When news broke that former President Donald Trump had been found guilty on 34 felony indictments of falsifying business records, the reaction from longtime supporter Bruce Breton of Windham was immediate and to the point.
“Bullsh*t,” he told NHJournal.
He wasn’t alone. New Hampshire Republicans largely dismissed the verdict as the inevitable end to a corrupt process.
“Unfortunately, today’s verdict further erodes Americans’ confidence in a fair justice system,” said New Hampshire GOP chair Chris Ager. “Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton were not prosecuted for arguably far more egregious acts. This selective and tortured prosecution is right out of George Orwell’s ‘1984.’”
But while Republicans noted the questionable actions inside the Manhattan courtroom — CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria said, “I doubt the New York indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not Donald Trump” — Democrats dismissed legal niceties and went on the attack.
And target number one was New Hampshire GOP gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte.
“If it wasn’t clear before, it’s absolutely clear now: Kelly Ayotte is too extreme for New Hampshire. Her unwavering commitment to a far-right extremist who has just been convicted on 34 felony counts proves it,” Democrat Joyce Craig’s campaign said in a fundraising email Thursday night.
Craig’s competitor in the Democrat gubernatorial primary, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, was even more harsh.
“Kelly Ayotte calls herself the law and order candidate, but she’s guilty of endorsing Donald Trump — now a convicted felon — for president,” Warmington said. “We need someone who has the backbone to stand up to the likes of Trump and Ayotte. I’ll be that governor for the people of New Hampshire.”
Ayotte offered a measured response to the verdict.
“Today’s verdict is disappointing, and I don’t believe our justice system should be politicized. Our country is on the wrong track with Joe Biden in the White House, and that’s why I’m supporting Donald Trump.”
Chuck Morse, on the other hand, offered a full-throated defense of the former president.
“Today’s show trial starkly reveals the extent to which Joe Biden has corrupted our justice system, creating a blatant two-tiered standard,” Morse said. “This weaponization of justice to target a political opponent is an affront to American values and will only embolden President Trump’s supporters, rallying millions of voters to his side.
“What happened in New York City today is a clear example of Biden’s manipulation of the system for electoral gain, and we must work tirelessly to expose this corruption and ensure Donald Trump is reelected in November to restore integrity to our justice system.”
But will it matter in November? Will the label “convicted felon” cost Trump votes in the Granite State, or will it just energize his base?
“I think both the blue team and red team will be happy or enraged,” said veteran GOP strategist Dave Carney. “The middle folks will see this as a perversion of the justice system and it will benefit Trump more than Biden.”
Carney, who’s working with the Morse campaign, says the verdict will be a problem in the Republican primary “for the Trump haters and fence-sitters. It’s bad for them.”
Tom Rath, a longtime Republican operative who left the party in response to Trump, predicts the “immediate impact is to make Trump stronger with his base and Biden with his. It’s the middle voters who are the most unknown quantity and that may take a while to measure.”
Asked for the winners or losers, Rath said “the justice system is the winner, and we can still say no one is above the law.”
Many Republicans reject that framing of the verdict, noting that polls show only one-third of Americans believe Trump did anything illegal in the case. Americans are generally split on whether Trump is being treated fairly or is the victim of a politically motivated prosecution designed to hurt his campaign.
“Trump and the MAGA base are riding high with what they portray as a political persecution. But of course, it would have been better if it was an exoneration,” said Matthew Bartlett of Darbyfield Advisors, a Nashua native who works out of Washington, D.C.
“In New Hampshire, the winners are Trump and his base, as well as Democrats who need a turnout boost. The losers are the independent voters who hate both candidates.”
Polls have been mixed on whether Trump’s conviction in the Manhattan case would have a major impact on his candidacy. Then again, in a nation split down the middle, the shift of just two or three percent of the vote could mean the difference between a President Trump and a President Biden.
Bartlett believes the issues that will determine the outcome of the November election haven’t changed.
“While the personality and legal problems stack up for Trump, the personal finances and pressure on families around the country are unchanged. While the nonsense has now been cranked up to a historic level, the race will continue to be fought on the real issues that matter to people and their future,” Bartlett said.
In the short term, Trump appears to be benefitting. So many people tried to donate to Trump’s campaign that they crashed the website Thursday afternoon. Google searches for “Donald Trump donation,” “Donald Trump donation site” and other related searches spiked in the wake of the verdict,” Axios reports.
Asked about the impact of the verdict in the Granite State, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) said, “It’s an unusual way to win the presidency, but I suppose congratulations are in order.”
Osborne, who was a strong supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis in the First in the Nation presidential primary, says Democrats still haven’t learned their lesson regarding Trump.
“This has been the entire story of Trump. The harder they hit him on unrelated [stuff], the more popular he gets,” Osborne said.” Maybe they should have stuck to attacking him for his record.”
