Donald Trump’s pornstar scandal just got much, much worse for him
If the nation weren’t already in the midst of a historic crisis created by a mentally unstable racist traitor illegally occupying the office of President of the United States, the fact that he’s being blackmailed by a porn star would be getting bigger headlines. Of course the measure of any scandal is not the initial splash it makes, but what it leads to that ends up sticking in the minds of the public. In that regard, Trump’s porn star scandal just got much worse for him today.
Mike Pence certainly didn’t help Trump out today, and in fact he may have been purposely trying to hurt Trump, when he made a point of denying the allegations (link) – but that’s not the big story here. It turns out Trump violated campaign finance laws with the method he used for paying the $130,000 to Stormy Daniels. Now a criminal complaint has been filed against him by an activist group called Common Cause (link), and we’ve learned from past sex-and-hush-money scandals that this is where it gets ugly for him.
When John Edwards tried paying off his mistress years ago, he ended up facing criminal charges for violating campaign finance laws. Those charges ultimately didn’t stick, but as it dragged out in the court of law, it ensured that the scandal stuck to Edwards in the court of public opinion. Now that Trump’s payoff to Daniels is a criminal matter, it’s going to be around for quite awhile. The criminal developments regarding the money will force it to remain in the news; the media will respond by focusing on the salacious aspects of it.
If you’re not sure whether the porn star scandal is all that bad for Donald Trump within the context of all his other scandals, consider this: Trump regularly pushes back on Twitter against nearly every scandal, accusation, or sleight hurled in his direction. Yet he fears the Stormy Daniels scandal so much, he’s afraid to risk making it a bigger story by disputing it. He’s pushed back against the Pee Pee Tape; he won’t push back against this. He fears the Daniels scandal most of all. The criminal nature of the payoff means the scandal is just getting started.
