Donald Trump tried to turn indictment day into campaign day in Miami Tuesday — and he kind of succeeded.
The former president, well known for his embrace of circus showman P.T. Barnum’s motto that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, did his best to turn his court appearance into a spectacle — or at least a vehicle to reach voters. And what else would we expect by now from an ex-reality TV host whose loyalists delight in his political theater?
Trump wants to distract from the enormous weight of the charges against him. He wants to build the case that he’s being unfairly persecuted. And so he started his flim-flam act as soon as he got to Florida, the night before his court appearance. He took to Spanish-language radio — in English — airing grievances about the indictment by phone from Trump National Doral Miami hotel. On the call, he attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling him “DeSanctimonious” and said he was beating him in polls about the GOP presidential contest by many, many points. He also boasted of overwhelming support from the Venezuelan and Cuban communities. Doral, where Trump’s Miami golf club is located, is sometimes called by a nickname, Doral-zuela.
