason seem to bolster Trump’s appeal among potential voters?   

According to The New York Times, Trump has built a religious infrastructure around his 2024 campaign. At the end of his rallies, Trump will play reflective music and deliver a roughly 15-minute speech that resembles an altar call, “the emotional tradition that concludes some Christian services in which attendees come forward to commit to their savior,” according to The New York Times. 

Though Trump refrains from directly referring to himself as a messiah, many of his followers are making that connection themselves. 

“He’s definitely been chosen by God,” one supporter said.

Another noted that “both the former president and Jesus had been arrested by “radical, corrupt governments.”

Trump displayed comfort in implying his connection to Christ. On March 25th, he posted a comparison of him and Jesus on his social media platform, Truth Social: “It’s ironic,” Trump wrote, “that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you.” On March 30th, another post of Trump’s called the criminal cases against him a “crucifixion.” With his online comments, Trump draws connections between his battle with the justice system and Jesus’s struggle against all evil.

This religious comparison is what makes Trump different from his opponents. For one, his followers largely don’t love him in spite of  his criminal cases, but rather because of his criminal cases. By casting himself as a Christ-like figure, Trump depicts himself as fighting for the very soul of the country. So, when Democrats come after him in the courtroom, even if Trump is found guilty, he can victimize himself. And this strategy works: most all-in Trump supporters believe the justice system treats him unfairly. 

“They’ve crucified him worse than Jesus,” a woman reporting to the New York Times said.

So how does this Christ comparison come into play in the courtroom?

Trump has never owned up to any proven or alleged wrongdoing. Even after a jury ruled against Trump in his defamation and sexual battery cases versus E. Jean Carroll, Trump did not admit to the sexual assault. In all four ongoing criminal cases, Trump has pleaded not guilty, even after his co-defendants accepted plea deals and pleaded guilty. His denial, according to The Washington Post, is a strategy: it allows him to continue his campaign as a wrongfully convicted victim. That vision of Trump as a victim is what keeps him ahead in the polls.

But, this religious victimization complex, a strategy The Guardian calls “Darvo,” which stands for “denial, attack, and reversal of victim and offender,” could also carry a danger.

Let’s call to mind the recent blockbuster Dune: Part Two, in which the protagonist led a people into war and slaughter because they believed him to be their savior. Similarly, after the results of the 2020 presidential election, Trump’s inflammatory nonacceptance of his defeat on social media provoked his loyalists to lead an insurrectionist attack on Capitol Hill in his honor. January 6th occurred without implicit direction from the former president; his nonaction was enough to spark a small rebellion. With the religious following Trump has now cultivated, the consequences of his actively suggesting revolt could be much more severe.

In attempts to quell the dangers Trump could incite, Judge Juan Merchan in Trump’s hush-money case issued a gag order against the former president. On March 15th, Merchan cited Trump’s “threatening, inflammatory” statements as reasons to prohibit Trump from speaking about witnesses concerning their roles in the case.

Not even two weeks after the issuance of this order, Trump violated it on March 27 by posting incendiary and false comments on Truth Social about Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan. According to Trump, Loren Merchan posted photos on X of Trump behind bars, but upon further investigation, it was revealed that the accused X account did not belong to Loren Merchan and that she had never posted such photos. In response to Trump’s violation of the gag order, Judge Merchan tightened the restrictions: Trump now cannot speak about the judge or district attorney’s families. Merchan also rejected Trump’s argument that his outburst was purely political with the statement that Trump’s behavior “merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for defendant’s vitriol.”

As the date, April 15, of Trump’s trial for this hush-money case approaches, Trump has tried to stall by challenging the gag order. But Merchan has denied this effort. Political experts agree that every delay in Trump’s trials is a victory for his self-victimization strategy: Trump and many of his loyalists operate under the notion that as long as he is not found guilty, he is not to blame. But though Trump’s hush-money case is on the horizon, the chances of all four criminal trials occurring before elections in November are unlikely. How big a role the justice system will play in November’s elections is yet to be seen, but it is clear that every day will count as prosecutors race to schedule court dates before election day.