Donald Trump He walked out of the Manhattan courtroom on Monday ready to fight.
After the first day of trial, there is Trump He faces 34 scores The former president, who falsified business records about hush money payments to a porn star, stood before reporters and was ready to launch a tirade about a complaint that sometimes doesn’t quite reflect reality but is guaranteed to continue to dominate the headlines. from the court.
His immediate focus was Judge Juan Merchan’s decision not yet to rule on whether Trump’s son Barron should attend his May 17 high school graduation. Merchan didn’t say Trump couldn’t go, but rather said he wasn’t ready to make a decision on the matter yet. Specifics aside, it was enough to paint a picture for supporters of the biased judge who prevented Trump from seeing his son’s graduation.
“My son is graduating from high school, and it looks like the judge won’t let me graduate,” Trump told the assembled group of reporters.
It’s emblematic of how Trump tries to control the narrative — an instinct that has defined his political career — even when he’s stuck in a cameraless Manhattan courtroom. The judge ordered Trump to attend court hearings in person, so it’s a tough situation President Joe Biden will find himself in at least four days a week for the foreseeable future as he continues to run a more traditional presidential campaign.
A false allegation that a judge denied permission to attend his son’s graduation ceremony spread like wildfire through the conservative ecosystem, a conflagration aided by some of his top supporters with huge followings. Lake Kari is called Merchan.heartless and cruel.” Piers Morgan used New York Post column to call the decision not “disgusting”. Donald Trump Jr. called it “pure evil.”
For millions of Trump supporters, the half-truth has become the truth, and a glorified cause for those who want to perpetuate the belief that the entire legal battle is an attempt by Democrats to imprison Trump.
Such twists and battles over nearly every aspect of the trial dominated the first week focused on jury selection.
Often it was reality versus Trump’s version.
There were reports that Trump might be to falllittle in sleep in a court where cameras are not allowed in these types of cases. She forcefully responded on Truth Social, “I wasn’t sleeping!!!”
Trump had a misunderstanding about the jury selection process. This prompted him to write another example of this process at Truth Social.INTERFERE IN THE ELECTION!”
And Trump has used Truth Social posts and media interviews extensively to paint a biased and biased picture of both Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a sentiment that has been taken as gospel and reinforced by the conservative media.
The fundraiser also told Trump supporters in text messages that he was leaving the courtroom, with no scheduled court recesses or the end of the court day this week.
“I LEAVE THE COURT WELL!” Read Trump’s campaign fundraiser text message. “They think I’m done, but I will never give up!”
Trump also tried to raise political cash by claiming Barron was blocked from attending the graduation ceremony.
“THEY ARE FORCING ME TO MISS MY SON’S GRADUATION,” Trump’s campaign sent a message. “IT WILL BE IN COURT”
“Heartless thugs,” he continued.
A pilot fundraising effort has passed the hype.
On the first day of the trial, Trump’s campaign raised $1.6 million in small-dollar donations, a campaign official told NBC News. Trump raised that much online in just three days in the first three months of 2024, according to the latest campaign finance filings from WinRed, the Trump campaign’s online donation platform. Each of these three days was near the end of March.
“The whole strategy of Crooked Joe Biden and Democrats to defeat President Trump is to put him in a courtroom and unconstitutionally silence him throughout this bogus Biden trial,” said Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt. “Poll Shows American People See Stalinist Tactics Used by Crooked Joe and His Allies.”
“President Trump and his team will continue to fight for the truth in the courtroom, while also trying to win votes on the campaign trail,” he added.
Much of the nation’s attention has been focused on the historic nature of the former president on trial, which has helped Trump continue his uncanny ability to attract and hold attention regardless of the specific situation — something that has stuck in the present. The court faced accusations of false revelations about his personal life and trying to withhold information to get elected.
“I don’t think any of it matters. He completely rewrote the rules,” said a longtime Republican operative who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about Trump’s week-long speech. “There are 75-80 million people who will vote for him because he is a fast fighter. The working class sees him as a billionaire bubba.”
The entire episode is a split-screen take on a former president embroiled in legal battles and stuck in court, and checks all the boxes for what would be considered a traditional presidential campaign for the current president. Biden has a significant fundraising lead and continues to hold campaign rallies in person, including the most recent swing events in Pennsylvania. his hometown Scranton, where he has attacked Trump on a number of issues, has notably missed out on his legal troubles. Biden’s campaign he said before It would avoid directly attacking Trump’s legal problems to avoid the perception of an armed Justice Department.
Aside from the fundraising text messages, Trump’s political operation has continued to work in the background. On Wednesday – the court’s day off – Trump dined with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower in New York and is set to hold a rally in North Carolina on Saturday. key swing condition.
There is also Trump installed high allies To lead the Republican National Committee, which is generally focused on more mainstream types of political blocking and fighting, as the presidential nominee will be stuck in courtrooms for most of the 2024 election cycle. Including the current trial, Trump faces four separate criminal charges and several civil lawsuits. Keep playing until November.
“A lot of information is shared with us to help us register and engage voters,” the RNC member said.
Trump has also used post-trial campaign stops to draw attention, including a visit to a New York bodega on Tuesday. Trump has at times tried to use the shutdown to focus on the rising cost of consumer goods and crime, two political themes of his presidential campaign, but attention has inevitably turned to his trial.
Trump was asked what he thought of the seven judges selected Wednesday – full jury of 12 was elected on Thursday – and he made it clear that the result would drive his assessment.
“I’ll let you know in about two months,” Trump said of the trial’s likely timeline.