Election Interference: Would Trump Have Lost If Stormy Daniels Had Come Forward Earlier?

As I reported earlier, Donald Trump's "hush money" case kicked off today, with the judge threatening to arrest Trump if he was not present in the courtroom for every day of the trial, meaning he'll miss his son's high school graduation as well as time to campaign. This is the case where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg decided a misdemeanor should be elevated to a felony.

I naively didn't understand why this case was such a big deal, but then Ron Filipkowski tipped me off: If Stormy Daniels had come forward before the election, would Trump have won, or would it have cost him the election?

The point is, if Stormy Daniels had come out and told what happened two weeks before the election on the heels of Access Hollywood instead of getting paid off by Trump the outcome may have been different. That’s why this is an election interference trial.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 15, 2024

If this was so important, why bring it now right before election unless you want to interfere in an election?
— Karen Cook (@kayceeinva) April 15, 2024

DOJ concluded that was not a violation of campaign finance laws.

Whether it was “election interference” or not is irrelevant because that’s not the “crime” Bragg is relying on. https://t.co/HeiPg9LQtN
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) April 15, 2024

Former CNN host Brian Stelter, who has been compared to a potato, quoted from a New Yorker piece:

"Would Trump have lost the 2016 Presidential election if Stormy Daniels had gone public with her story? Prosecutors in Manhattan think maybe so. This question is at the heart of this week’s criminal trial against Trump..." https://t.co/OJbXOIeaaW
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 15, 2024

This is not a defense to the claim that this trial is 100% politically motivated bullshit, but a confession. https://t.co/Eg0aIQ9yi8
— jeremysenderowicz (@senderowiczj) April 15, 2024

Exactly.

Would Trump have won the election if Daniels had gone public with her story? Yes. We all saw the "Access Hollywood" video and still concluded that Hillary Clinton was a worse person. There's no question in my mind he would have won anyway. But apparently, that's what the prosecution is all about: Trump stealing the election by paying off Daniels to keep quiet.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Just to sum up. You support Trump for president even if he's convicted in the classified documents case. You support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You support him for president even though you believe he's lying about… pic.twitter.com/RMXfOOkVBv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2024

"… even though you believe he's lying about the last election. You support him for president even if he's convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?
SUNUNU: Yeah. Me and 51 percent of America.
S: Governor, thanks for your time this morning.

So Stephanopoulos is supporting Joe Biden for president even though he's reportedly showered with his young daughter, lied repeatedly about where and how his son died, opened the border, and botched the Afghanistan withdrawal, droning an innocent man and killing seven children? And that's just getting started.

Clinton was so horrible that she lost to Trump despite the media's attempt to destroy him, and Biden just plain sucks. Trump's polling just goes higher the more of these kangaroo courts he's forced to sit through. Of course, it's election interference.

I voted for Trump and will do so a third time, even though he wasn't my first choice. What's the option? Four more years of Biden?

***