The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 22, 2018:
As Donald Trump began to speak Tuesday evening at a political rally in West Virginia, there was a problem with his microphone. In a way, it was a fitting moment near the end of a very rough day for the president.
Trump lost Tuesday on optics alone. And the fallout from two dramatic court scenes could deliver him legal and political headaches — though he has a certain Teflon quality that allows him to absorb negative developments and retain support of around 40 percent of the U.S. electorate.
About two hours before Trump departed the White House for the Charleston rally, news broke that Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney and fixer, would plead guilty to multiple campaign finance, bank fraud and tax fraud charges. That came just before the president’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud by a jury in Virginia. Manafort faces up to 80 years in prison.