Joe Biden & Co. ARE beginning to throw political haymakers at a target rich Donald Trump…..
President Biden’s campaign is leaning into former President Trump’s conviction, suggesting it believes that reminding voters often enough that the presumptive GOP nominee for the White House is a felon will pay off at the polls in November.
The emerging strategy is crystalized by a Monday campaign ad drop that highlights Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money trial on charges of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
It follows Biden calling Trump a convicted felon at campaign events, and comes as the president’s campaign and allies have made the Trump guilty verdict a staple of their messaging.
The strategy to go all in on Trump’s conviction comes with risks. Republican lawmakers have rallied around the former president, arguing he is the victim of a politicized justice system.
But Democratic strategists say they are comfortable with the approach, and cast it as a way to appeal to the middle of the country in an election that is widely expected to be close and decided on the margins.
“Trump is now a felon, but he’s also been a crook, a con man, a one-term president, and the person responsible for Roe being overturned,” Jim Messina, former President Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, told The Hill.
“Not much has stopped his base from supporting him, and we shouldn’t assume a conviction will either. That said, this ad is a smart way to reach swing voters whose opinion will sway the election,”
The new ad, which is part of a $50 million paid media campaign in June, seeks to underline the comparison between Trump and Biden to voters. It was unveiled ahead of next week’s critical debate, when Biden and Trump will face off in Atlanta…..
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“Look, folks, this campaign has entered uncharted territory. Last week, for the first time in American history, a former president is convicted — a convicted felon. He’s now seeking the office of the presidency,” he said.
At a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday, which raised $30 million for his campaign, Obama made sure to call out Trump’s legal status.
“We had the spectacle of the nominee of one of the two major parties sitting in court and being convicted by a jury of his peers on 34 counts,” the former president said…..
image…Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden participates in a televised townhall on CNN dedicated to LGBTQ issues in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake