Stuck in a New York courtroom, former President Donald Trump has complained that his six-or-so-week trial over hush money he allegedly paid ex-porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election will undermine his 2024 campaign.
But news coverage of the legal proceedings appears to be helping him, at least so far.
Trump’s New York trial has not been televised, but cable news networks have been broadcasting wall-to-wall coverage, amplifying him and his message eight years after some executives expressed regret over their approach to the former reality TV star in 2016.
For his part, Trump has been addressing reporters every day of his trial, the first former president to have to defend himself from criminal charges and likely the only time he will have to do so before November’s election, outside New York City Criminal Court. He has used that microphone to not only respond to questions about his case and other legal matters but also to criticize President Joe Biden over his relationship with Israel and his economic record, in addition to encouraging Republican voters to participate in this week’s GOP primary in Pennsylvania.
“This is eight days that we’ve all been sitting in this courthouse,” Trump told reporters Friday. “I just want to say that I’ve invited Biden to debate,” he added, commenting on the news of the day. “He can do it anytime he wants, including tonight. I’m ready.”
Saving money on rallies, Trump, too, has been advantaged by the same bank of cameras not being permitted inside the building where they could have recorded him napping, as has been reported by those credentialed to be inside the courtroom itself.
The daily Trump statements “have been fascinating to watch,” according to DePauw University communication professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall.
“It shows Trump trying to make the best of a bad situation and displays him at his counterpunching best,” McCall told the Washington Examiner. “He has managed to turn each trial day into a mini-televised rally that just demands media attention. There is, indeed, public interest in these statements because they are spontaneous and unpredictable. That’s why cable news outlets want to broadcast them. Nobody can predict what he might say, good or bad, on any given day.”
News organizations contended with a similar dynamic in 2016 but, since then after criticism, have tended not to broadcast Trump live and uninterrupted, taking care not to air his remarks when they become less newsworthy and to fact-check them afterward.
“CNN covers the news,” a CNN spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. “When a former President of the United States is on trial, that is newsworthy. CNN’s coverage of the trials will continue to include the nuance, context, and unique reporting appropriate for this moment in American politics.”
Regardless of the coverage, Republican strategist Douglas Heye, describing the moment as being in “OJ territory,” advised the Trump campaign there was more work to be done amid speculation by the likes of former New York Southern District federal prosecutor James Zirin that, pursuant to New York Code of Criminal Procedure §340.50, the real estate mogul does not have to be in court and is, instead, choosing to be there for political reasons.
“Speaking before the trials gives Trump some exposure to try and define things under his terms, but that’s only successful with the base,” Heye told the Washington Examiner. “These aren’t rallies, and it’s not like he would be having nonstop rallies. But he’s not able to do day-to-day campaign, meetings, or donor maintenance, and that is much more important than whether or not he has a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on a Wednesday or a Saturday.”
To that end, Trump had to reschedule a rally last weekend in North Carolina because of bad weather but has added events in Michigan and Wisconsin on May 1, as well as another in New Jersey on May 11. In comparison, since the start of Trump’s trial, Biden has been to Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
“Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats’ entire strategy to defeat President Trump is to confine him to a courtroom,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Washington Examiner. “Polling shows the American people see right through the Stalinist tactics employed by Crooked Joe and his allies. President Trump and our team will continue fighting for truth in the courtroom while working to earn votes on the campaign trail.”
There is no evidence of a coordinated Democratic legal attack against Trump.
Meanwhile, the Biden campaign seems to be using Trump’s trial as a platform to underscore the difference between himself and his predecessor in an attempt not to cede the news cycle to his opponent, who, in the past, has increased ratings and profitability.
In an email to reporters this week, with the subject line, “Biden Campaign Statement on Trump’s Campaign Events Today,” Biden campaign spokesman James Singer simply wrote, “He had none.”
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In a separate email, Singer called the past seven days “another tortured week for the smallest man who ever lived, Donald Trump,” during which “a tired and ‘diminished‘” candidate “created a chaotic mess for himself and his campaign.”
“It is an indictment on Trump that he won’t campaign, can’t message, and is driving voters away,” Singer wrote. “His campaign advisers are distracted, his campaign is losing time, and it is burning money on everything but actually reaching voters. Keep it up, Donald.”
