Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered the GOP presidential primary race May 24 last year in a Twitter Spaces event that seemed like it was being powered by a dial-up modem. But the tech-addled launch was easy to overcome. What happened 15 days later wasn’t, effectively ending the Florida governor’s odds of winning the nomination before it even had a chance to get going.
That was when special counsel Jack Smith handed down the first of his indictments, in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Suddenly the entire corporate media was plastering images of boxes in gold-tinted bathrooms all over the airwaves and websites, covering the truly historic moment like it was a missing white teenager in Aruba. The media was overdosing on the opportunity to turn their focus toward their favored foil once again and on the prospects of former President Trump ending up in jail.
At the same time, the MAGA supporters already backing Trump became die-hard loyalists, while the on-the-fence GOP voters reverted to the former president over what they perceived as a concerted campaign to torpedo his 2024 prospects — and criminalize his first-term actions. The weak New York hush money case had already arrived in late March, but the federal indictment changed the game. Add on the Jan. 6 indictment from Smith in early August and the Georgia RICO-like election case a couple weeks later, and the Democratic lawfare was overwhelming.
The mug shot release the night of Aug. 24 was the final icing on the cake. The left had successfully martyred Trump into the nomination.
Now we’re through with New Hampshire, and before we even exit January we have two primary races that are effectively over, despite former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s insistence she’ll fight on.
The American media has traditionally banked on election years to bring in ratings and traffic. They put massive resources behind the excitement of presidential campaigns, reaping the benefits of eyeballs and money. But this year is unlike any past cycle.
Instead, 2024 is going to shift from being about the political to the legal.
Back in 1995, the O.J. Simpson trial put Court TV on the map, boosting ratings and leading CNN to follow suit with a focus on the daily machinations in the courtroom. When a new trial would come along that allowed cameras in the courtroom, featuring a juicy murder plot and preferably a photogenic defendant, the joke in the press became this was like a presidential election for the Court TVs of the world. It was a chance to cover the play-by-play, to navigate the “horserace” of the case, to tell a compelling story to a rapt and ever-growing audience, threading the narrative from beginning to end.
2024 is the “Court TV election.” It appears increasingly likely that nothing will get interesting in the political arena on either side of the aisle. But in the courtroom? That’s fertile ground.
There are of course the four Trump criminal trials, all of which could theoretically begin this year, some as soon as March. The Georgia trial is likely to be televised — manna from heaven for the Acela Media. Meanwhile, Trump’s team has actually pushed to televise the Washington, D.C., election interference trial as well. Yes, ever the showman, Trump thinks these cases help his chances in the presidential election, and he’d like to boost the ratings of the cable networks sure to diligently follow every objection.
But it’s not just the Trump criminal trials. The Supreme Court is about to take center stage in the lawfare enveloping the presidential election. The high court will take on at least one and as many as three elements of legal proceedings relevant to Trump. The issue of presidential immunity, the efforts by some states to use the 14th Amendment to remove Trump from the ballot, and a Jan. 6–related criminal statute that will have implications in Trump’s D.C. trial are all questions the Supreme Court could decide, and they will each have major ramifications in the election.
Meanwhile, the Court TV election of 2024 is not complete without some legal proceedings involving the other side of the aisle, as President Biden’s son Hunter is facing multiple criminal trials himself this year, in California and Delaware. Sure, they remain an arms-length away from the president himself, but a motivated GOP House is doing everything in its power to connect the criminal proceedings against Hunter to his father. And while unlikely to include criminal liability against Joe, what comes out at these trials could be embarrassing for the current occupant of the White House in a year he and the Democratic party are focused on trying to play up the criminality of Trump.
A normal election cycle brings with it a colorful cast of characters and storylines — candidates, surrogates and family members. Just think about all the drama of 2016 on both sides of the aisle. In 2024, the “main characters” we’ll remember will be those connected to legal proceedings. There’s Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose alleged affair with one of her prosecutors could affect the case against Trump and his co-defendants. There’s Judge Tanya Chutkan on the anti-Trump side and Judge Aileen Cannon on the pro-Trump side.
So settle in for a presidential election year unlike any other — one that’s more “Judge Judy” than “The West Wing.” Haley and Trump will now turn their focus to South Carolina’s primary, coming next month. But a thirsty press looking for a juicy storyline will have to wait until jury selection.
Steve Krakauer, a NewsNation contributor, is the author of “Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People” and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast.