Opinion | Time Flies When You’re Being Convicted

Gail Collins: Bret, since we last conversed Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges. Time sure flies. Any thoughts?

Bret Stephens: Gail, I yield to nobody in my loathing for La Panza Naranja, particularly since he stole my grand old party from me. But this conviction, from a flimsy and convoluted case that should never have been brought and may ultimately be reversed on appeal, probably improves his chances of winning in November.

Now tell me I’m totally wrong.

Gail: Well, I’ve never thought the trial would have much of an impact on the political divide in this country. Trump is what he is, and after all the previous scandals there wasn’t much that could shake people’s opinion. (Did sort of enjoy imagining how he must have felt sitting there while Stormy Daniels described his inept lovemaking.)

Bret: Rulers make bad lovers, as Stevie Nicks might say.

Gail: But there’s that mushy middle group that everybody’s targeting. All those guilty verdicts must have discouraged the not-totally-committed Trump folks at least a tad. And more important, they tarnished his image as a winner.

So I’d argue that maybe you’re not totally right.

Bret: You might be right that it moved them, but in the wrong direction.

He instantly raised close to $35 million off the verdict. And I doubt that anyone previously inclined to vote for him will now be swayed to vote for President Biden because Trump fiddled with the books seven years ago to cover up a tawdry affair from more than a decade earlier and got convicted in a case brought by a progressive prosecutor in a liberal jurisdiction through an obscure law. The verdict plays to Trump’s argument that the system is out to get him. And it sets a precedent that will come back to haunt Democrats when partisan Republican prosecutors return the favor, as I’m sure they will.