Former President Donald Trump has shifted his campaign strategy while standing trial in New York, visiting key constituencies in the city, hosting foreign dignitaries at Trump Tower, and taking daily broadsides at his opponent in a guerrilla campaign for the city itself.
“We’re making a big play for New York,” President Trump told reporters on April 16, the day after his trial on charges related to allegedly falsifying business records began.
The remarks came during a visit to a Harlem bodega where a man had been stabbed to death. “I love this city,” President Trump said. “And it’s gotten so bad in the last three years . . . and we’re going to straighten New York out.”
The stop appeared to be calculated to appeal to minority voters, who have steadily migrated away from associating themselves with the Democratic Party over the last eight years.
A large crowd was seen in a video gathering around the bodega and chanting “four more years” as President Trump arrived.
An April poll from The Wall Street Journal shows that 30 percent of black men in battleground states intend to vote for former President Donald Trump. Hispanic voters who lean Republican are approaching parity with those who lean Democrat.
On April 25, President Trump visited a construction site before reporting to court. There, he shook hands with workers who are constructing what will become the 70-story headquarters of one of the country’s largest banking firms.
The move appeared to be calculated to bolster support among what President Biden has considered one of his core constituencies, union workers.
Flanked by some 100 people chanting “We want Trump,” the former president used the occasion to criticize his opponent’s economic policies. “I’ve got a lot of support there,” President Trump quipped.
When able to leave New York, President Trump has scheduled visits to states that are crucial to his reelection strategy. A weekend rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, a state which the former president won narrowly in 2020, was called off due to impending thunderstorms. Trump rallies are slated for May 1 in Wisconsin and Michigan, crucial battleground states.
“I’ll tell you this: There’s a difference between the two candidates in this election,” President Biden wrote.
Throughout the first two weeks of the trial, President Trump has pressed his claim that the charges are groundless and politically motivated.
“President Trump is defiant in the face of this unprecedented political lawfare waged by Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats,” Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, told The Epoch Times.
Outside the courtroom, President Trump has held daily press conferences, using the microphone to declare his innocence, disparage the charges against him, and criticize President Biden.
“They’re after me for doing nothing wrong,” President Trump said on April 15, calling the trial a “witch hunt.”
“The whole world is watching this hoax,” he said on April 18. “Crooked Joe Biden is the one that should be on trial.”
On evenings and weekends, President Trump has highlighted his influence on the international stage by entertaining foreign dignitaries.
That includes a visit from British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at Mar-a-Lago club just before the trial began, dinner with Polish President Andrzej Duda in New York during the first week of the trial, and a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
‘Play for New York’
Whether this “play for New York” will be successful is uncertain, according to pollster Rich Baris.“There would need to be a significant, historic shift away from Democrats, and all the stars would need to align for President Trump to carry New York,” Mr. Baris told The Epoch Times.
“That said, I agree with the strategy to visit targeted urban areas in states such as New York if for no other reason than to plant the seeds of long-term electoral change.”
Jason Meister, a New York-based Trump advisory board member, says that President Trump is known for transforming disadvantages into advantages. And that is the strategy behind going into New York neighborhoods when he’s not “being held as a political hostage” in trial.
Despite being tied to the courtroom, the Trump campaign can still be effective at fundraising, according to Gerard Filliti, senior counsel at The Lawfare Project.
Effective fundraising for a former President with significant name recognition and support does not require as many events as for a lesser-known candidate,” Mr. Filitti told The Epoch Times.
That’s because much of the funding comes from large donors and is funneled through political action committees, and President Trump can continue meeting with those donors while in New York.
And the travel disadvantage cuts both ways, Mr. Filitti said. “Ironically, perhaps, Biden is in no better position to campaign in person, but this is largely a reflection of his circumstances—and more so his age—rather than his choice.”
This trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, according to a media advisory from the New York State Unified Court System.
