"The conservative-movement press has been more skeptical of Trump than the Trump-aligned Fox, Newsmax, and One America News Network. An established beacon of the former category, the National Review’s editorial board takes the charges seriously: “We understand why many conservatives are unwilling to view the charges against Trump in a vacuum given that the Justice Department let Hillary Clinton off the hook for her reckless handling of government secrets … that President Biden is unlikely to pay a price for his own mishandling of classified documents, and that Democrats and their allies have pursued a yearslong campaign to get Trump. All of those are legitimate considerations … But it doesn’t change the fact the country wouldn’t be in this uncharted territory if Trump hadn’t taken documents he had no right to, and simply complied when asked to give them back.”

At The Wall Street Journal, a conservative, free-market-oriented editorial board has been critical of Trump in the past. But a Journal editorial questions the wisdom of indicting him: “As usual, Mr. Trump is his own worst enemy. ‘This would have gone nowhere,’ former Attorney General Bill Barr told CBS recently, ‘had the President just returned the documents. But he jerked them around for a year and a half.’ That being said, if prosecutors think that this will absolve them of the political implications of their decision to charge Mr. Trump, they fail to understand what they’ve unleashed.”"

"The former president sought to galvanize his supporters to view the entire American justice system as corrupt, weaponized to target conservatives and deployed to prevent him from winning the 2024 election. … ‘These people don’t stop and they’re bad and we have to get rid of them,’ Trump said to an audience assembled by the Georgia Republican Party. ‘These criminals cannot be rewarded. They must be defeated.’”

NYT: “‘This is the final battle,’ Mr. Trump said in the speech to several thousand activists, delegates and members of the media who gathered in Columbus, Ga., at a brick building that was once an ironworks that manufactured mortars, guns and cannons for the Confederate Army in the Civil War.

“Mr. Trump spoke about the threats to the nation. But his escalating language also showed something more fundamental was in increasing jeopardy: his own freedom.”

HOW IT’S LANDING …

— New ABC News/Ipsos poll: “Pluralities of Americans support second Trump indictment, say charges are politically motivated,”by ABC’s Brittany Shepherd: “Nearly half — 48% — of Americans think Trump should have been charged in this case, whereas 35% think he should not have been and 17% saying they do not know.”

— New CBS News poll: “After Trump indictment, most see security risk, but Republicans see politics,” by CBS’ Anthony Salvanto, Kabir Khanna, Fred Backus and Jennifer De Pinto: Only 7% of GOP primary voters say the indictment makes them think less of Trump, as he’s crushing Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS nationally, 61% to 23%.

— Former AG BILL BARR on “Fox News Sunday” this morning: “I was shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, frankly. … If even half of it is true, then he’s toast.I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning. And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here, a victim of a witch hunt, is ridiculous.”"

He is feeling the squeeze and losing control of the narrative.

CHEETO makes Nixon look like a saint. 

"Attorneys who represent Trump also risk blowback from those in the legal profession, including lawyers in their own firm, along with uncommonly harsh treatment from an increasingly partisan press.

Finally, it must be noted that Trump is the opposite of the ideal client. Several years ago, a friend of mine rebuffed feelers to represent the 45th U.S. president. When I asked him why, my friend explained that he'd queried several New York City lawyers he knew. The book on Trump? "His reputation in the New York bar is that he doesn't take his attorney's advice," my friend said, "and he doesn't pay his legal bills.""

Nothing new here, something akin to a leopard and spots.