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   Ayn Rand never worked a day in her Russian life.   
      
   Stupid Trump was easily outwitted by President Biden.   Trump is of low   
   intelligence.   
      
    Looming indictment wrenches open the central question of 2024: Is Trump   
   fit to serve?   
      
   Privately, the fear is that a third indictment, even if it’s the most   
   serious one yet, will once again help Trump.   
   Donald Trump stands at a podium on stage as a red light flashes across his   
   face.   
      
   Early responses suggest the GOP field remains uncomfortable going after   
   Donald Trump directly over Jan. 6, but, instead, would attack him around   
   the edges. | Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images   
      
   By Adam Wren and Natalie Allison   
      
   07/18/2023 07:36 PM EDT   
      
   Updated: 07/18/2023 09:21 PM EDT   
      
   Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he expects to soon be a   
   thrice-indicted candidate is forcing GOP candidates to fully contend with   
   the fundamental question of the 2024 presidential primary.   
      
   Is the former president fit to reoccupy the office?   
      
   The early responses suggest the field remains uncomfortable going after   
   Trump directly over Jan. 6, but, instead, would attack him around the   
   edges.   
      
   In South Carolina, Ron DeSantis said Trump “should have come out more   
   forcefully” as rioters ransacked the Capitol, but added that it fell short   
   of criminal activity. Vivek Ramaswamy told POLITICO in a statement he   
   “would have made very different judgments than President Trump did” on   
   Jan. 6. And Nikki Haley said the rest of the primary is threatening to be   
   drowned out by Trump’s legal “drama.”   
   DeSantis says Trump 'didn't do anything' to stop Jan. 6   
      
   The answers represented at least a small crack in the deference that some   
   previously courteous candidates had shown to Trump following his earlier   
   two indictments. But only a small one. And privately, the campaigns were   
   skeptical that even those modest attacks would have any impact other than   
   benefiting Trump himself.   
      
   “Jan. 6 just gins up the base,” said a strategist working for a Trump   
   rival.   
      
   Critics of the former president were left to wonder what it would take for   
   the field to actually turn on him over Jan. 6, if a “target letter”   
   informing Trump he was about to be indicted for his behavior around that   
   day didn’t do the trick.   
      
   “This is the kabuki dance they’re going to be doing for months — it ain’t   
   going to be the first time and it ain’t going to be the last time,” said   
   Mike Madrid, the Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump   
   Lincoln Project. “The kabuki dance is trying to have it both ways while   
   they try to wait for dust to settle on his legal problems.”   
      
   Nearly a month before the first debate, the actions of Special Counsel   
   Jack Smith’s grand jury has candidates hurtling toward a Rubicon they’ve   
   not fully found a way to navigate: To assail Trump’s character as   
   exhibited in the lead up to and on Jan. 6 or not.   
      
   Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, dealt with the matter head on   
   in his announcement speech last month in Iowa, saying Trump “demanded”   
   that he “choose between him and our Constitution,” and adding that “anyone   
   who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be   
   president of the United States again.”   
      
   And former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson went further than his past remarks   
   about Trump’s first and second indictments, declining to pad his   
   statements with references to “presumption of innocence” and the need to   
   “wait on the facts.”   
      
   “While Donald Trump would like the American people to believe that he is   
   the victim in this situation,” Hutchinson said in a written statement,   
   “the truth is that the real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our   
   rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to   
   protect our Capitol.”   
      
   Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, slammed Trump as well,   
   saying his “conduct on January 6th proves he doesn’t care about our   
   country & our Constitution,” regardless of what the latest case shows.   
   Christie bashes Trump: CNN town hall moments   
      
   But aside from that trio, the rest of the field is landing in a proverbial   
   no-man’s land on the question of Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6. Their   
   reticence underscores how hard they continue to believe it is to hit Trump   
   without looking squishy to the base.   
      
   DeSantis experienced that firsthand. Following his gentle criticism that   
   Trump “should have come out more forcefully” on Jan. 6, the Florida   
   governor was saddled by longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller with a new   
   derisive moniker: “Ron DeCheney,” a reference to former Rep. Liz Cheney,   
   the Republican vilified by the rank-and-file after co-leading the Jan. 6   
   committee.   
      
      
   Republican operatives have internalized the idea that to question Trump’s   
   innocence related to Jan. 6 is to invite the wrath of his base. And though   
   the expected indictment’s focus on Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6   
   would appear to give them ground to stand on, it’s unclear that line of   
   attack is swaying primary voters.   
      
   “If you’re looking for an anti-Trump lane, it’s a fool’s errand,” said   
   Madrid. “You’re looking for the fountain of youth. It doesn’t exist. What   
   you may be trying to do is hoping that you can occupy a lane that opens up   
   if he is put on trial and thrown in jail before the election.”   
      
   Republican consultants working to support Trump’s primary rivals didn’t   
   immediately see Tuesday’s news as a defining moment in the race. The   
   previous indictments already boosted Trump’s fundraising and rallied GOP   
   voters to his side.   
      
   “It seems like each indictment has only gotten him more support,” said a   
   senior adviser to a rival campaign who was granted anonymity to discuss   
   campaign dynamics.   
      
   The adviser added that this likely forthcoming indictment is far more   
   serious than the first two. But absent further details from Smith himself,   
   it’s unclear what the political fallout would be.   
      
   “If it looks more like New York, then he will get a bump out of it,” said   
   another GOP consultant granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics of the   
   race, in reference to the indictment over alleged hush money payments to a   
   porn actress. “But if [the DOJ] handles it like the other indictment in a   
   professional way and they have a lot of backup, I think he is likely to   
   suffer — but not a ton of damage.”   
      
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