The hands that grab former President Donald Trump’s New York properties could hand him the White House, a pollster says.
Pollster Frank Luntz appeared on CNN Thursday amid talk that New York State Attorney General Letitia James could begin seizing Trump’s properties Monday.
James sued Trump in a civil fraud case that ended up with Trump being ordered to pay out millions, with $464 million due Monday. Trump has indicated that making that payment — which state rules say must be made for Trump to appeal — could be difficult, leading to speculation that James is ready to seize Trump properties in New York state’s swanky Westchester County.
Luntz said if James does that, she is helping Trump.
“I want you to remember this moment. And don’t forget it,” Luntz said in a video of the segment posted by Mediaite.
“If the New York Attorney General starts to take his homes away, starts to seize his assets, it’s all going to be on camera. Pundits are going to sit there and scream about this, ‘This man cannot be elected.’ You’re going to create the greatest victimhood of 2024. And you’re going to elect Donald Trump,” Luntz said.
“If they take his stuff, he’s going to say that this is proof that the federal government and the establishment in the swamp in Washington, and all the politicians across the country and the attorneys generals and all of this, that this is a conspiracy to deny him the presidency,” he said.
Luntz noted that this has happened before.
“He’s going to go up in the polls, just like he went up every single time they indicted him. The indictment — and let’s not talk about whether it’s justified or not — but it will prove the things that he’s saying on the campaign trail, and he will go up, and it may just elect him president. Do not forget that,” Luntz said.
Will any seizure of Trump’s property boost his campaign?
Luntz gave James a piece of advice.
“And I say this to the attorney general right now, if you play politics on this, this is what the secretaries of state did in Colorado, and what they did in, I believe is Maine, his numbers went up in both states,” he said.
Luntz then noted that failed attempts to squash Trump have made him stronger.
“I don’t understand. I’m almost speechless in how pathetic the opposition to Trump has been and how completely misguided. And this is a perfect example of it,” he said.
Luntz noted that despite everything thrown against him, “Trump is leading. And in the seven swing states, Trump is up by the margin of error in five out of seven.
“Why is that happening? Because his critics are stupid and they’re running a horrible campaign,” he said.
A clip of the interview appears below.
CNN commentator S.E. Cupp, in a follow-up panel discussion on CNN, said many Trump backers don’t need another reason to support Trump.
He said many voters “don’t care about this stuff. You care about the fact that you haven’t gotten a raise in five years, you care about the fact that the border seems borderless, you care about crime, you care about opioids, you care about the economy.”
A former Obama fundraiser and real estate developer said the fraud lawsuit and the strained efforts to penalize Trump are mistakes.
“I have expressed concern that I think that this is a very slippery slope to selectively enforce an archaic law that has got no victim,” Don Peebles said, according to Fox News.
“I think they are confident, or think it’s likely that this will get reversed, and then there will be no punishment,” he said.
“So they’re rushing to inflict as much pain on him as they can right now because once the appeals court puts an end to this, then there will be no repercussions,” he said.
