GOP strategist: Republicans must stop pretending about Trump’s legal woes | Opinion

Democrats seemed almost giddy this month at the prospect that Donald Trump and his business empire were on the brink of collapse. New York Attorney General Letitia James started picking out properties to seize after Trump hinted at his inability to post a $454 million bond in his N.Y. fraud lawsuit.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when her office got news that an appeals court agreed to hold off on that bond if Trump put up just $175 million within 10 days, and when they learned Trump’s social media company went public and catapulted his net worth to $6.5 billion, solidifying his status among the world’s 500 richest people.

Now Democrats are surely hoping Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will have better luck when the criminal hush money trial begins April 15 — the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president.

Fueled by reports that the DOJ has spent more than $23 million investigating Trump compared to $6.4 million probing Biden, it’s tempting to dismiss the Trump lawsuits as a vindictive witch hunt or part of a deep state conspiracy to go after a political opponent. That would be a mistake.

The Republican Party must stop pretending that our nominee is a victim of the deep state. Republicans, it’s time that we are intellectually honest and acknowledge the possibility that Trump may indeed have committed some, if not all, of the actions he is accused of.

After all, Trump is no stranger to the legal system. Since the 1970s, he and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits — nearly half of which he has been the defendant. At some point, we need to accept the reality that the recent indictments are part of Trump’s longstanding history and not some deep state conspiracy.

I’m not saying the deep state doesn’t exist. Having worked as a political appointee in the Department of Education during the Bush administration, I can tell you that unelected bureaucrats have too much power. There is also increasing evidence that politics is influencing agendas within the federal government and a two-tier system of justice is emerging. But the existence of a deep state doesn’t absolve Trump of any wrongdoing. Take, for example, the documents case. Special Counsel Robert Hur “uncovered evidence that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice-presidency when he was a private citizen.” The decision not to prosecute Biden does not make Trump innocent.

The same is true for the New York fraud case. While it might be common practice in New York real estate to overvalue holdings to receive favorable loans, that doesn’t make it legal or even a witch hunt because it was a victimless crime. Our legal system is filled with laws that penalize individuals for “victimless crimes.”

Of course, the indictments from N.Y. Attorney General James, DA Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis are politically motivated aimed at taking down a political opponent. They told us so when each of them explicitly stated their intention to pursue a Trump indictment during their campaigns.

Politically motivated doesn’t equal not guilty.

Clearly, Democrats have pinned their electoral hopes on exploiting Trump’s indictments and casting doubt on his fitness for office. They see this as their easiest path to keeping the White House and winning a majority in Congress. A Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll found that 53% of voters in key swing states would refuse to vote for Trump if he were convicted of a criminal offense.

So, while tales of deep state conspiracies and two systems of justice make for great fundraising appeals, let’s not ignore the facts. We can decide the indictments don’t matter. We can decide the indictments don’t disqualify Trump from being president, but let’s not ignore them. As Republicans, we need to be honest — not only with ourselves, but also with voters if we want them to trust us and vote for us.

Matt Wylie is a Republican political strategist and analyst who lives on Hilton Head Island. He has worked on federal, state and local campaigns.