President Trump’s expression of frustration throughout the first week of his criminal trial was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Sitting in a battered burgundy leather chair for hours on end, the ex-president listened to the common New Yorkers’ thoughts about him. He had no social media to peruse and no entourage to distract him. The bench reprimands didn’t deter him. The temperature in the chamber was “freezing,” he complained at the courts, and on Friday he spoke out against his gag order, saying, “They’re taking away my constitutional rights to speak— and that includes speaking to you” to reporters.
Trump continued to post online about the trial even when he was out of court, expressing his frustration with both “Stupid Jimmy Kimmel” and the jury selection process while posing in front of a wall of potato chip bags at a Harlem bodega (“a beautiful place,” he called it) and having dinner with the Polish president at Trump Tower.
It was President Trump, not Joe Biden, who appeared to have been caught off guard by a judge’s schedule and gag orders as he juggled court proceedings with campaign activities for the first time in months, despite Biden’s numerous legal troubles in New York and elsewhere.
As the general election campaign heats up and Trump’s judicial hearings drag on, even he appeared to recognize the liability the trial was becoming for him.
Reporters were informed by Trump in the court corridor this week that he should be campaigning in other states, including North Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, as well as Florida and many more. The Biden administration is behind this because Joe Biden can’t even string together a complete thought. His campaigning skills are lacking.
The prosecutor in New York who was trying to bring charges against Trump was a Democrat, not someone from the presidency.
The spectacle that is Trump’s political persona has always been appealing to his followers. That being said, he did not come out empty-handed from the court spectacle. Reporters and cameras followed him closely as he made his way to and from the courts, ensuring that he was in the spotlight constantly. In comparison to Biden’s campaign rallies this week, Trump’s trial received far more coverage in the media.
However, Trump’s strength has always also been the sense that he was in charge and could do things his way. While Trump was in court this week, it became clear that this was no longer the case; on trial days, his campaign rallies were limited to the New York area and its surrounding areas. That is, at the very least, making it harder for Trump to address the developing presidential race.
While Trump was in court this week, Biden began a three-day tour of Pennsylvania, a pivotal swing state, where he addressed taxes and the economy. On Tuesday, he announced that he will visit Trump’s home state of Florida, where Trump will once again be involved in legal proceedings.
Addressing the demands of Trump’s protracted legal drama, Biden added, “Under my predecessor, who’s a little busy right now, Pennsylvania lost 275,000 jobs.” This was an unusual occurrence for the president, but he made the statement when speaking to steelworkers in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
As Trump was back in court the following day, Biden surrounded himself with Kennedy family members who had endorsed him. This was an effort to thwart Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a third party contender who may steal votes from Trump.
In response to an inquiry regarding Trump’s time in court, Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the president, informed AWN that Trump “proved he will remain defiant in the face of this unprecedented political lawfare, and it is clear that his support from the American people will only grow as they watch Joe Biden, Alvin Bragg, and the Democrats putting on this bogus show trial six months before the election.”
An anonymous Trump campaign official expressed satisfaction with the coverage of the trial this week, citing comments made by sports radio host Stephen A. Smith—who is opposed to Trump but blames Democrats for the prosecution—as an example. Smith expressed his desire to witness Trump “lose the right way.”
The trial had been postponed for some time by Trump’s advisors. The opportunity cost this week was evident, even if they insisted he could still campaign during the hearings.
Even while Biden was releasing campaign promises on the radio, Trump’s campaign was sending fundraising requests tied to the trial, causing Biden to fall behind in the money race. Last month, the president established dozens of campaign offices in states that were considered to be in a tight race, and he quadrupled his expenditure, much of it on commercials. The gap between him and Trump in the polls has shrunk, and he is currently in a close second.
Even Trump’s supporters are beginning to believe, according to new polls, that the trial will hurt him in ways that weren’t apparent before. Most Americans, including most independents, think the charges against Trump in his current trial are at least somewhat serious, according to a recent New York Times/Siena poll. The poll also showed that Trump’s lead was decreasing by one percentage point. Last week, a survey conducted by Reuters/Ipsos found that 13% of Trump’s potential voters might reconsider their support in the event of a felony conviction. In addition to showing that Trump is gaining ground on Biden among young voters, a Harvard Youth Poll that was released on Thursday also indicated that Biden’s lead will widen if any of Trump’s four criminal cases result in a conviction.
Despite a larger percentage holding Trump accountable in his other ongoing legal proceedings, a recent Associated Press survey indicated that only one-third of Americans think he done anything wrong in the present hush money case.
Trump continues to campaign wherever and whenever he can, making a weekend trip to Pennsylvania before his trial and attending a rally and fundraiser in North Carolina on Saturday, another key state in November.
Even before the trial started, Trump had reduced the frequency of his in-person campaigns, which had included a string of rallies in states including South Carolina, Nevada, Iowa, and New Hampshire in January and February for the Republican primary. As he did during his breaks this week, Trump can still use his social media presence outside of court.
Despite his hectic schedule, he announced outside the bodega that he will be “campaigning locally” more in New York. Despite the near-certainty of Biden’s victory in the state and the fact that Trump’s lead has been narrowing in other crucial, highly competitive battleground states, the president has pledged to make a “heavy play” in the traditionally Democratic state.
However, the trial hindered the public campaigning that he managed to accomplish this week. And unlike most of Trump’s political persona, his trial week had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
Rather, it was the judge scolding Trump for making obscene gestures and mutterings at a juror or for discovering that he may be barred from attending his son Barron’s high school graduation next month. Or, as the prosecutor phrased it, “Mr. Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses” in the lead-up to the trial, as the reason his lawyers were not given the identities of the first witnesses who were supposed to testify. This is normally mundane information.
What you saw this week will be repeated next week. The hush money case is about to begin with the anticipated opening statements, and Justice Juan Merchan has announced that a hearing will be held to review the prosecution’s motion to penalize and hold Trump in contempt for allegedly breaching his gag order.