A column in today’s NYT suggests that the judge’s decision in the fraud case will hurt, because it goes to the heart of Trump’s identity as a successful businessman. Is that correct?
No, for two reasons. First of all, the business titan angle to Trump’s candidacy was meaningful to a lot of voters in 2016, but not now. Today’s he’s an angry reactionary politician vowing vengeance on his enemies, not the guy who fired people on “The Apprentice.” Second, Trump and his followers believe that a successful fraud is evidence of the man’s overwhelming intelligence; to them, there is no moral issue involved. If he screwed people over in business, more power to him!