Advisers to Donald Trump are baffled after the former president told them that he wants to be handcuffed when he makes an appearance in court if he is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury because he wants to use the “spectacle” as a campaign tool to galvanize his base for his 2024 presidential campaign.
The former president argued that since he would be required to go to the court and surrender himself to authorities for fingerprinting and a mug shot, he might as well turn everything into a “spectacle”, according to The Guardian.
Trump’s insistence that he wants to be handcuffed behind his back for a perp walk appears to come from various motivations, including that he wants to project defiance in the face of what he sees as an unfair prosecution and that it would fire up his supporters.
Citing people close to Trump, The Guardian reported that the former president was “deeply anxious that any special arrangements – like making his first court appearance by video link or skulking into the courthouse – would make him look weak or like a loser”.
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But Trump may be thwarted in his supposed ambitions if district attorney Alvin Bragg decides against handcuffing him and refuses to allow him to be marched past the cameras.
Trump’s advisers have also been unsure whether he actually grasps the enormity of what an indictment might mean for him legally, in part because he has appeared disconnected at times from the recent flurry of activity in New York as the investigation has wrapped up.
