Former President Trump stood in the lobby of his eponymous office tower in New York on Friday morning, lashing out at government “fascists,” a “sleazy” star witness and a “corrupt” judge, “ a devil”, “a tyrant” and “I can't put two sentences together”.
He complained for 40 minutes about a “rigged trial” that resulted in his 34 felony convictions Thursday, detailing procedural objections as he vowed to appeal, though occasionally insisting that “it's not about me.”
President Biden had a more typical day for a sitting head of state: He returned to the White House after spending the night at his Delaware beach house to host the Kansas City Chiefs to celebrate their Super Bowl victory, meet with the Prime Minister of Belgium behind closed doors and deliver public comments revealing a proposed ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed
—President Biden
Friday offered the kind of contrast that Biden and his allies have been trying to show for months: between a president performing a normal mix of duties ranging from the ceremonial to the profound and a former president mired in his insular world of grievances.
“The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed,” Biden said from the State Dining Room on Friday before delivering his Middle East proposal. “It's reckless, it's dangerous, it's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because he doesn't like the verdict.”
Biden won the White House in 2020 on a promise of a return to normalcy, offering his five decades in mainstream politics as a stabilizing alternative to Trump's chaotic press conferences on the pandemic and the breaking of norms that would ultimately lead to the January 6 insurrection.
“Trump has tried to remake this nation in his image: selfish, angry, dark and divisive,” Biden said in 2020. “This is not who we are. At our best, America has always been (and if I have anything to do with it) will again be a generous, confident and optimistic nation, full of hope and determination.”
But four years later, polls show that the nation remains deeply divided, pessimistic and worried about the future and that a large portion of voters have forgotten much of the turbulence of the Trump era, or at least have decided they are willing to live with them. The former president has a slight lead in national polls and in swing states, and voters give him credit for the pre-pandemic economy while blaming Biden for the inflation that came with the recovery.
It's not yet clear whether Thursday's verdicts in the election interference trial will alter that dynamic.
Trump supporters have supported him through a series of crises that would have sunk other politicians, including the insurrection, two impeachments and numerous former officials in his inner circle calling him unfit to serve. His three other criminal cases remain unresolved and likely hang over him during the November election.
So far, I think it has been counterproductive.
— Former President Trump on his conviction
Trump boasted Friday about what he said was a record $39 million in fundraising in the first 10 hours after his conviction. (The figures have not yet been officially reported or verified.)
“So far, I think it has been counterproductive,” he said of the prosecution initiated by the New York district attorney, for which he has falsely blamed Biden, before admitting that he would have preferred to skip the ordeal and defeat Biden “legitimately.” .
He also returned to the issues his advisers hope will allow him to return to the Oval Office, including his pillars of immigration and “rampant crime.” But the former president, who campaigns for law and order, is now basing much of his re-election argument on denouncing the criminal justice system as rigged and “a scam,” at least as far as it goes. refers to him.
When Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor running for the Senate in Maryland, tweeted that people should “respect the verdict and the legal process” on Thursday night, a senior Trump adviser, Chris LaCivita, immediately rebuked him on Twitter. social media platform
“You just finished your campaign,” LaCivita wrote.
Biden has tried to take that ground from Trump. But after he defended the rule of law on Friday, the subject of his subsequent comments offered a reminder that life is different for a sitting president than for a rival.
Biden has failed to end the war in Gaza, sparking massive protests on college campuses and the anger of many on the left who blame him for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and thousands of Palestinian deaths. Even as Biden urged the Israeli military to prevent civilian deaths, he supported Israel's right to defend itself after Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 on October 7.
Biden on Friday detailed a three-phase deal proposed by Israel that he said would lead to the release of hostages in Gaza and could end the conflict with Hamas. Previous attempts to reach a deal have failed, sparking further anger on the left that he was enabling Israel's attack, along with criticism from Israel's moderate and conservative allies that he was wavering in his support while trying to pressure the government to reduce his counteroffensive.
“I know this is an issue about which the people of this country feel deeply and passionately,” Biden said Friday. “Me too. It's been one of the most difficult and complicated problems in the world.”
Trump had no more public events planned for Friday.
