DLnews Politics 2024:

The attack is the best defense! Hardly anyone knows that better than former US President Donald Trump.

He was sitting stoically in a courtroom in Miami, Fla., hands clasped, face grim - threatened by a full-on classified files case that could see him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Trump is accused by special counsel Jack Smith (53) of having illegally kept more than a hundred "Top Secret" documents in his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago—some of them in the bathroom behind a shower curtain.

Donald Trump takes notes during the impeachment presentation.

In the stacked boxes: war plans, nuclear weapons data, and analyses of US military weaknesses. There are 37 charges. The maximum penalty for a conviction: 400 years in prison!

No sooner had Trump's motorcade rolled out of the courthouse's underground car park than he seemed to be his old self again: he waved at supporters and was serenaded "Happy Birthday" in a Cuban bar (he turned 77 on Wednesday).

Hours later, in a raucous speech, he settled accounts with an alleged “political judiciary” against him. The lawsuit seeks to "fix" the 2024 presidential election, he thundered.

His situation is complex: Legally, he is on the brink, but politically Trump is on the rise!

 According to a poll after the indictment became known, he has extended his lead in the field of Republican candidates for 2024. He is now almost uncatchable at 59 percent ahead of his main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (19 percent). This was also manifested outside the courthouse when his loyal supporters waved the flag.

Trump supporter Peter Crotty ponders Ron DeSantis as a fallback plan. 

The almost unquestioning loyalty to Trump seems unbroken. At the same time, however, voices are mingling in the Trump movement, where concern also rings through: "The prosecutors have done a great job here," says Trump supporter Peter Crotty: He believes that most would even vote for him if he would be sentenced to imprisonment. But "in practice," the chances of Trump in prison clothes winning the elections on November 5, 2024, are extremely low, says Crotty.

Some Republicans are getting louder in their criticism

After the indictment, the cracks in the party are becoming more visible! Most conservative politicians defend Trump full-bodied and locate a conspiracy by the White House and the Democrats.

There is talk of a legal “double standard.” The most powerful Republican in Congress, Kevin McCarthy (58), took this horn: He referred to the revelations that President Joe Biden (80) also had secret documents lying around in his garage. "Where's the justice before the law here?" he tweeted.

BUT: Some party rivals open fire. Above all, ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie (60): "They say it's all the fault of the US judiciary – but nobody says it's all HIS fault …" he rumbled. Privately, many party politicians would admit that the recent lawsuit against Trump is "threatening," according to NBC.

For political scientist Jonathan Cristol, Trump could go into the 2024 election year weakened: "But only if another strong Republican candidate appears who can argue that Trump will be too distracted to beat Biden...".