Did Hope Hicks Really Hurt Trump?

So, yesterday Hope Hicks showed up at Trump’s hush-money trial, and as expected testified that Trump made it clear that he was concerned about the impact of any stories about Stormy Daniels coming after he somehow had gotten through the mess created by the release of the Access Hollywood ‘locker-room’ tape.

Her testimony didn’t touch directly on the actual payment by Cohen to Daniels or how Cohen was then reimbursed by Trump. What the prosecution is obviously trying to do is show that Trump had the motivation to shut down any attempt by Daniels to go public with her stories about the affair with Trump.

I not only have never bought the idea that Trump’s campaign was seriously damaged by the Access Hollywood tape, but I also don’t buy the idea that Trump was going to lose any votes over what Stormy Daniels intended to say to The National Enquirer until she got paid by Michal Cohen to shut the f — — up.

When the Access Hollywood tape hit the media on October 7th, exactly one month and a day before the 2016 election took place, it took Trump less than 24 hours to go on national television and give what I think was the single most compelling public performance of his entire political career. He was quiet, contrite, respectful, and appeared to be genuinely embarrassed by having a bit of ‘locker-room talk’ overheard.