President Joe BidenThe practical approach to the four criminal charges of his main rival is an approach that some leading Democrats feel may be lost, NBC News reported Sunday.
The president has rarely acknowledged the sprawling criminal cases currently involving his main rival in 2024, and avoids mentioning Trump even in conversations with donors. . In early August, both the White House and the Biden campaign declined to comment on Trump’s allegation of federal charges related to his bid to overturn the 2020 election. The day after Trump was arrested in Georgia a few weeks later, the Biden campaign released an ad in battleground states specifically targeting abortion.
Some Democrats believe that Biden should become more involved in the former president’s legal affairs, especially with Trump and Biden nearly tied in the polls and Trump attacking him at every turn. “What Trump has done is so terrible, so beyond the point that I think we all have to take a very strong and aggressive and hostile stand against him,” former Democratic Representative in Ohio. Tim Ryan NBC reported. “There has to be a unifying approach here.”
Democratic strategy Chuck Rochawho was a senior aide to the Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders‘ 2020 presidential campaign, he praised the president’s messaging strategy but acknowledged that Biden and his supporters are “banking on Trump differentiating himself” with the president. current sitting.
There is certainly evidence to support Biden’s decision to avoid the appearance of undue influence on the Justice Department by remaining silent on the issues. According to a Politico Magazine/IPSOS poll from earlier this month, a majority of Americans — including two-thirds of independents — believe the DOJ’s lawsuit was based on a “fair assessment of the evidence and the law. ” More voters believe the Trump administration armed the DOJ than the Biden administration, and Trump’s behavior in criminal matters is rated much more favorably by voters than the behavior of Biden and DOJ officials.
“When there’s a train wreck, you don’t need someone standing by saying, ‘Look at that train wreck.’ It’s obvious,” said the Democratic strategist Tom Bonier. Focusing on policy issues and attacking “Republican terrorists” is a better strategy than going into the details of Trump’s legal issues, he said.
Biden supporters say a key element of the president’s strategy this year is to focus on convincing voters about the strength of his economy, as polls show that attitudes voters still low low on the issue. On Sunday, Biden published an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel building on his economic achievements. “Bidenomics is working in Wisconsin,” he wrote. “We’re investing in American workers. “
“He is present this year. He talks about his accomplishments and his vision,” the Biden adviser said. “That’s the main focus.” The campaign’s plan, according to NBC, is to “take this approach through 2023, and then continue into becoming a candidate in 2024.” It is a strategy that would mirror the approach used by the former president Barack Obamare-election campaign in 2012.
There will, however, be some shift in messaging after Labor Day, according to one presidential adviser. But that doesn’t mean that Biden will start talking more about Trump’s accusations. A Democrat close to his campaign told Politico Playbook on Sunday not to expect “changes in how we [don’t] discuss legal matters.” Instead, Biden is likely to lean into the “protect democracy” message — a key part of his campaign launch video, which opened with footage of the Jan. 6 attack but did not mention Trump by name.
Trump’s next legal challenge will come in October, when the former president and his sons Eric and Don Jr. are expected to stand trial. Attorney General of the state Letitia James seeking a $250 million judgment and claiming the family created a false valuation of assets.
