It has been observed that former President Donald Trump has enjoyed a boost in support following each of the four criminal indictments filed against him last year, particularly the two federal cases led by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

That "curious phenomenon" for Trump that "seems counterintuitive" is at least partially attributable to how Smith has handled his twin prosecutions of the former president, according to an op-ed for The Hill from former federal judge turned Dickinson College President John E. Jones III.

Jones essentially argued that Smith has been largely constrained and kept silent by the rules federal prosecutors must adhere to while Trump has in contrast been relatively free to push the narrative that he is the victim of political persecution by prosecutors working on behalf of and in coordination with his chief political rival, President Joe Biden.

Trump's support is stronger now than before the indictments

Former President Trump was hit with four criminal indictments in 2023, including two at the state level -- falsifying business records in New York and election interference plus racketeering in Georgia -- and two at the federal level under Special Counsel Smith, including the classified documents case in Florida and election interference in Washington D.C.

After each of those indictments was publicly revealed, Trump's popularity and support would subsequently increase in public polls, as evidenced by RealClearPollings tracking graphs for both the 2024 Republican primary and the 2024 general election.

That "counterintuitive" and repeated "phenomenon" continues to baffle many, particularly the legal and media pundits who incorrectly assumed that the mere allegations of criminal wrongdoing detailed in the several indictments would be sufficient to undermine and destroy Trump's base of support -- not reinforce and expand it.

Smith supposedly constrained from making a public case against Trump

As The Hill op-ed outlined, one possible explanation for this unexpected development is that, in the view of Jones, Special Counsel Smith has been constrained from fully making his case publicly against former President Trump by way of the Justice Department's rules for federal prosecutors.

"The manual directs prosecutors to refrain from commenting on an accused’s character, his or her public statements, and the probability that the accused is guilty of the charged crime. In essence, prosecutors must largely stand mute and let their cases speak for themselves," Jones wrote.

Of course, that isn't exactly true, however, as Smith has spoken publicly in a couple of press conferences and has often made declarative statements about Trump's character, public statements -- which he seeks to silence through gag orders -- as well as his supposed state of mind and presumptive guilt of the charges against him in numerous court filings in both federal cases.

Why has Trump's support grown after each indictment?

Meanwhile, except for the limited gag orders -- and sometimes despite them -- former President Trump has largely been able to say whatever he wants about Special Counsel Smith and the criminal charges against him, which he has persistently asserted his innocence of and proclaimed himself to be a targeted victim of politically motivated persecution.

As evidenced by public polling, those assertions from Trump have seemingly had a positive impact on his support, according to Jones, in large part because of a psychological phenomenon known as the "illusory truth effect," which describes how people eventually begin to believe as truth various falsities and misinformation if they see and hear it repeated often enough.

Jones pointed to exit polls following the Iowa Caucus -- similar results were found after the New Hampshire primary -- which showed that roughly half to two-thirds of Republican caucus-goers and primary voters believed that President Joe Biden didn't legitimately win the 2020 election as well as that Trump was still fit to be elected and serve as president even if convicted of the criminal charges against him.

Who in this equation has been more swayed by repeated lies and misinformation?

To be sure, Jones and others like him firmly believe that Trump is guilty of the criminal charges against him and that Smith has been stoically silent while Trump's supporters have been swayed by the repetitive lies and mistruths about his proclaimed innocence and political persecution victimhood.

But what Jones and the others refuse to consider is the possibility that they themselves have fallen sway to the repeated falsehoods and unsupported allegations of wrongdoing lodged against the former president for years by the biased media and partisan prosecutors like Smith, who has most certainly not been silently idle in pressing his overtly political prosecutions of Trump at a rapid pace that is clearly intended to impact the coming presidential election.