The One Title Trump Dreads More Than 'Convicted Felon'

In the wake of the guilty verdict in the Donald Trump Hush Money trial, Democrats have launched a concerted effort to cripple his campaign by taking every opportunity to identify the presumptive GOP nominee as a “convicted felon.”

This designation may count as technically accurate and could do some damage to his ongoing candidacy, but there’s another title that Trump has recently earned that threatens his political future even more than recognition as a criminal.

The greatest insult, and greatest blow to Trump’s status in the public eye, comes from becoming known as a “loser”, whose string of defeats and embarrassments comports very poorly with his claims of unstoppable and triumphant power.

In his first presidential campaign, Trump frequently repeated the promise that he would lead America to unparalleled and uninterrupted victories in every possible arena. “We’re going to win again,” he assured his cheering rallies. “We’re going let Americans know how it feels to win all the time. We’re going to win so much that you’ll feel tired of winning!”

This expectation of inevitable success has always been an essential element in the brand that Trump peddled to the public as he touted the peerless power of his business acumen and leadership skills. That’s why his recent courtroom losses in the E. Jean Carrol defamation and sexual assault case (where he’s been ordered to pay more than $83 million), and the New York State business fraud case (where he and his companies are required to cough up $354.8 million) have already badly dented the aura of invincibility that he went to great pains to construct.

The Hush Money Trial takes the embarrassment to another level, with twelve ordinary citizens, each one approved by Trump and his lawyers as potentially persuadable, rejecting every contention by the candidate and his legal representatives to find him guilty across the board. Team Trump not only failed to win over the entire jury, but also fell short of winning a majority of its members. And the often-idolized celebrity who once counted among the most powerful human beings on earth, couldn’t even convince a single individual among the twelve jurors that he was telling the truth when he denied all knowledge of efforts to use $280,000 of his own money to buy silence from two women who alleged that they shared dreary sexual adventures with him.

The problem at its core wasn’t the revelations of infidelity and irresponsibility. By the time of this tawdry trial, everyone in the country knew about Trump’s carefully curated reputation as a lothario, who frequently bragged about his prowess in the Access Hollywood tape and elsewhere. The most destructive aspect of the guilty judgment on all 34 counts charged against him, wasn’t the exposure of sleazy indulgence and exploitation, but the demonstration of rank incompetence.

This, remember, was supposed to be the weakest case of the four major prosecutions he’s faced since he left the presidency. If he can’t win over even a single juror in his concerted and wildly expensive efforts to defend himself, then questions inevitably arise over how we will handle far more complex and consequential challenges in foreign or domestic policy if he is returned to the White House by the November election.

The polling since the jury’s decision last Thursday suggests that the general public may be as difficult to convince about Trump’s ardent claims of innocence and blamelessness as were the members of the jury. For instance, an ABC News poll asked how many Americans agreed with the former president “that he did nothing wrong” in the series of events described at the trial. Fewer than one out of five—some 19%—agreed that Trump counted as innocent of both bad actions and bad intentions.

On the other hand, the majority—51%—certified their belief that Trump “did something illegal in this case” and, most significantly, did it intentionally. An additional 12% felt convinced that he’d behaved in a wrong and illegal way, but that his transgressions counted as “unintentional.” In other words, nearly two-thirds of respondents—a total of 63%—agreed that Trump performed illegal acts.

Nonetheless, other polls suggest that just as many voters say that the Hush Money verdicts make them more likely to vote for Trump, as those who say they’ll be less likely to do so. This split reaction may be sincere on the part of all parties, but if it plays out that way in November it would contradict all of political history and a near-universal understanding of human nature.

People generally rally behind winners, not losers—as Trump himself has always understood. Leaders build popularity when they become the objects of admiration, not pity. For instance, victorious generals have always made formidable candidates for the presidency—demonstrated by the ascension of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, U.S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. No commanders known for presiding over significant defeats on the battlefield have ever inspired great tidal waves of sympathy and sorrow that swept them to the White House or other seats of power.

Trump himself obviously understands the devastating impact of identification as a loser—which serves to explain why he’s spent nearly four full years stridently denying the reality of his conclusive defeat in 2020. Since his losses in the Manhattan courtroom are even more difficult to deny, the accusations of corruption and bias against the judge and the prosecutors have become even more impassioned.

But claims of victimization are no substitute for victory, and regardless of ongoing complaints, it’s impossible for Trump and his legal team to escape the taint of losing a shaky case that many observers believe they should by all rights have won.

On Monday, Fox & Friends aired parts of an interview in which he answered questions placed by viewers. “Sharon from Alabama” plaintively asked the former President: “You’ve been faced with so much adversity and persecution for years. What’s your relationship with God like and how do you pray?”

Trump looked and sounded uncomfortable with the question and its description of him as a wounded victim who needs supernatural help to succeed and survive. Many of those whose support for Trump has only intensified since the guilty verdicts against him, may celebrate his occasional embrace of the “suffering servant” role, but it’s still the role of “victorious ruler” that better suits his pampered past and increasingly messianic aspirations.