Because he is now tethered to a historic New York criminal trial for the next two months, former President Donald Trump must change his campaign strategy.
Ordinarily, the former president would likely be scheduling a series of campaign speeches at fundraisers and rallies.
“[Instead,] the campaign IS the courtroom over the next several weeks,” Steve Bannon, who headed the 2016 campaign for then-candidate Donald Trump, wrote via text to The Epoch Times. “President Trump’s messaging about the ‘Lawfare’ used against him replaces all but the most important rallies.”
Every afternoon after court ends, President Trump “going to the sticks,” or media microphones, “is vital to pierce the media’s information war,” according to Mr. Bannon, host of his own “War Room” podcast.
These circumstances underscore the unparalleled challenges that President Trump faces as he makes his third run for the White House. More than that, this situation is exerting major effects on voters and the U.S. political system.
Susan MacManus, a Florida political scholar for a half-century, said, for example, that she never would have expected that a political campaign could revolve around court cases.
“I’ve already labeled this ‘the litigation and misinformation election,’” Ms. MacManus said.
She says that because of the four court cases lodged against President Trump dominating news coverage. It’s also because of the conflicting narratives coming from his camp as well as from the opposing team representing President Joe Biden.
Allies of President Trump are blasting the New York trial and three other prosecutions as “persecutions,” “lawfare,” and “election interference.” They’re also calling them “The Biden Trials,” suggesting that Democrats and President Biden influenced these cases.
President Biden and his supporters reject those descriptions. He has denied direct involvement in the cases, but records have surfaced showing that members of the Biden administration met with prosecutors in some of the cases.
His supporters say the prosecutions are intended to uphold “the rule of law” and support the ideal that “no one is above the law.”
But President Trump points out that all four of the cases involve years-old allegations. He says the charges never would have been pursued if he hadn’t chosen to seek reelection—and that the charges were pushed purposely to interfere with his campaign.
All four cases against President Trump have two other unusual features in common, Ohio legal analyst Mike Allen told The Epoch Times. They all arise from President Trump’s use of records or from statements he made and that “there are no victims in these cases,” according to Mr. Allen.
He takes particular issue with the New York prosecution. District Attorney Alvin Bragg “had to boot-strap a misdemeanor to a felony,” Mr. Allen said.
He sees a clear animus against President Trump.
“They’re ganging up on him before an election to kind of put him on ice for a period of time while he has to attend these trials,” Mr. Allen said. “It’s shameful, and the old saying, ‘What goes around comes around,’ is in play.”
He predicts that, in the future, Democrats could find themselves in the crosshairs.
“Revenge and payback are a big part of politics, like it or not,” Mr. Allen said.
Regardless of how and why the charges were brought, the effects on the presidential campaign came into focus during the trial’s initial week.
While President Trump will be stuck in court from April 15 to 19, President Biden was set for a three-city blitz in Pennsylvania. That’s a battleground state that could be key to a presidential win.
President Trump countered by scheduling a rally in North Carolina on April 20, a Saturday. Additional rallies most likely will need to be held on the weekends, when court is not in session, or virtually.
More statements from his surrogates are expected to continue hammering on the unfairness of the prosecutions.
On the first day of the New York trial, April 15, Justice Juan Merchan made it clear that he would adhere to a strict schedule. He warned President Trump that he would be arrested for any absences.
Justice Merchan refused to excuse President Trump from the New York court even to attend the April 25 U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether “presidential immunity” should exempt him—and other presidents—from prosecution.
The judge also said he might not exempt President Trump from court to attend the high school graduation of his son, Barron, on May 17.
Some media outlets suggested that Justice Merchan’s hard-line stance on these requests served as painful wake-up calls to President Trump that he is now a criminal defendant subject to the court’s control.
But Mr. Allen, a defense lawyer who formerly served as a prosecutor and a judge, said most judges would see these requests as reasonable and would grant them.
“I’d think you’d be hard-pressed to find many judges at all who wouldn’t accommodate something as important as a Supreme Court oral argument,” he said.
“I think it’s very petty that the judge would not excuse Trump for a U.S. Supreme Court case where he is the focus of the entire case.”
Although New York law requires a criminal defendant who is free on bond to attend trial, particularly during jury selection, the judge could easily grant a one-day continuance, Mr. Allen said, noting that such a slight delay would have no appreciable impact on a case projected to last two months.
Although Judge Merchan has not ruled on President Trump’s graduation attendance request, Mr. Allen sees his obstinance as a sign of “mean-spiritedness” and “clear bias.”
It’s unclear whether any of the other three cases against President Trump will go to trial before the Nov. 5 General Election.
The surrounding political climate is unlike anything that Ms. MacManus could have envisioned.
Never before has a former U.S. president been indicted, had a mugshot taken, or gone on trial as a criminal defendant. Yet he beat his Republican rivals by historic margins.
At the same time, many Americans disapprove of the direction of the country under President Biden. Yet most opinion polls show a close race between the two presumed presidential nominees because voters are unenthusiastic about a Biden–Trump rematch of the 2020 election.
Ms. MacManus pointed out that The Associated Press reported its poll showed that only one in three voters believe that President Trump acted illegally in the hush-money case. However, the same poll found that about half of the respondents believe that he committed wrongdoing in one or more of the other cases.
Regardless of President Trump’s guilt or innocence, Ms. MacManus thinks voters are dreading “a nonstop election campaign that is focused more on court cases than on what candidates can do for the country.”
And her biggest question looking ahead to the General Election is: “What is this going to do to turnout?”
