Donald Trump's Legal Spectacle Comes at Perfect Time for Former President

While most presidential candidates would be concerned about facing numerous legal issues and threats to their campaign, history suggests Donald Trump will want to use his current batch of woes to his advantage.

During what has been a routinely turbulent few weeks for Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP primary has appealed to the Supreme Court to keep him on the 2024 ballots in Colorado. This comes after he was disqualified for allegedly violating the Constitution's insurrection clause on January 6. The former president also clashed with the judge while closing arguments in his New York civil fraud trial were being heard, and tried to argue the federal election charges filed against him under Special Jack Smith's investigation should be dismissed while citing presidential immunity.

Trump has also failed to have a defamation lawsuit thrown out filed against him by writer E. Jean Carroll; she has already successfully sued the former president for sexual battery and defamation in a separate suit, while citing absolute immunity. A civil trial to settle the second defamation case will now take place on January 16, one day after first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus.

Trump denies any wrongdoing in all the cases and has repeatedly said they are politically motivated "witch hunts", which aim to stop him winning the race in November. However, the charges do not appear to have damaged his 2024 chances, at least in the GOP primary. Newsweek contacted Trump's campaign by email on Saturday.

The Republican is campaigning to win the 2024 election while facing 91 felony charges across four criminal inquiries. The federal trial where Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges related to his alleged criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results is currently scheduled for March 4. This is one day before the key primary date of Super Tuesday, where voters in more-than-a-dozen states decide whom they want as the GOP's presidential candidate.

After he became the first U.S. former president in history to face criminal charges, when he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York, Trump's poll numbers actually increased.

Trump has also tried to capitalize on the charges he faced in Georgia, where he has pleaded not guilty to 13 election interference-related offenses as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' racketeering probe. Trump used the mugshot taken after he handed himself into authorities as a fundraising tool, and sold off pieces of the suit he wore while posing for the booking photo.

Nathan Price, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the University of North Georgia, told Newsweek that Trump has long used negative attention to his advantage while running for president; he will continue to do so while he can also say he is facing political persecution.

"This was exactly the strategy he successfully orchestrated in 2016 when many political observers wrote him off and believed that a more-established opponent such as Senator Marco Rubio or Governor Jeb Bush would ultimately prevail in the primary," Price said.

"Whether he was covered positively or negatively—such as mocking the disabled New York Times reporter or Senator John McCain—the sheer amount of coverage he would get prevented any of his rivals from getting traction."

Price added that, while former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is gaining momentum and positive coverage for her 2024 campaign, and is now widely considered Trump's nearest challenger in the GOP primary, the "staying power" for these types of stories are short.

"Trump's ability to dominate news cycles is an enormous advantage, and he understands how to spin any type of coverage in a way that will play to his base," Price said.

Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, told Newsweek that Trump will continue to use his legal difficulties to rile up his MAGA base. However, Reeher added that it remains to be seen if this will ultimately damage Trump's White House ambitions.

"These apparent setbacks seem to animate his core supporters, whose backing runs very deep," Reeher said. "And indeed to them the problems seem to confirm Trump's claims of Democratic Party conspiracies and an us-against-the-world mindset.

"But, among the Republican primary voters and caucus goers who are thinking about performance in the general election, Trump's mounting problems could give them pause. And if there's one obvious alternative who does not have the same baggage and is a more predictable bet—Nikki Haley seems to fit this bill the best—it could work against him.

"To quote Donald Rumsfeld, there are still some very deep known unknowns in this mix," Reeher added.