Does the guilty verdict destroy Trump or make him even stronger?

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The verdict heard round the world will throw a lightning bolt into our politics as those on the left cheer and those on the right rally and coalesce even more around former President Donald Trump.

The question now is this: does the verdict weaken Trump or make him even stronger? The early returns seem to indicate that rather than reveal Trump as a scoundrel, the verdict instead suggests to many that the rule of law is in jeopardy, if a leading political candidate can be indicted by opposition prosecutors and convicted of crimes invented for the purpose. Thirty-four felonies over a seven-year-old $130,000 payment hardly looks reasonable.

I opposed the Republican attempt to use the personal life of Bill Clinton to impeach him, and this attempt to use the personal life of Donald Trump to jail him is no different but has even more far-reaching consequences. Clinton gained seats in the midterms after the impeachment and, at least in the immediate aftermath, Trump is gaining more energized, angry voters.

TRUMP SAYS GUILTY VERDICT IS A 'SCAR' ON NEW YORK JUSTICE SYSTEM, VOWS TO 'KEEP FIGHTING'

The prosecutors brought out a steamy and seamy cast of characters and sold the story that somehow the election was stolen by the failure to disclose a payment to former adult film star Stormy Daniels as though there is some