The Republican spin on Trump's guilty verdict is really something

As news of Donald Trump's criminal conviction settled in across the country last week, elected Republicans began to spin a narrative that would be a head-scratcher for any political party tethered to reality: that the verdict has single-handedly secured Trump's triumph in November.

"Congratulations, progressives," Sen. Mike Lee of Utah tweeted Thursday. "You've just guaranteed Trump's election."  

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, gunning to be Trump's running mate, similarly crowed that his "deranged enemies just elected Trump for President again!" 

It was part of a much larger effort across the Republican Party to paint their biggest liability this cycle—Trump and his proven criminality—as an electoral boon. Republicans immediately rallied around Trump, attacked President Joe Biden for a prosecution that he had nothing to do with, and declared Democrats had made a strategic misstep.