Former President Donald Trump has a “movement” behind him that should be respected by those looking to defeat him, a Democratic strategist said on Sunday.
Donna Brazile, a two-time former acting chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said during a panel on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that Trump is a politically resilient figure like she has not seen before — and therefore should not be discounted just because he’s facing criminal charges.
“I have to say something because, George, I’m old enough to say this,” Brazile said, referring to the host.
“I’ve seen two movements outside of the social justice movements in my life on the political side,” she said. “One was the Reagan movement. [Ronald] Reagan had a hold on his base. The country at large, they saw him as someone who was willing to stand up for American values, whatever that might have meant. Now I thought it was reactionary. The other movement I saw was Barack Obama: ‘Hope’ and ‘Change.’ That galvanized the American people.”
Donna Brazile:
"I’ve never seen anything like this with Donald Trump. I mean, being indicted, that’s making him stronger, raising $10 million using a mug shot. We have to respect the fact it’s a movement.” pic.twitter.com/2FhQHoJwtD
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 3, 2023
But, she contended, Trump is a whole different kind of force in the political world. Trump remains the frontrunner in GOP primary polls despite four indictments that he is poised to fight in a series of trials during the heat of election season.
“I’ve never seen anything like this with Donald Trump. I mean, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? I mean, being convict… — I mean, being indicted, that’s making him stronger? Raising $10 million using an ugly mug shot to raise money? This is a movement,” Brazile said.
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“And anyone who thinks that you can apply the old political rules to try to defeat this candidate based on, ‘He’s scary,’ ‘He’s ugly’ — whatever you might want to call him — this is a movement,” she added. “And we have to respect the fact that it’s a movement.”
Reihan Salam, the president of the Manhattan Institute and a contributing writer for The Atlantic, noted that Trump has successfully galvanized people who are “suspicious of authority” and “what they see as the establishment” class.
“So, actually, the fact that so many folks look aghast on this, including many traditional Republicans, is something that is actually reinforcing this kind of support,” Salam added. “You see a systematic shift in where voters who are more suspicious, less trusting, where they’re giving their support, and it’s to Donald Trump.”