Donald Trump thrives when he can create a siege mentality

Setting out an ‘us vs them’ narrative is how the former president binds himself to his supporters, writes Andrew Feinberg

Donald Trump raises his fist as he departs Trump Tower in New York City on his way to testify before the state attorney general (AP)

Under normal circumstances, a report that the FBI had executed a search and seizure warrant at the home and office of a major American political figure would have congressional candidates scrambling to walk sideways away from the person in question and disavow any endorsements that person had offered.

Not so with Donald Trump.

Just days after the FBI picked through Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida home for government documents – some thought to be highly classified – which the twice-impeached ex-president is believed to have been secreting on the property more than 18 months after his time as America’s chief executive came to an end, Republicans who are running in this year’s midterm elections have responded by embracing him even more tightly.

During his four years in the White House, Trump tapped into what was once a fringe strain of right-wing suspicion directed at limited segments of federal law enforcement – such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ role in enforcing America’s gun laws – and took it mainstream.

Starting in early 2017, after it became known that the Department of Justice was probing potential ties between his presidential campaign and the Russian government, Trump described the investigation, which would later be overseen by former FBI director Robert Mueller, as a “witch hunt”. He would soon be throwing around accusations that the bureau had illegally wiretapped his eponymous skyscraper, though no evidence would ever emerge to support such a conspiracy theory.

Trump’s claim to be the spiritual heir of those women who were burned at the stake during the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials would later be extended to cover all of the myriad efforts by state and federal authorities to ascertain whether his behaviour ran afoul of a long list of laws, as well as the Democrats’ two efforts at removing him from office through impeachment.

The allegations, and the identities of the investigators, have changed over time, but the cumulative effect of the ex-president’s constant attacks on law enforcement has been to poison the well, so that his supporters see any attempt to hold him accountable for any wrongdoing as evidence that his enemies are playing dirty.

An indictment of the former president might change that dynamic, but for now, investigating Trump just binds his supporters closer to him, each enjoying the warmth of shared grievance.