Inside the MAGAverse on the Eve of Trump’s Trial

On Saturday afternoon I drove out to eastern Pennsylvania, one of the big battlegrounds between President Biden and Donald Trump in this election, to attend Mr. Trump’s final rally before his criminal trial starts Monday. I was curious about the mood of Trump voters as this historic case gets underway. Were they feeling angry? Worried? Frustrated? Ready to go all civil war?

Instead, I found young women in sequins, older ladies in tutus, men sporting all manner of red-white-and-blue combos, and most everyone reveling in MAGA fellowship. It felt a little like the Whos down in Whoville gathering to sing after the Grinch stole Christmas. There was a vibe of unity, common purpose, faith and joy. I didn’t run across anyone sweating the trial. But I spoke with plenty of folks like Lauren Herzog — who was rocking pigtails, a MAGA hat and an American-flag pajama onesie — with her husband and a bunch of their friends, who were happy to field my questions about whether they were concerned that Mr. Trump would soon be in court.

There was much laughter and even more cross talk, but the bottom-line ruling from the group was, “Nah.” The more involved answer was that no one was troubled about Mr. Trump’s possible criminality, but all were outraged that the Democratic haters were trying to bring him down. Again.

One of the men joked that he was way more concerned his “Tourette’s would kick in” and he’d start yelling “screw Biden a lot.” Only he went a shade bluer than screw. One of the women said she felt Mr. Trump was on trial only because he’s running for president. Pressed on the matter, she said she was concerned that most American were freaking “morons” these days. Except she went a shade bluer than freaking.

From person after person, I heard variations on this theme: Mr. Trump is the victim of a political witch hunt. The Democrats are panicked and desperate to take him out. He will nonetheless slip from their clutches. Again.