During his decades in the spotlight, Donald Trump has presented himself before crowds as a builder of skyscrapers and casinos, a best-selling author, a reality television host, a husband and father, a New Yorker and a Floridian, and as a current and former president of United States. On Thursday (6), Trump speaks to the public for the first time with his newest title: convicted criminal.
Trump will speak at an event in Phoenix, his first campaign appearance since a Manhattan jury convicted him last week on 34 counts related to a scheme to pay a porn star for silence before the 2016 election.
Trump will hold his first rally since the verdict three days later in Las Vegas as part of a tour of the American West that will also include several fundraising stops.
The flurry of events signals a new phase of the campaign for Trump now that his New York case is mostly resolved. No longer confined to a Manhattan courtroom for the week, Trump is expected to step up his activities as he transitions from trial to campaign.
But upon returning to the campaign trail as a convicted felon, the urgency for Trump crystallized. Now, awaiting a ruling in the bribery case, his best chance of avoiding more serious charges in the other three cases he faces is to convince the Americans to put him in office again.
Trump’s allies responded to the unprecedented moment with growing calls for retribution — both immediately after his conviction and if he regains the White House. Trump himself also threatened his political opponents, continuing the vindictive rhetoric that has permeated his campaign since the beginning.
“It’s a terrible precedent for our country,” Trump said during a Newsmax interview that aired Tuesday. “Does this mean the next president will do the same to them? That’s really the issue.”
Trump had already galvanized his supporters around his legal troubles long before last week’s verdict. His rallies have become a space for Trump to ramble on about his multiple accusations, test the limits of gag orders, attack the justice system and present himself as a victim of a conspiracy to keep him out of the White House.
His campaign believes this message prepared the Republican base for this outcome – and is not expected to stop. His supporters responded with an unprecedented wave of donations that flooded Trump’s campaign coffers with $53 million in the 24 hours after his conviction, his aides said, and fundraising appeals centering on his convictions continue.
In text messages sent Saturday to supporters, the Trump campaign sent a link for donations and wrote: “I’m still standing. 34 fabricated criminal convictions cannot bring me down.”
Still, Trump may not soon escape the lasting shadow of his convictions or the uncertainty they cast on his third run for the White House. Among the unknowns is how the broader electorate will respond to the first criminal conviction of a former U.S. president.
The event in Arizona, organized by the conservative group Turning Point Action, will put Trump in a state where swing voters could determine his fate.
His arrival there comes days after President Joe Biden’s latest move to secure the border – a theme Trump has used to attack the Democrat with each new wave of immigrant crossings.
On Tuesday, Biden announced an executive action that gives him the authority to effectively close the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers who enter illegally when a daily crossing limit is exceeded.
Biden and his allies framed his new policy as a response to Republican inaction, noting that Trump helped kill a bipartisan agreement in the Senate to free up new resources for border security.
“The American people demand solutions to fix our broken immigration system, but every step of the way, Donald Trump and MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans have made it clear that they just want chaos and partisan politics as usual,” the door said. -Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement on Tuesday.
Trump is expected to use the opportunity in Arizona to deliver an extended response to Biden’s actions, he told CNN a source with knowledge of your planned speech. But the event is clearly meant to rally Trump’s base around his recent conviction as well.
“President Trump has proven time and time again that he is a force of nature that the left fears more than anything else,” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point Action and Trump ally, said in a statement announcing the town hall. “They know that Joe Biden cannot beat him in a fair fight, so they disgracefully weaponized the justice system.”
The Trump campaign, however, is not concerned that Trump will muddy the message on immigration by focusing on his legal battles.
Trump “can do two things at once,” the source said.
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