The specifics of Trump’s indictment have yet to be revealed, but the key points are perfect for headlines and screen crawls.
Mr. Trump once stated that he would walk in on pageant contestants while they were dressing to inspect them.(Photo: John Sleezer/Kansas City Star)
Trump’s Character Being Revive With His Indictment
Mr. Trump maintains his innocence in a now-familiar fashion, portraying himself as the righteous victim of “thugs and radical left monsters.” However, the indictment’s salacious nature resurrects the Donald Trump who existed long before he became the 45th president — before his ubiquitous MAGA catchphrase before his claims to be greater than Washington or Lincoln, before the two impeachments and one Capitol riot.
That was Donald Trump who liked to present himself as a player, certain that his wealth and good looks made him catnip for women. A man who can discuss threesomes with a radio shock jock, confidently walk through a pageant contestants’ dressing room and rate women on a 1-to-10 scale based on their physical appearance.
Trump’s Character Has Frequently Come Back To Haunt Him
It’s a characteristic of Mr. Trump’s character that has frequently come back to haunt him, most notably on Thursday when a Manhattan grand jury officially declared him the first former president to be charged with a felony.
The fact that so little is known about the case is scandalous enough. It centers on a $130,000 payment made by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006, well before his presidency and while his third wife was at home with their infant son.
Mr. Trump, who recently launched his presidential campaign for 2024, is far from the first president to be linked to sexual impropriety. Bill Clinton had sexual relations with the female intern with whom he famously claimed he had no sexual relations — in the Oval Office. Among John F. Kennedy’s numerous affairs was one with a woman who was also involved with a Chicago mob boss. Warren G. Harding fathered a child with a mistress who claimed they had sexual relations in a White House coat room. There are others.
However, Mr. Trump’s long public history of entanglements boasts, and crude remarks set him apart in the presidential pantheon.
Mr. Trump hit the Manhattan clubs as a young man in the 1970s, tipping off the gossip columns to his affairs, all in an effort to shed the image of being just a rich kid from Queens working for his father’s real estate company.
READ ALSO: Donald Trump $7 Million Pay Off Since Indictment For His 2024 Presidential Campaign
