James Wood:

"As an objective political observation I think the Trump situation is a huge risk for the Democrats. After an exhausting two years of a foul and completely debunked Democrat scam (RussiaGate), for them to launch this legal jihad is a monster gamble. It is an absolute cluster bomb against one man, and boy, they better be right.

For one thing many of these charges are flimsy, some specious, and others truly ridiculous. If they stick, even temporarily, they will make a martyr out of Trump. His supporters and many independents will see him as one individual against a massive political machine, an armada of dirty tricks, and historically the lone warrior is a sympathetic scenario.

If Trump is ultimately acquitted, however, he will be the David who beat Goliath, and the Democrat Party will never recover. They will be forever seen as venal, nasty, mendacious charlatans and cheats, whose latest charade failed miserably.

Even if they convict him of all charges though, millions of Americans will feel deprived of their candidate regardless how hated he is by the other side, and they will be in a civil war frame of mind.

As a merely objective observer, I am guessing this judicially engineered attack on the major candidate of the “other party” feels decidedly un-American. It just reeks of banana republic hijinx, and it’s going to backfire.

Trump may lose, but the fact that he’s fighting back strengthens his folk hero stature more every day. Democrats may laugh at that, but they do so at their peril.

Especially when they’ve got a candidate who can’t say hello without lying, his own transgressions stacked a mile high in the closet."