Trump, criminal or martyr?

While Christians worldwide used Holy Week to pray and remember the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the controversial arrest and criminal indictment of 76-year-old former US President Donald Trump was noisily underway in New York.

And whether he said it or not, some of his adoring followers likened the courthouse scene as “the crucifixion of Donald Trump” by a bunch of “evil Romans.”

However, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, declared: “We allege Donald Trump and his associates repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters. These are felony crimes, no matter who you are.”

One such “associate” attorney Michael Cohen, has already served sentence. Bragg added: “No amount of money and no amount of power changes that enduring principle.” How many alleged offenders could afford to go court with his own aeroplane and a heavily-guarded six-car escort? Trump did. This historical episode is a media paradise.

The 34 felony charges against him include payment of US$130,000 “hush money” to keep two 2016 sexual affairs quiet (former Playboy model Karen McDougal; pornstar Stormy Daniels). Trump, it is further alleged, also paid a doorman at his New York office to keep quiet regarding “an outside child” by Trump. Trump denied these charges in court. There are other ongoing investigations against Trump, for example, over his alleged instigation of the January 6, 2021 crowd attack against the US Congress.

His lawyers are already questioning whether payment of such “hush money” and sexual affairs are really illegal and whether the charges have strong legal basis. Right or wrong, the media has always found the narcissistic Trump a popular, even irritating newsmaker. And the media-savvy presidential hopeful will seek to turn these charges into a psychological vehicle. He described the indictments as “political persecution and political interference.”

Several top Republicans have already criticised the 34 charges, adding to the “political persecution” agenda. Senior Republican Lyndsey Graham described the prosecution as showing “double standards.”

The collective imagination is usually quite sympathetic to the politically victimised. Further, the everyday media exposure given to the divisive “underdog,” may even make Trump a “charismatic martyr.” Politics get easily captured by mass sentiment, not exacting reason. And all this is fanned by the “war” over Trump within the media themselves; for example, the liberal vs conservative television – MSNBC vs Fox.

Following the January 2021 crowd attack on the US Congress, this Trump episode has tempted many in the outside world to stigmatise the US as a “failing democracy.” Trump himself, in a quickened post-hearing television speech, complained that America is “on the decline.” No doubt, he will again let loose his clarion call: Make America great again. More than President Joe Biden, contender Trump may well define the 2024 campaign. Even if found guilty.

Partisan passions went sky-high last week in downtown Manhattan – expressed through social media, partisan signs and subdued street protests. That seemed the beginning of a long story to come, even confronting the US 2024 presidential elections. It seems cultivated into a “holy war” by his supporters in which Trump will likely outplay President Biden in media exposure.

Largely supported by evangelical movements in 2016, Trump now invokes similar middle-America loyalty again in his court battle. The Democrats “are out to get me,” he repeatedly pleads victimhood. He also accuses both Judge Juan Merchan and Bragg of being “Democratic donors” and “biased” against him. So there is and will be a lot of theatre as these indictments move towards another hearing in December.

Historian John Fea of Messiah University in Pennsylvania, said “Trump supporters see this as spiritual warfare with Trump on the side of the angels. Trump is seen as a political saviour, going to restore America, rising from the ashes despite the persecution and suffering.” However, Episcopal Bishop Reginald Jackson, overseer of over 500 churches, called all these divine metaphors “blasphemous and disgusting.”

Trump and his “resurrected” supporters are apparently treating these felony charges as psychological campaign tools. The colourful businessman is a “political victim,” his supporters repeat. There are many thousands of them. (In the November 2020 elections, Biden got 81,283,501 votes - 51.3 per cent; Trump 74,223,975 – 46.8 per cent. A difference of just 4.5 per cent).

Have these charges unwittingly opened a Pandora’s box?