With writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Donald Trump set to open this week, the former president is faced with the very real possibility that he could continue his bid for a second term as president with the label "rapist" forever linked to his name.
According to two analysts, that should end any hope he may have of being re-elected.
In a report from the Guardian's Chris McGreal, who wrote the recently-indicted Trump's "deeply tarnished reputation may be about to take another serious hit," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics claimed the damage the former president will feel if a jury rules against him won't be immediate but should ultimately be fatal to his presidential hopes.
“It will not affect his base that is powering him potentially to another nomination. They don’t care. Not only will this not hurt him, it’s going to reinforce the image that his core supporters have that he is being persecuted. So, for the nomination, it could even be a plus, I’m sorry to say,” he explained before adding, "But it’ll hurt him in a general election. Carroll is very believable and it should have some effect on Americans who are not in the Maga base.”
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, claims a jury agreeing with E. Jean Carroll that Trump is a sexual predator will be almost impossible for the former president to overcome particularly among Republican women.
“This case brings all that up and in some ways adds to that outrage that women feel about him. He has been accused of this kind of behavior so many times and he’s never been held accountable. This time it seems like he may in fact be held accountable," she stated.
She later added, "College-educated white women who are Republicans have pulled away from the party. In the past, the party sort of trumped everything. In a way, that’s what happened in 2016. But after watching Trump be the president, it became harder and harder for those women to continue to pull the lever for Donald Trump. These women who used to be pretty solid Republican women voters couldn’t go there. I think these women would have a very hard time if he is the nominee again.”
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