As the song “God Bless the USA” echoed around the ballroom of Mar-a-Lago and a gaggle of supporters wearing “Make America Great Again” caps cheered, it felt like any other campaign rally for Donald Trump.
But while the circus was familiar, the circumstance was unique.
He’s been a businessman, a reality TV star and the Twitter-hungry president, but this was Trump as we’ve never seen him before – as a criminal defendant.
Just six hours after his unprecedented arrest, Trump paraded through the crowd of loyal family members and adoring fans at his Mar-a-Lago mansion as the kingmaker he still proclaims to be.
He had deliberately chosen not to appear on camera in Manhattan, saving his first address since these charges became public knowledge for this corner of Florida that he considers to be his safe haven.
It had been a long couple of days for the former president – flying to and from New York in his enormous “Trump” emblazoned jet – to be arrested and charged on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The indictment alleges a “catch and kill” scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects in the dying days of the 2016 election.
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He reinforced his “not guilty” plea back at home in Florida. The glum face we’d glimpsed in court earlier in the day, was replaced by a former president defiant and dismissive of what he calls “ridiculous” charges.
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” he began his address. “The only crime I have committed is seeking to defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it… This fake case was only brought to interfere with the upcoming election and it should be dropped immediately.”
New York judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over this case, had told Trump to watch his rhetoric in the months ahead, but he didn’t appear to take heed, referring to Mr Merchan as “Trump-hating” and referencing his daughter’s ties to Democratic campaigns.
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Alvin Bragg, the lawyer bringing this case, was the “criminal” according to Trump. He has attacked Mr Bragg before, calling him a “deranged psychopath”, but this time he went after his wife and daughter too.
A tirade followed about the other investigations he’s facing – the raid on Mar-a-Lago which uncovered classified documents, the Georgia probe into interference in the 2020 election, and the allegations that he incited violence at the Capitol building on 6 January 2021.
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Some were left wondering if they’d seen this show before. If Trump’s mission operative is to undermine trust in America’s institutions, this speech was no diversion from that – framing the legal process as nothing but political grandstanding.
“They can’t beat us at the ballot box so they try and beat us through the law,” he proclaimed. “That’s the country we live in right now, the USA is a mess… I have no doubt we will make America great again.”
Of course, Donald Trump was squarely beaten at the ballot box, and various investigations into vote counts across the country have found no instances of an election “stolen” from him, as he and his supporters continue to claim.
Team Trump, in charge of his campaign, is already selling T-shirts emblazoned with a mock-up mugshot. This will certainly be a 2024 bid like no other, and the former president shows no signs of relenting.
