I think it’s possible that Republicans don’t care about Donald Trump’s run-ins with the law.

Perhaps despite the numerous allegations, he will investigate and charge him with rape, defamation, attempted subversion of the 2020 election, his role in the January 6 attack, falsifying records of hush money payments, his position as the leading GOP candidate and once again convince his tens of millions of zealous supporters to vote for him.

It is a stunning and depressing display of lowering national expectations, a remarkable low point we have reached, that a candidate accused of multiple criminal acts is a perfectly credible contender for the presidency. No sitting or former president has ever been charged with a crime until Trump. It’s one of his many historic firsts, along with being dropped twice.

Yet that is where we are. His legal difficulties, which could potentially land him in jail, seem to have no bearing on his popularity with Republican voters, except perhaps to boost their support. load

week, even as E. Jean Carroll accused him in a Manhattan courtroom of brutally raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman locker room, Trump stumbled away in New Hampshire,

cheerful

citing polls showing him with

a

large and growing lead over its main GOP competitors.

And it’s only been a month since, in a separate case brought by Manhattan Dist. attentive Alvin Bragg, Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. What happened then? His popularity rose. A Yahoo News-YouGov poll conducted just after the indictment showed Trump leading Florida governor. Ron DeSantis57

% Unpleasant

31% among Republicans and Republican independents significantly higher than in February, when DeSantis led Trump in the same poll.

In addition, Trump received a wave of new donations after the indictment.

It is true, of course, that he has not yet been convicted of anything; Carroll’s sexual assault allegations are just accusations at this point, as are the New York grand juries’ 34 crimes. Trump, who has denied his wrongdoing, deserves at least the same presumption of innocence in court that any defendant is entitled to.

Still, shockingly, in the outside world, the response from Trump supporters has been deafening. So what! Who cares?

Trump doesn’t seem surprised.

This witch hunt, like any other, will only backfire on Biden, Trump said a fundraising email after his settlement

in the

business documents

case

.

(It’s unclear why he

would

Blame Biden on either the Manhattan DAs case or Carroll’s civil lawsuit.)

So how did we get to such a point in our politics? Wouldn’t such accusations in a previous era have been instantly disqualifying? President Nixon began his second term in January 1973 with a Gallup approval rating of 68%, but by August, after the Watergate congressional hearings and much debate over his role in the cover-up, his approval rating had dropped to 31%. He resigned a year later rather than face impending impeachment.

Senator Gary Hart (D-Colo.) withdrew from the 1988 presidential race when he was accused of an extramarital affair with Donna Rice. Dancing. Joe Biden (D-Del.)

So

withdrew

of the ’88 race

a few months later, after being caught plagiarizing a speech and embellishing his academic credentials.

And none of them had even been there

arrested!

Yet Trump’s supporters are rallying around him, even as the Justice Department continues to investigate his role in the Jan. 6 melee, Georgia prosecutors are investigating his efforts to undermine the 2020 election and

the

New York

stands

attorney general is investigating his business practices.

What accounts for his apparent invulnerability? In part, it’s just Trump’s je ne sais quoi: its hard to explain

,

sui generis brand of persecution politics, the tactical brilliance with which he has convinced his conspiratorial followers that he is a long-suffering victim of repeated, dishonest, politically motivated witch hunts.

Even those who recognize his shortcomings have long since accepted him as he is: a norm-breaking street vendor with insatiable personal lusts, a selfish attitude toward public office, and an unhealthy disregard for the rules. They have taken that into account.

He is also protected by the loyalty he commands from cowardly GOP politicians who fear breaking with him will hurt their own careers. They cover him.

Another part of this has less to do with Trump and more to do with America’s changing political attitudes. Over the years, voters have adopted

a

less judgmental measure of what is acceptable in a candidate.

To some extent, that’s a good thing. Americans were horrified by Nixon’s use of profanity on White House tapes until we got used to it. We were shocked when President Clinton admitted to smoking marijuana

(

but not inhale

)

, which previous candidates hadn’t done until we got used to that too. Clinton survived sexual misconduct

revelations

that would have sunk some of its predecessors, but by the end of that

scandal, many Americans had decided it was his own business whether he cheated on his wife.

In 2023, we as a society made a clear decision that we would treat our candidates’ personal weaknesses and flawed behavior with a degree of generosity, at least some of the time.

But Republicans, please. There must be a line.

If Trump had a consensual perk

–

marital affair with Stormy Daniels, that is not admirable, classy, ​​or exemplary conduct. But Americans could reasonably decide that they don’t

concern.

rape

,

on the other hand

is something else.

i

If he did, it’s out of sight.

Hiding a payout of hush money through false business documents is also unacceptable. But much more blatant than that (and we’ll soon see what the Justice Department and the

Georgia prosecutors conclude) are attempts to undermine the perfectly legitimate 2020 election.

In any case, wait and see where the investigations turn out and what the prosecutors decide and what the juries have to say. But sooner or later, Republicans everywhere have to come forward and say that breaking the law and undermining American democracy just isn’t right.

okay okay

.

But will they?

@nick_goldberg