- England deserve 'world class' coach: Carsley
- Burkina Faso win to become first qualifiers for 2025 AFCON
- AC Milan's Pulisic among five out for USA match in Mexico
- France's Amandine Henry retires from international football
- Centre-left set to win pro-Ukraine Lithuania's vote
- India's World Cup hopes in Pakistan hands after Australia defeat
- Zelensky says NKorea sending troops to Russian army
- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
- Race four abandoned after New Zealand breeze into 3-0 lead in America's Cup
- West Indies win toss, put Sri Lanka in to bat in first T20
- Sudan rescuers say air strike killed 23 in Khartoum market
- Netanyahu tells UN to move Lebanon peacekeepers out of 'harm's way'
- Bangladeshi Hindus defy attack worries to celebrate festival
- Kiwis three up in America's Cup as Ineos pay for time penalty
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Dominant England crush Scotland at Women's T20 World Cup
- Dropped: The rise and fall of Pakistan batting maestro Babar Azam
- Israel fights Hezbollah on the ground, pounds Lebanon from the air
- Sabalenka outlasts local hero Zheng to win third Wuhan Open title
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Former Pakistan captain Azam dropped for second England Test
- 'Opportunist' Dupont dazzles on Toulouse return
- Australia replace injured Vlaeminck with Graham at Women's T20 World Cup
- Sinner wins Shanghai Masters to deny Djokovic 100th career title
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Israel hits Lebanon from the air and fights Hezbollah on the ground
- China's Yin has 'goosebumps' as she romps to LPGA win in Shanghai
- Pakistan to re-use Multan pitch for second England Test
- Blair and King Charles hail Salmond's 'devotion' to Scotland
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- England captain Stokes in line for second Pakistan Test return
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- Israel widens Lebanon strikes as troops fight Hezbollah along border
- Bowlers' graveyards: Pakistan's placid pitches under fresh fire
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- Vietnam, China to expand rail links, cross-border payments
- Americans get their belief back as Pochettino makes his mark
- Vietnam, China to boost economic, defence cooperation
For Trump, the more indictments, the more loyal his fans
As mushrooming criminal probes threaten his political ambitions and his liberty, Donald Trump has been able to console himself with one encouraging constant: blockbuster polling numbers.
"I'm the only person (who) ever got indicted who became more popular," the former president and 2024 Republican primary frontrunner grinned in Iowa recently, an observation added to his stump speech in recent months.
Trump has been indicted in two criminal cases, with felony counts in two further investigations seemingly imminent, yet his popularity among his ultra-loyal base has not been dented in the slightest.
On Monday, a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely primary voters showed Trump crushing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by a staggering 37 points.
And the poll is hardly an outlier: the ex-commander-in-chief's lead has risen from 16 to 36 points in the RealClearPolitics average of polls since he was indicted in Manhattan four months ago for falsifying business records.
During that period he has been found by a jury in a civil trial to have raped a writer in New York and has been charged with a further 40 federal felony counts over his handling of national security secrets and alleged obstruction of justice.
"By the time we get on the debate stage on August 23, the frontrunner will be out on bail in four different jurisdictions -- Florida, Washington, Georgia and New York," fellow Republican White House hopeful Chris Christie told CNN on Sunday.
- 'Entrenched elite' -
While poor headlines for DeSantis may have contributed to the widening polling gap, Trump's favorability rating -- 39.4 percent -- is exactly the same as it was the day he was first charged.
A shift between now and Iowa's first-in-the-nation vote in January remains possible -- but a turnaround that dramatic has never been seen in the modern presidential primary season.
Analysts contacted by AFP to discuss Trump's poll numbers pointed to the lasting appeal of his populist message among blue-collar Americans.
"Multilateral trade agreements, open borders, forever wars and globalization left many hardworking Americans without jobs and with little future prospects," said Michael J. O'Neill, counsel at the conservative Landmark Legal Foundation.
"Trump gives a voice to that demographic. His supporters see Trump as a disrupter that is not beholden to the entrenched elite and gives everyday Americans a shot at a better life," O'Neill added.
For David Greenberg, a journalism and history professor at Rutgers University, 77-year-old Trump and his diehard loyalists have always been able to bond over a "common set of enemies" that has expanded to include the justice system.
"So when Trump is indicted, to them it's just more proof that their man, their champion, is being targeted by forces they fundamentally distrust," Greenberg told AFP.
- 'Controlling the narrative' -
Trump left office in 2021 after a scandal-plagued single term in which he lost the White House and both chambers of Congress and was impeached twice.
Many aides were convicted of felonies, including his 2016 campaign chairman and deputy campaign chairman, his White House chief strategist and national security advisor, his personal lawyer and two foreign policy advisors.
His company, The Trump Organization, was convicted on multiple charges of tax fraud and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg admitted grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying business records.
Trump himself was found by a jury in a civil lawsuit in May to have raped the writer E. Jean Carroll in New York in the 1990s and he has been accused by more than 20 other women of sexual misconduct.
Trump's impeachments were both related to alleged attempts to cheat in the 2020 election -- first when he was found to have withheld vital military aid from Ukraine as he demanded it dig up dirt on Biden, and again for inciting an insurrection to prevent his opponent's eventual victory from being certified.
Even some Democrats give him credit for managing to convince millions of Republicans that a never-ending "witch hunt" by a mythical "deep state" is to blame for the whiff of scandal around his presidency.
"Trump has done an excellent job of not only controlling the narrative, but staying ahead of it," Democratic election strategist Amani Wells-Onyioha told AFP.
"He has consistently told his supporters that he is being unfairly attacked and that any accusations are lies aimed to take him down. They believe what he says because his indictments only feed into that narrative."
A.Malone--AMWN