On August 8, the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and examined the premises for nine hours during which they seized 11 sets of documents and other materials, some of which were labeled "Top Secret," according to the disclosed search warrant receipt.
Trump condemned the raid as a weaponization of the US justice system and claimed to have declassified all materials present at his residence.
"Unless Donald Trump is convicted of one or more felonies before November 2024, he is now, on paper, a much stronger contender than he was before the Mar-a-Lago raid," former hedge fund manager and political commentator Charles Ortel said.
The raid, Ortel added, and the fact US Attorney General Merrick Garland approved it personally, are shameful episodes in the assaults against the US Constitution.
"Whether you like Donald Trump or loathe him… you must understand that running the Federal Bureau of Investigation like a Stasi or Gestapo is so far beyond acceptable that it is worse than laughable," he said.
The raid will give Trump backers a rallying cry not unlike how Texans still chant "Remember the Alamo."
"As Americans vote in the looming pivotal elections, many will pull levers at the polls thinking 'Remember Mar-a-Lago,'" Ortel said.
Unless worse disasters strike before the looming mid-term election, Ortel added, Trump voters and disaffected Biden voters are still likely to swarm the polls.
"After the looming anti-Democrat deluge, there will be an accounting against all who have trampled the Constitution. This project will continue through and after November 2024," he predicted.
Political analyst Sam Husseini, founder of VotePact.org, said the conventional wisdom is that this raid hurts Trump, but the conventional wisdom is frequently wrong.
"This keeps the focus on Trump. It adds yet another dimension to the myriad of ways liberals have obsessed over 'getting him' or seeming to at apparently any cost. But he feeds off the notoriety," Hussein told Sputnik.
University of Pittsburgh Professor of International Affairs Michael Brenner said it will boost Trump among Republicans if he seeks the nomination, but could hurt him in the general election.
"There's a feeling that he's beginning to be seen as shop-worn - and past his sell-by date," Brenner said.