Starting with the NYC indictment, leftist prosecutors around the country are seemingly going to gang up on former President Donald J. Trump.  While they agree that this may well help Pres. Trump gain the GOP nomination in 2024, conservative talkers and writers find themselves hard-pressed to see how this will change the mind of one voter he lost in 2020 compared to 2016.  Most curiously to me, among these talkers is Clay Travis, the founder of OutKick, a sports website. 

Ultimately nobody can know for certain how 34 repetitive frivolous indictments in New York City, a handful of additional frivolous indictments in Atlanta, or even frivolous federal indictments from his political opponent will ultimately play either in the primaries or the general election. Sure, we know that the TDS left will be sure that Trump is guilty and going to prison, and, equally, we know that Trump’s base supporters will rally to him.

On the other hand, the American people have a long history of getting behind an underdog.  This is particularly true if the public feels the underdog is undermanned or a little guy is being mistreated.  Hollywood makes movies about such situations.  America also loves a comeback of someone they feel might be being ganged up on.     

So, if voters come to feel that Trump is being unfairly targeted, he certainly may get back some voters that switched from him in 2020.  He may also get some other non-ideological voters who voted against him or did not vote in the past, but who feel the cards are stacked unfairly against them, like the Democrats are unfairly treating Donald Trump.

Now your humble writer is old, so perhaps this theory of Americans rallying to underdogs is just something I remember from an America long past. Hollywood is still making spinoffs of the Rocky series. And thinking way back to earlier this month, I remember a host of fans rallying to underdogs like Florida Atlantic University and San Diego State University.  So anecdotally, it appears American moviegoers and sports fans at least will still rally behind an underdog.

The bottom line is I don’t know, you don’t know, and the talkers and writers don’t know the ultimate effect of Democrat officials ganging up on Trump.  We don’t know how much legal machinations will keep Trump off the campaign trail.  We don’t know what ultimately will be said in court if any case actually gets to court.  Certainly, it could be weakening him with a thousand cuts, as the Democrats hope.  Equally, it could rally voters, including new voters, to support Trump.

Finally, I don’t mean to pick on Clay Travis here.  I like his talk show with Buck Sexton and listen fairly regularly.  Still, one might have expected a guy who got his start in sports to mention the possibility that by ganging up on Trump these leftist prosecutors may accidentally be performing the magic trick of turning a billionaire ex-president into a sympathetic underdog that voters, not just GOP voters might rally around.

James L. Swofford is a professor of economics in the Department of Economics, Finance, and Real Estate at the University of South Alabama.

Image: Pixabay, JeffJacobs