When John Edwards ran in 2008 and paid hush money to prevent word of him cheating on his wife who had cancer, he was able to get away with not calling that an illegal campaign expense because he argued it would hurt his reputation regardless of if he was running or not.

I saw a poll that there are non-maga republicans who would not vote for Trump if he is found guilty. Who fucking cares about campaign finance law when it comes to the candidate paying for an NDA instead of getting bribed by lobbyists, and who cares about hiding it as a business expense (which it kind-of is because Trump businesses heavily rely on his personal branding).

All these prosecutors clearly want to be the first to get Trump's ass for their later political careers, Trump does what everyone else does but less competently with worse lawyers.