Democrats with criminal pasts (and one who was recently indicted) have begun to feature prominently in Donald Trump's campaign for president. And I can think of several reasons why. Last weekend, it was former Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who appeared at a Republican National Committee event hosted at Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times reported that Trump spent an extended period of time discussing the former fraudster, who was convicted of corruption but was released after Trump commuted his sentence in 2020. Per the Times : [Trump] spent several minutes acknowledging Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois whose lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of corruption charges was commuted by Mr. Trump, and who was at the R.N.C. event.