All of this is good for Democrats in general and Biden in particular. To the extent the president can define himself as the last, best obstacle to Trump returning to the White House, it helps quell the extensive doubts about him within his own party. Biden is barely above 40 percent approval in polling averages, a nightmarish position that should doom his party in the midterms and himself in 2024, and yet he’s only down 2.2 percent in the RealClearPolitics average in a hypothetical rematch with Trump in 2024.
Trump is his life preserver and comfort blanket, providing a political boost based on the easiest political argument in the world — “See that guy over there obsessed with fanciful theories about the 2020 election? I may not be a very good president. But at least I’m not him.”
Meantime, the Trump phenomenon has always been a form of political jiujitsu, using the force deployed against it as a source of strength. The more Trump is called names and investigated, the better. Not to make light of it, but if the FBI had shown up at Mar-a-Lago with an armored vehicle and a couple of helicopters, Trump’s lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which had dwindled before jumping back up after the search, would be all but insurmountable. If he’s indicted, he might well be nominated by acclamation (perhaps the effect would fade — but that’s what it would look like initially).
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