Donald Trump got some good news and some bad news on Monday. While he was still in a hearing regarding the "hush money" criminal case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, a New York appeals court lowered his bond in New York AG Letia James' civil suit from $464 million to $175 million. That was a major win for the president, who had been rushing to come up with nearly half a billion in cash. 

Less than an hour later, though, the judge in the "hush money" case rejected Trump's latest attempt for a dismissal and set a trial date of April 15th. The former president then held a presser to discuss the development.

READ: New Trial Date for April 15th in Trump's New York 'Hush Money' Case 

Trump attacked Joe Biden by name in response to one question, saying the New York-based prosecution against him is a "Biden trial." He further speculated that a conviction could make him more popular because "people know it's a scam."

How would a conviction in the Bragg case play out with the voting public? I don't think anyone really knows. This is uncharted territory. There's no precedent for criminally charging a former president, much less under a novel (and highly questionable) theory of state-level misdemeanors being upgraded to felonies based on alleged federal crimes that the DOJ rejected. 

Still, this latest news is a bit of a shock to the system for Republicans who had convinced themselves these cases would just go away. With the intra-party fighting of the primary season behind us, the calm before the storm is ending. Things are about to get very real.