Biden bets big on Trump conviction
They don’t need a crime; they need a conviction.
President Joe Biden is very excited for the potential conviction of his political opponent, former President Donald Trump. The White House is pulling out all the stops, preparing a speech to “break [the president’s] silence” on the topic.
The speech is planned from the White House itself, “to show,” Politico reports, “his statement isn’t political.” The window dressing is of course absurd.
You’d have to be a member of the D.C. or New York press corps to think anything about this is apolitical. Meanwhile, the president’s social media team is thinking about changing the former president and current Republican nominee’s title to “Convicted Felon Donald Trump” in its TikTok posts.
As the trial concludes, we’re still left wondering what secret crime Trump committed that turns an out-of-date misdemeanor into a felony case with dire implications for American democracy. It all hinges on a so-called “object crime” (or crime the first misdemeanor was committed in the service of), which would upgrade falsifying an accounting entry into 34 felonies and the potential for over a century in prison.
The prosecution has been vague on what this object crime was — and appears to have successfully persuaded a judge that the jury doesn’t need to specify either — but spent four hours Tuesday trying to convince the jury to convict anyway.
‘As Democrats’ Jan. 6 and ‘democracy under attack’ messaging falls flat just over five months from Election Day, the party’s panic is growing more public.’
Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, Robert De Niro took off his COVID mask to read prepared remarks for a bizarre presser reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s 2012 Republican National Convention address.
Flanked by Harry Dunn (the Capitol Police officer who invented a tale of his heroism and lost a congressional primary earlier in May) and his former colleague, Michael Fanone, De Niro claimed Trump “wants to destroy not only [New York City], but the country, and eventually, he can destroy the world.”
“And that’s why I’ve joined the Biden-Harris campaign,” the actor explained. “Because the only way to preserve our freedoms and hold on to our humanity is to vote for Joe Biden for president. Really. We don’t have a choice.”
If the actor had any thoughts on the actual trial, he kept them to himself.
The important thing was keeping Trump from returning to the White House. The trial is essential to that effort. As Democrats’ Jan. 6 and “democracy under attack” messaging falls flat just over five months from Election Day, the party’s panic is growing more public.
“A pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the Democratic Party over President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects,” Politico reported the morning of the trial’s closing arguments, “even among officeholders and strategists who had previously expressed confidence about the coming battle with Donald Trump.”
While some experts are predicting a hung jury, much will come down to the instructions the judge ends up giving at the end of closing arguments.
While the many indignities and insanities of the trial will make a strong case for overturning any conviction, that wouldn’t take place until after November — and the damage Team Biden is hoping for will be done.
The prosecution of Donald J. Trump is all about politics. The White House and media Democrats can deny it all they like — but they’re counting on it.