Trump wants to be handcuffed for court appearance in Stormy Daniels case, sources say

Donald Trump has told advisers that he wants to be handcuffed when he makes an appearance in court, if he is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his role in paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels, multiple sources close to the former president have said.

The former president has reasoned that since he would need to go to the courthouse and surrender himself to authorities for fingerprinting and a mug shot anyway, the sources said, he might as well turn everything into a “spectacle”.

Trump’s increasing insistence that he wants to be handcuffed behind his back for a perp walk appears to come from various motivations, including that he wants to project defiance in the face of what he sees as an unfair prosecution and that it would galvanize his base for his 2024 presidential campaign.

But above all, people close to Trump said, he was deeply anxious that any special arrangements – like making his first court appearance by video link or skulking into the courthouse – would make him look weak or like a loser.

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When he eventually gets settled on strategizing his response to the hush money case, the sources said, he has been more focused on how he can project an image of defiance against the prosecution and that he is unfazed by being slapped with criminal charges that could turn out to rise to a felony.

Speaking strictly politically analytically, this idea would become a "spectacle," which Trump always wants. This is out there now: Trump wants a "spectacle." If it comes to be seen by people as a Trump-created "spectacle" then it would lose effect. If he really wants a "spectacle", put him behind bars on Rikers Island! 

It would "project defiance"; and it would "galvanize his political base."  He has always said that an indictment would help his political campaign. His lead over Ron DeSantis has increased 15 points since December! But he would not win the presidency. He wouldn't have won before this and he would not win after this. It would postpone his loser tombstone for two years. He would drag the Republican Party further down with him, which is of no concern to him. 

Finally, this is something Trump can only pull off once successfully but he is likely to be arrested twice more, in Georgia and in the federal probe into 1/6.  So speaking solely as a Democrat I am for this (pending more cogitating).

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 Trump’s advisers have also been unsure whether he actually grasps the enormity of what an indictment might mean for him legally...

Of the three cases pending against him Trump has the best chance of beating this one. So if he loses this case he will be even more dead meat than he is now. What if he wins acquittal, though? THAT would "galvanize his base" like nothing ever could, and maybe more of the electorate than that! An acquittal would also cast a cloud over those other two more serious cases, the classified docs and Georgia inquiries.

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People close to Trump could not be sure how serious he is about being handcuffed for a perp walk, but he may be thwarted in his supposed ambitions if the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, decides against handcuffing him and refuses to allow him to be marched past the cameras.

Tentatively, I think that would be a misstep by Bragg.

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Trump’s legal team in the hush money case has recoiled at the idea of him going in person and recommended that Trump allow them to quietly turn himself in next week and schedule a remote appearance, even citing guidance from his Secret Service detail about potential security concerns.

But Trump has rejected that approach and told various allies over the weekend that he didn’t care if someone shot him – he would become “a martyr”. He later added that if he got shot, he would probably win the presidency in 2024, the sources said. 

 ...in part because he has appeared disconnected at times from the recent flurry of activity in New York as the investigation has wrapped up.

Now here I can see the concerns about being "disconnected." Even his thought on this is contradictory: "a martyr" is a dead man. If Trump were shot and killed over the Manhattan indictment, presumably within days, he could not win the Republican nomination. Does Trump have a death wish? HE MAY! But in the next sentence, he appears to be channeling Ronald Reagan, shot and survived. "if he got shot, he would probably win the presidency..." Anyway you cut it that is "disconnected" thinking. 

There is another "security concern": other people, his people, anti-Trumps, who likely would engage in violent protests pro- and anti- if Trump is permitted to pull off this "spectacle." THAT would be a reasonable ground for Alvin Bragg to not allow it.