For Donald Trump, as it truly is for all the rest of us, all the world is a stage. We are merely players, bound to add our own unique accoutrements to the proceedings as we go along.
The same is certainly true for politics. Perhaps even more true in that realm, if we’re being honest. It’s all about the optics. The PR. The marketing. You have to know where you lie on the spectrum from humble hero to overzealous schmuck, and you have to use that knowledge in cultivating your outward persona.
Donald Trump knows this, and he knows it well. And perhaps it is this innate and powerful knowledge of his that has the former President looking to put on a production if he’s indicted in Manhattan in the coming days.
Donald Trump has told advisers that he wants to be handcuffed when he makes an appearance in court, if he is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his role in paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels, multiple sources close to the former president have said.
The former president has reasoned that since he would need to go to the courthouse and surrender himself to authorities for fingerprinting and a mug shot anyway, the sources said, he might as well turn everything into a “spectacle”.
Trump’s increasing insistence that he wants to be handcuffed behind his back for a perp walk appears to come from various motivations, including that he wants to project defiance in the face of what he sees as an unfair prosecution and that it would galvanize his base for his 2024 presidential campaign.
The disparity in strategies between Trump and his legal team, (and their outlooks), couldn’t be larger.
Trump’s legal team in the hush money case has recoiled at the idea of him going in person and recommended that Trump allow them to quietly turn himself in next week and schedule a remote appearance, even citing guidance from his Secret Service detail about potential security concerns.
But Trump has rejected that approach and told various allies over the weekend that he didn’t care if someone shot him – he would become “a martyr”. He later added that if he got shot, he would probably win the presidency in 2024, the sources said.
The grand jury hearing the case abruptly and surprisingly did not convene on Wednesday, sparking speculation about what comes next for Trump…and the nation.
