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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. When he wrapped up remarks following his arraignment Tuesday with a familiar promise to Make America Great Again, former President Donald Trump pushed into the adoring crowd at his Mar-a-Lago club ignoring Secret Service instructions to take a pre-cleared path and made his way to a private patio dinner with his daughter Tiffany, her husband Michael Boulos and longtime conservative operative Sergio Gor.

While they ate, surrounded by aides and friends at nearby tables, Trump listened to a playlist he had curated himself. Songs included Justice for All, his version of the national anthem with the J6 choir of inmates awaiting trial for their roles in the insurrection, Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown singing Its a Mans World, and selections from Sinead OConnor and Phantom of the Opera.

It was a serene end to one of the most tumultuous days in American political history one that started with the first booking of a former president on criminal charges in New York and transitioned to the same man, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, delivering a speech rebuking state and federal prosecutors from his campaigns base of operations in Palm Beach, Fla.

What Mar-a-Lago provided was a soothing retreat full of Trumps favorite things: a crowd of friends and family, a quiet dinner on the patio and a 500-song Spotify list that allows him to play disc jockey. If Trumps mood was mostly reserved that day from his arrival at the courthouse where he declined to speak to reporters, through a jab-filled but sedately delivered speech, all the way to the end-of-night dinner its a mood his team will be trying to sustain over the coming months as he tries to survive the twin crucibles of an election and criminal jeopardy.

The relative calm in the midst of chaos Tuesday belied Trumps well-earned reputation for failing to control his impulses and for whipping his supporters into frenzies in times of crisis most notably the one that ended in the Jan. 6 insurrection. But it also revealed the extent to which the smaller, more insular, lower-drama team around him this time has already helped him keep focus and avoided riling him up unnecessarily.

Thats not to say it will be easy or that it will succeed. Trump is still Trump. He continues to push the unfounded claims of a stolen 2020 election, shared a photo of himself holding a baseball bat next to the head of the Manhattan district attorney and has championed the people incarcerated for the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol.

His teams discipline promises to be put under severe duress as he simultaneously runs a presidential campaign and defends himself against charges in New York and investigations at the federal level and in Georgia.

Ive never seen a more professional operation around Trump. Ive also never seen a Trump-world operation with so little infighting, said one longtime operative in his orbit. All of the key people are genuine pros.

Indeed, the biggest difference, according to interviews with half a dozen people working on his campaign or with direct knowledge of its operations, is the type of operatives Trump is surrounded by right now. Gone from the inner circle are figures who sought their own publicity like campaign chiefs Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon and Brad Parscale. So are the sycophants who believed the best way to curry favor with Trump was to execute on his most outlandish ideas, like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

We have less people who try to ingratiate themselves with him by going the extreme route, said one person involved in the campaign who credited Susie Wiles, the co-manager of the operation, with keeping the crazies out. Everything seems to be less dramatic not drama-free, but less dramatic.

On Friday, the campaign quickly put out a fire lit when the New York Times reported that Trump had instructed aides to hire Laura Loomer, a prominent Trump supporter with a long history of making anti-Muslim comments. Trump allies, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, reacted angrily to the news, and by the end of the day a campaign official confirmed to NBC News that Loomer would not be brought into the fold.

No one in proximity to Trump is under the illusion that he will barnstorm across the country for the next year and a half in anything resembling an ordinary campaign; nor would they want him to lose the rawness that connects him to millions of voters. But, for now, Trump insiders are pleased with what they see as a more-disciplined operation that helps the candidate channel his political instincts.

That group includes Wiles, co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, strategist and public-relations veteran Jason Miller, longtime adviser Boris Epshteyn and a set of trusted hands who manage various aspects of security and logistics for his public appearances.

They are charged with helping Trump navigate the political side of the ledger while a three-member team of lawyers Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina defends him against the charges in New York, along with allegations that he incited the Jan. 6 riot, mishandled classified material and tried to overturn his defeat in Georgia in the 2020 election.

Though noticeably more sedate thanhis fans are accustomed to in his speeches, Trump ripped the judge in the New York case, Juan Merchan, during his speech at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night. He called the jurist, who appears to have donated $15 to Joe Bidens campaign in 2020, a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family.

For any other politician or defendant that remark alone would constitute a radical breach of decorum, political savvy and legal strategy. For Trump, an avid golfer, it was par for the course at a time when his legal troubles have solidified his support among the GOP primary electorate.

A Trump aide said they do not plan to attempt to significantly rein in the former president when it comes to these attacks, in part because they appear to recognize the benefits in them. While his harsh words for judges and prosecutors are always a concern for the lawyers, the aide said the campaign team was less worried.

We see the criticism as mild and factual. Its not just coming from a place of anger, the aide said, pointing to Trump highlighting the work Merchans daughters firm did for Vice President Kamala Harris short-lived 2020 presidential campaign. As far as we are concerned, I would say there are minimal concerns because he behaved appropriately.

Trump has watched his political fortunes rise in recent weeks, but one aide on his 2020 campaign said the political operations turnaround was first evident in a February visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a major train derailment that released toxic chemicals into the air.

That felt like that was the first thing they did that was OK, theyve got their s--- together the operative said.

Trump railed against President Joe Biden at a rally with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, in a 10-minute speech and made several stops in town to meet with residents. Last month, he held rallies in Davenport, Iowa, and Waco, Texas, and one adviser said his calendar will soon fill out with big events in early primary states.

His next scheduled public appearance is April 14 at the National Rifle Associations conference in Indianapolis, where several potential rivals for the GOP nomination are expected to speak.

Trump insiders say he has been encouraged by Republicans rallying around him in the face of the charges against him.

He is pumped, the adviser said. He loves this moment. Its a moment of vindication in his eyes.

That sentiment may become more acute now that the anxiety of the arraignment is behind him.

On his flight to New York Monday, Trump and his aides discussed the logistics of his court appearance for about 25 minutes and then watched Fox News, according to a person who was present.

It was for sure a surreal moment, the person said. We were stressed to some degree, of course, but there was no anger, and nothing totally out of the ordinary.

Trump was virtually silent when he arrived at the courthouse to be finger-printed and sit for the arraignment hearing.

It was a sober moment, according to an adviser. He did not really say two words. I think he knew it was not the right moment to do that. He let everyone else do the talking.

The morning after the arraignment and his speech at Mar-a-Lago, Trump posted a note of gratitude to the officials inside and outside the courthouse on his Truth Social media platform.

The great patriots inside and outside of the Courthouse on Tuesday were unbelievably nice, in fact, they couldnt have been nicer, Trump wrote. Court attendants, Police Officers, and others were all very professional, and represented New York City sooo well.

That courtroom setting, and the legal system more broadly, are things Trump and his team will have to become more accustomed to as they try and pull off a historic political high-wire act: returning to the White House facing criminal charges and a handful of separate serious state and federal investigations.

His advisers are confident his indictment will provide a short term political boost, and early public polling has backed that assertion it could at least with Republicans. But the person fretted over the long term uncertainty of the historic moment. We just dont know, they said of whether the weight of high profile legal woes and ongoing investigations will eventually bog down his political aspirations.

No one has ever done this before, the person said. We just dont know whats going to happen here.

Matt Dixon is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Florida.

Jonathan Allen is asenior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

Originally posted here:
How a tight circle of aides is trying to keep Trump out of trouble - NBC News

On Monday afternoon, Donald Trumps son Eric posted a tweet to his four million followers. Watching the plane... from the plane, he wrote, attaching a P.O.V. image from inside his fathers private jet, where a shiny-wood-panelled television was showing footage (from Fox News, natch) of the Trump-branded plane he was sitting on, readying for takeoff at the Palm Beach International Airport. Given the circumstances of the trip, Eric Trumps tweet felt a bit too Look, Dad, were on TV-gleeful, but he wasnt wrong to acknowledge the spectacle, which was only just beginning. This was a big day not just for the Trump family but for the entire nation: the first time in history that an American President had been called to face criminal charges. Trumps passage from Mar-a-Lago to Manhattan, an antiheros journey that traversed our countrys Eastern corridor, was feverishly followed by major news organizations and meticulously documented on the three Ts of social media: Twitter, Truth Social, and TikTok.

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Eric Trumps words also captured something else about his fathers indictment, which, despite its historic and political significance, also felt notable for its hall-of-mirrors-like quality. This may be Bidens America, but once again we were in Trump-land, a place that has long been defined by its seemingly endless simulacra: the constant loop of memes and clips and posts that come ever closer to replacing actual events as they are happening, making us into observers instead of conscious actors in a shared reality. In a sense, we were all watching the plane from the plane. And its hard to imagine that Trump wasnt at least a tiny bit thrilled by this return to the media spotlight, much like a fired reality-TV star who has been invited to make a guest appearance on a later season of a show. Rolling Stone reported that, although Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, offered Trump the possibility of a private arraignment on Zoom, the former President nonetheless chose a high-profile midday surrender to the court. As Warren Beatty once said, of his onetime girlfriend Madonna, She doesnt want to live off-camera.

For better or for worse (likely the latter), Trumps thirst for being watched has always been matched by our perhaps even greater thirst for watching. And so I was predictably sucked in, first by the aerial shots of Trumps motorcade making its way from his Mar-a-Lago estate to the airport in West Palm Beach, reminiscent, in speed and scale, of the O. J. Simpson white Bronco chase, and, in aesthetic, of a funeral procession, with its long line of black S.U.V.s. Then there was the Trump planes takeoff, paired with a CNN anchors solemn narration. As the former Presidents red-white-and-blue jet rose into the air, the anchor described Trumps return to New York as a homecoming unlike what he ever would have imagined or wanted, while still being one that hes doing and one that he is trying to make the most ofa phrasing that led me to imagine the former President squeezing in some shopping and lunch with the girls in SoHo after his visit to the Lower Manhattan courthouse. Meanwhile, outside Trump Tower, in midtown, where another motorcade would eventually drop Trump off for an overnight stay at his triplex, before picking him up again on Tuesday afternoon to take him to his arraignment, there seemed to be more press and lookie-loos than either MAGA supporters or #resistance liberals.

Were used to seeing the hubbub surrounding former Presidents, and in that respect Trumps arraignment, an event of pomp and bad circumstance, felt like Opposite Day. Armed with all the motorcades and private jets and Secret Service men in the world, he was returning to New York not to attend a state funeral, stump for a party mate, or open a Presidential library (as if) but to turn himself in to law enforcement. Then again, this was all perfectly in line with Trumps wild-and-woolly Opposite Day Presidential tenure, of which I was keenly reminded by the absolute freak show that awaited him at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday.

George Santos outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

Though the press might still have outnumbered the protesters, there were plenty of demonstrators on both sides. The MAGA bunch was, predictably, more colorful. Reporters spotted a man wearing American-flag shortalls with no shirt; a guy in an I Love Jesus beanie carrying a placard identifying Braggs Jews (the onetime Trump henchman Michael Cohen, who testified against his former boss in front of the New York grand jury, among them); and a woman in a QAnon T-shirt and a jacket painted with the figure of Trump as an American-flag-waving toreador. There was a Trump impersonator with one of the worst wigs Ive ever seen, and a skirmish between a MAGA-hat-wearing bleached blonde and a gray-haired anti-Trump protester who looked like an extra from Portlandia. And then there were, of course, representatives George Santos and Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps the true dregs of the current G.O.P. (After she was driven away by protesters blaring whistles as she tried to speak into a megaphone, Greene gave an interview in which she compared Trumps plight to those of Nelson Mandela and Jesus Christ.) All the while, Trump was posting on Truth Social. Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Cant believe this is happening in America. MAGA!, he wrote, with a curious self-alienation, as if he, too, was not actually experiencing this predicament but watching it on TV (which, come to think of it, he probably was).

There were plenty of demonstrators on both sides, and the MAGA bunch was, predictably, more colorful.

Once Trump arrived at the courthouse, the footage became relatively sparse. Cable-news stations broadcast aerial videos of the former President exiting his car accompanied by security detail. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom, but five photographers were allowed to take still images of Trump entering and leaving, and social media pored over the same few shots of the former President, taken before and after he pleaded not guilty to thirty-four felony counts of falsifying business documents, in connection with a larger catch-and-kill scheme. According to my colleague Eric Lach, who was in the courtroom for the arraignment, Trump seemed, for once, cut down to size, as the judge informed him of the charges against him. The glum mug Trump showed in the pictures I sawa mute grimace unleavened by a regulation toothy grin or a double thumbs-up signsuggested as much. Even his hair seemed deflated. His suit collar was stained. (Derek Guy, a menswear guru on Twitter, noted that these may have been oil-based stains from cosmetics.) And yet, by the time he was back at Mar-a-Lago, to which he hightailed it in the Trump plane immediately after his moment in court, he seemed revived, making a speech in which he, predictably, decried Braggs case against him as a persecution. Making his way to the lectern as Lee Greenwoods God Bless the U.S.A. played, Trump smiled, waved, shook hands, and mugged for the many iPhones held aloft to capture him. Back where he belonged, he was ready, once again, to face the cameras.

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Donald Trumps Unhinged Reality Show Gets Another Season - The New Yorker

An independently wealthy Republican president is tossed out of office after a single term amid massive economic hardship and fears of political violence. There are rumors he was under surveillance or about to be arrested. Relentless, bitter, appalled at his Democratic successor, he stews in his elegant midtown Manhattan suite, plotting his next move. Except it was not Trump Tower but the Waldorf-Astoria and the ex-president was Herbert Hoover.

But in this case, history neither repeats itself nor rhymes. Hoover not only respected the presidency, he honored it in his post-presidency. When Franklin Roosevelt announced a bank holiday immediately after his inauguration, Hoover declared he should receive the whole-hearted support of every citizen. A decade later, when 100 million people in Europe were at risk of starving, Harry Truman enlisted Hoovers help managing post-war relief; together they probably saved more lives than any two figures of the 20th century.

Most ex-presidents enter post Oval life bearing scars and regrets. Some take up painting; some lean into atonement. We all have sorrows, as Jimmy Carter told me. Or as the prayer of confession puts it, presidents often leave office haunted by what they have done and what they left undone. The libraries, the foundations and philanthropies, even the memoirs, serve both as explanation and expiation, as their legacies settle and harden.

Illustration by Edel Rodriguez for TIME

Such public service, whether in the name of politics or penitence, has been more the rule than the exception of modern ex-presidents, and so it becomes one more norm that Donald Trump breaks as he enters his long expected season of legal accountability. That he would be the first president ever indicted is both historic and predictableas is the chance he also will be the second, third and even fourth, in multiple jurisdictions over myriad criminal charges.

The odds were never great that Trump would see his post presidency as a chance to serve the public good, having not seen the presidency that way. He never showed that he felt the weight of the office and its fateful duties; it was more a profit center, a platform for shakedowns and ego strokes. The post presidency is a platform for, as he put it, retribution. Plus, sales.

And this is the ongoing damage he does, the careless splashing of paint stripper on the majesty of the American presidency. His peers were not perfect; but few were vandals. Other presidents have tried to salvage campaigns, but none we know of with hush money to a porn star. Other ex-presidents exalt their faithful supportersbut not when they are serving time for insurrection. Other presidents have turned their stature into a revenue stream, giving speeches at six figures a pop; its a safe bet that none thought about merch featuring a mug shot.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at the Manhattan District Attorney's office on April 4, 2023.

John MinchilloAP

Which brings us to the deeper tragedy. For millions of people whove believed and supported Trump from the start, defending the rule of law requires defending him. Millions of voters are breaking norms too; if his campaign is telling the truth that the money flowed faster the minute Trump was indicted$4 million in the first 24 hours, a quarter from first time donors they saythen we get what we reward. He has gotten this far by tapping into needs and wants that long pre-date him. The networks running blanket coverage of baggage handlers and motorcades do so in response to perceived demand. They also help create that demand. The Republican lawmakers who know better yet make him a martyr make cynicism cringe.

As a measure of peoples loss of faith in institutions, in courts and judges and prosecutors, in fairness and process and equal justice for all, the entire spectacle is a crime scene. Presidents swear an oath to uphold the laws; former presidents are granted protections and privileges because they served and are in a position to serve in new ways, and in the past presidents have used that opportunity to do tremendous global good. The scandal of Donald Trumps passage through public life rests both in what he has done and what he has left undoneso much power to do good, deployed instead to divide and conquer.

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The Historicand Entirely PredictableIndictment of Donald Trump - TIME

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, left, shakes hands after handing over his nations accession document to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

Photo: Johanna Geron/AP

It would never have happened if Trump were still in the Oval Office, rather than sitting in a Manhattan courtroom facing felony charges in a tawdry case involving a porn star and the National Enquirer.

Trump has committed many crimes; in addition to those of which he was accused in New York on Tuesday, he may soon face charges in connection with at least three other criminal investigations.

But he never got a chance to follow through with his plans for what would have been his most historic crime: destroying NATO. Former aides say that he planned to do so in his second term but was denied the chance when he was defeated in the 2020 presidential election.

Instead, NATO is expanding in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine; Sweden, which has remained neutral for generations even during World War II is also seeking NATO membership.

Trumps indictment and Finlands accession to NATO both come just days after the 20thanniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the shadow of that grim and misbegotten war still hangs over American domestic politics and foreign policy.

Revulsion against the war in Iraq and the broader war on terror inadvertently helped lead many American voters to Donald Trump. The ultimate con man, he appealed to people who were eager to upend the status quo, both at home and abroad. Trump responded to that sentiment by pushing for the United States to get out of Afghanistan; his 2020 agreement with the Taliban ultimately led to the U.S. withdrawal by the Biden administration in 2021.

After decades of appearing to be a Cold War anachronism, NATO has reemerged as the key alliance in the world today.

But American withdrawal from NATO would have marked a tectonic geopolitical shift, just as Putins Russia was once again becoming a threat to Western democracy. After decades of appearing to be a Cold War anachronism, NATO has reemerged as the key alliance in the world today, providing crucial support to Ukraine as it seeks to defend itself against Russia.

But Trump was ready to junk NATO. John Bolton, Trumps national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, has said repeatedly that he is convinced that Trump would have withdrawn the United States from NATO if he had been reelected in 2020. Other former senior officials in Trumps administration, including John Kelly, who served as his chief of staff, have also said they were constantly worried that Trump would withdraw from NATO. That would have effectively destroyed the alliance, since the United States provides the bulk of NATOs military power.

Certainly, Putin was eager for Trump to do it; dismantling NATO would have served Putins ambition to rebuild Moscows empire. But Putins invasion of Ukraine has now backfired, convincing Finland and Sweden that they are safer in NATO than as neutral states. Polls showed that after Russia invaded Ukraine, 80 percent of Finnish voters supported joining NATO.

Finlands membership in NATO is particularly damaging for Russia. The two countries share an 800-mile border, and Finlands location on the Baltic Sea will make it easier for NATO to defend the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, small NATO countries that Putin has repeatedly threatened. Thousands of Russian dissidents, including many Russian journalists, have fled to the Baltic states since Putins invasion of Ukraine and his crackdown on all forms of dissent in Russia.

With NATO supporting Ukraine, Russia has suffered an estimated 200,000 casualties since the war began. Putins only real hope is to hang on long enough for NATOs support for Kyiv to wane. That might require Republicans to keep rallying around the anti-NATO candidate, Donald Trump, as his legal troubles mount.

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When Finland Matters More Than Donald Trump - The Intercept

As youve no doubt heard by now, Donald Trump was charged on Tuesday with an astonishing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. As The New York Times Maggie Haberman reported, not only did the ex-president look very unhappy as he walked into the courtroom,but he appeared as angry as he did after the Access Hollywood tape went public in October 2016. Why might Trump not have cartwheeled into the courtroom with a huge grin on his face, snapping his fingers, and blowing air kisses to the cameras? For one thing, Tuesday marked what was, effectively, the first time he had ever been truly held accountable for anything in his life. For another? Hes facing more than 100 years in prison.

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Reuters and others report that should Trump be found guilty of all 34 class E felonies, he could be sentenced to up to 136 years in prisonwhich, as one former president might tell you, is an incredibly yuge number of years. While a conviction is not a sure thing, and a sympathetic judge could go for the lower end of the sentencing guidelines, Trump, who is 76 years old, would obviously die in prison if he were to get the maximum time behind bars. Which that same former president we referenced earlier would definitely dub SAD!

If youre wondering: Only four states in America allow conjugal visits with ones spouse, and New York is one of them.

As Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg said on Tuesday, the governments case against Trump is not just about one payment. In addition to the $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels in 2016, the DAs office cited multiple instances of Trump engaging in catch and kill schemes to bury damaging stories about him that were subsequently concealed through false business entries. Those included $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had an affair with Trump, and $30,000 to a New York doorman whod claimed to have knowledge of a child Trump had out of wedlock.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges.

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Elsewhere!

Tennessee Republicans Are Literally Trying to Purge Democrats from the Legislature (VF)

North Carolina Democrat Plans to Switch Parties, Allowing Republicans to Ban Abortion (Jezebel)

New York City Hates Your Guts: MTG Drowned Out at Trump Rally (Intelligencer)

We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct: Alvin Bragg addresses media after Trump arraignment (Politico)

Poll: Majority of Americans approve of Trump indictment (CNN)

Rupert Murdoch and Ann Lesley Smith Call Off Their Engagement (VF)

Fox News says Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo set to testify at defamation trial (Reuters)

Succession: How Bad Was Kerrys ATN Audition, Really? We Asked Chris Hayes (VF)

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Donald Trump Is Now FacingWait for It136 Years in Prison - Vanity Fair