Trump indictment: The circus is here to stay. What it will mean for NJ GOP | Stile

The Donald J. Trump Circus is back — this time, for a long-term engagement and its midway will stretch along Centre Street in Manhattan.

As the carnival unfolds across the Hudson River, the newly indicted Trump will only intensify the tribal warfare that has defined politics — in New Jersey and across the nation — since he pulled off his improbable victory in 2016.

The indictment allows Democrats a chance to stand back and watch as the Trump-led freak show featuring a porn star, Stormy Daniels, a disgruntled ex-henchman, Michael Cohen, and a sleazy tabloid publisher, David Pecker, consume the national stage. Trump, the ex-reality television star, will stand at the center of it all as ringmaster.

And in a strange reversal of roles, it’s the Democrats who are casting themselves as the defenders of the “rule of law," a phrase Republicans adopted to define their party’s branding for decades. Trump, they argue, should be held to the same standard as everybody else. They also will be running damage control for Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney vilified by Republicans in the House of Representatives and by the MAGA diehards.

But for New Jersey Republicans, the familiar gut-check questions loom once again:

• Are you going to stick with Trump and tout his claim that he's an innocent victim of "political persecution and election interference at the highest level"?

• Or will you decide to cut loose a conspiratorial crackpot who will only drag the party into oblivion in 2024?

To some New Jersey political analysts, the indictment will only bring into sharper relief the challenge that centrists have faced in a state that has largely hewed toward moderate Republicanism. Establishment Republicans who know Trump is a danger will still have to find a way to win reelection — both in this fall's statewide contest, in which every seat in the state Legislature is in question, and in next year's general election, in which Trump is a declared GOP presidential candidate — without alienating the radicalized Trump GOP base.

Given Thursday night's news, that base may prove even more rabid — perhaps beyond what we've already witnessed.

The circus is here to stay.

"There are many Republicans in New Jersey who will want to get past it — who want to ignore it," said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. "But it's the Trump Republicans who aren't going to let them. They're going to be litmus tests."

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What NJ Republicans said

As the news broke Thursday night, Republicans largely remained quiet — a tactic they've learned to employ in past self-inflicted Trump firestorms. Say nothing until it's safe to come outside. Several could not be immediately reached for comment.

But if the interview that Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-Cape May County, gave to Newsmax earlier this week is any indication, he has pretty much made up his mind.

He launched into a vigorous defense of Trump and rehashed some of his key talking points, including the charge that Bragg has let violent crime escalate in the city while obsessing over Trump's "misdemeanor." It's a point Trump underscored in his own reaction to the news Thursday night.

"He's a terrible D.A.," said Van Drew, the former Democrat who defected to the GOP after declaring his "undying support" for Trump in 2018. "This thing is chock-full of lies, and it's because President Trump is gonna run for president."

On Friday, the New Jersey Republican State Committee cast its lot with the MAGA wing of the party, parroting Trump's own attack on Bragg as a politically motivated prosecutor.

"Alvin Bragg has made a mockery of our justice system by allowing violent criminals to terrorize innocent New Yorkers daily, while engaging in a politically motivated prosecution of former President Trump," a statement from the state GOP organization read. "This clear abuse of power should be condemned by all Americans — regardless of party — who cherish the rule of law.”

Others saw the Trump indictment as a symptom of a much darker trend: a willingness to defeat political foes through criminal prosecution.

"This isn't about Donald Trump. Hasn't been for awhile," tweeted Matt Rooney, a conservative New Jersey blogger.

While Rooney lamented the implications, the MAGA fringe rejoiced. Mike Crispi, the right-wing podcaster, predicted that the indictment secured the 2024 Republican nomination for Trump and that a Trump mugshot photo would raise "billions" in campaign donations.

What NJ Democrats said

There was little ambivalence among the Democrats. Trump should face a long-overdue legal reckoning — that was the immediate consensus among leading New Jersey Democrats as news of the indictment broke Thursday evening.

“If published reports are accurate, that a former chief executive will soon be arrested for salacious crimes should disgust all Americans," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. "But Mr. Trump’s impending arrest demonstrates that the rule of law endures in America, and no one is above the law. True rule of law demands that no person — no president, no senator, no member of Congress — can stand above the statutes we live by."

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, agreed.

But she also offered up her own political indictment about the ex-president:

“From the beginning of his 2016 campaign, millions of Americans knew that Mr. Trump lacked the competence, civility and character necessary to lead and represent our nation on the world stage," she wrote in a statement. "Should he be found guilty of the crime he allegedly committed, it will only serve as further proof that he should never again set foot in the Oval Office.”

Still, one prominent Never-Trump Republican also argued that Trump should be held to the same standards as any average citizen accused of violating the law.

"No one is above the law," tweeted former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman. "If a grand jury thinks there’s a case there, it’s up to the prosecutor to decide whether to go forward or not with an indictment."

Charlie Stile is New Jersey’s preeminent political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com; Twitter: @politicalstile 

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Donald Trump indictment: NJ GOP scrambles to manage a new reality