GRAND RAPIDS, MI — 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday sought to capitalize on weekday rallies in two Midwestern battleground states he narrowly lost to President Biden four years ago: Michigan and Wisconsin. Head to the battleground states. Ahead of the hush money trial that will be held in a few weeks.
The former president’s team said Trump would take aim at Biden’s “border bloodshed” during his first stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Trump’s campaign campaign is his first in two and a half weeks since March 16, when he headlined an Ohio rally on behalf of the Republican candidate he supported in the Buckeye State’s Republican Senate primary. becomes.
The infrequent weekday campaign rallies could become even more rare as Trump becomes the first current or former president in the country’s history to go on trial.
Trump aims to beat Biden’s new $26 million fundraising record
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump gestures to the crowd at a campaign rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
As of now, President Trump’s hush money trial is scheduled to begin in New York City on April 15th. Trump is accused of falsifying his business records in connection with hush-money payments, while the former president is on trial for felonies in 34 states. During the 2016 election, he asked Stormy Daniels to remain silent about his alleged affair with an adult film actress.
President Trump has repeatedly denied not only allegations of sexual contact with Daniels but also falsification of business records.
Trump’s hush money trial scheduled to begin today
During the Republican presidential primaries, Trump announced that he was facing multiple criminal and civil lawsuits: two for allegedly trying to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, and one for mishandling classified documents. ), he used this to portray himself as a victim and increase public support. He became a Republican voter, which facilitated his fundraising.
“To everyone, including the evil and corrupt prosecutors and judges, who are doing everything they can to interfere with the 2024 presidential election and put me in jail,” President Trump said in a social media post Sunday. Happy Easter.”
Former President Trump attends a pretrial hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024, in New York City. (Jefferson Siegel Pool/Getty Images)
The former president must appear in court for his hush money trial, which is scheduled every weekday except Wednesday, and Trump, 74, will be grounded until he relocates to the city he grew up in and calls home. He resided in Florida for nearly five years.
Political associates of the former president told Fox News that Trump will make the most of Wednesdays, when the court is not in session, as well as the weekends when he typically holds rallies and other campaign events. A schedule including this is being planned.
“We have the message, the strategy, and the money to lead President Trump to victory on November 5,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris Lacivita said in a statement last week.
Trump has largely stayed out of the campaign, but since Biden gave his State of the Union address in early March in all six of the key battleground states where he narrowly edged Trump to the White House in 2020. , has suspended its activities. And last week, Biden visited North Korea. Carolina, a state that Trump narrowly won four years ago.
President Biden speaks at the Washoe Democratic Party office in Reno, Nevada, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
The trip is aimed at boosting the president’s anemic poll numbers and drawing a contrast with Trump, who has been sidelined by repeated court appearances in New York City and Florida.
In a video posted to X last week, the president’s reelection team highlighted Biden’s busy schedule and contrasted it with Trump’s golf.
“Let me tell you this: There are differences between the two candidates in this election,” Biden said on his “Truth Social” platform, saying Trump won twice at his golf course. he wrote in a social media post after he bragged about what he had done.
But Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Levitt predicted the upcoming trial would give the former president a boost in his bid to succeed the White House, saying in a statement that “Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s efforts to defeat President Trump will “The whole strategy is to lock him up.” To the court. ”
“President Trump has been under attack by Democrats for eight years. He has stood his ground through two sham impeachments, endless lies, and now multiple baseless political witch hunts.” Levitt told Fox News Digital in February. “Democrats want Donald Trump to deliver his message of victory to the American people in the courts, not on the campaign trail, and nothing will prevent him from doing so.”
Although he will be sidelined for four out of five weekdays once the trial begins, Trump is expected to continue his practice of attracting cable news attention with his courtroom appearances.
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The former president has also used his social media posts on the Truth Social platform to make headlines and drive buzz for his campaign.
“Trump can always control the messaging environment if he wants to,” longtime Republican strategist Dave Carney told Fox News. “I’ve never seen anything like this where one guy – no matter what he says – gets full coverage. This is a phenomenon. Whether it’s on social media, whether it’s on cable TV, and even more… He just dominates the news, whether it’s on TV or not.”
Carney, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, said, “His trial has received so much coverage that at times I think there are more reporters covering his stakeout than covering the president.” I expected that.
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