There is, obviously, overlap between the indictment in Georgia and the most recent federal one, which covers the events leading up to the riot at the Capitol on January 6. But the other trials are about disparate, unrelated offenses. Once again, a consensus is forming: All of the bad stuff happening to Trump may very well be good for him. And it’s easy to see why. Trump has clearly benefited from the indictments in the Republican primaries and currently holds what looks like an insurmountable lead.
There’s a tendency, in both the press and the general public, to miss the forest for the trees with Trump—understandable, again, given the sheer level of general clownery and scandal. And yet in this instance, I think it’s possible (and indeed likely) that the criminal prosecutions Trump faces will bleed into one another and, in fact, bolster each other. Taken together, they tell a compelling and coherent story of someone who does not believe that the rules have ever applied to them.
This has thus far, unfortunately, borne out in both small ways (paying hush money to prevent a scandal) and in big ways (trying to overturn a presidential election). But in every instance you see the same features of Trump’s character playing out over and over again: his refusal to admit fault, his arrogance, his stupidity, his basic contempt for democracy. In every instance, Trump insists on bending the rules—often for venal and stupid reasons; occasionally for ones that legitimately threaten the basic foundation of the country. His own ego is privileged over everything. He will do anything to prove that he is not a loser.