As Trump goes on trial, Biden goes to Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON ā While President Donald Trump is in his hometown of New York this week for the start of his criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records, President Biden plans to campaign in his birthplace of Scranton in battleground Pennsylvania.Ā
Bidenās counterprogramming itinerary includes three days of economy-focused events in Scranton, Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia area, while his campaign keeps a spotlight on Trumpās position on abortion.
The result will be dueling visuals of the two candidates that Biden allies hope speak volumes to voters even as the president stays silent about his GOP rivalās legal troubles.Ā Ā Ā
āWeāre really just kind of leaving it alone,ā a Biden aide said of Trumpās trial beginning this week.
Bidenās campaign speech in Scranton on Tuesday pivots off Tax Day on Monday, Biden aides said. They said the president will argue that Trump, if elected, would provide tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle class.Ā
āWe think Trump is pretty vulnerable on that,ā one Biden aide said.Ā
But itās the differences between the two candidates on abortion that the Biden team sees as a decisive factor that could put him over the top in Novemberās election, according to Biden allies.
āThe campaign thinks the abortion issue is the margin of victory they need,ā one Biden ally said.Ā
Nearly all of the ads the Biden campaign is currently airing mention abortion, according to a campaign official.
Bidenās team also moved more quickly than usual this past week to respond to Trumpās comments on abortion.Ā Ā
On Monday, when Trump said the issue should be left to the states and took credit for the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, Biden carved out time in his schedule that morning at an uncharacteristically early hour to pre-record a response that would be ready to go.Ā
āYou donāt get Joe Bidenās time that early,ā one campaign official said to emphasize how important the issue is to the president.Ā
After Trump said Friday that āwe broke Roe v. Wadeā and the decision to leave the issue to states is working āvery brilliantly,ā Vice President Kamala Harris swiftly added a response to her pre-planned campaign speech in Arizona on the heels of the stateās Supreme Court ruling that a near-total ban on abortion from 1864 is enforceable.Ā
Now, Bidenās team is planning out how to mark Floridaās six-week abortion ban going into effect in the next few weeks, according to a Biden aide. The aide said voters also will hear more directly from the president on abortion, with statements and events.Ā
Harris has been the most vocal member of the administration on abortion, a strategy thatās expected to continue.Ā
While Biden aides are determined to make sure Trump fails in any effort to moderate or carve out a murky position on abortion now that he faces a general electorate, they also want to try to put the former president on the defensive over economic issues as heās preoccupied.Ā
Bidenās campaign has long believed the most effective strategy against Trump is to only focus on him as a candidate for president, not as a candidate at the center of a legal drama. Biden aides say that wonāt change this week, even with the expectation of blanket media coverage of the start of the first of several potential trials Trump will face.Ā
āThe contrast that President Biden will drive is that heās got your back, and if that is the message that breaks through thatās what moves the needle,ā a Democratic strategist close to the White House said. āAnd heās helped profoundly by the fact that Donald Trump is in court defending himself.ā
Not all Biden allies agree with the silent approach to Trumpās criminal trial.Ā
āItās outdated thinking to rely on these old norms and recycled cliches of communicating like ādonāt give it oxygenā or āstay out of the wayā while an opponent self-implodes,ā another Democratic strategist said. āBiden should go on offense, engage, and preempt the Trump circus.ā
Trumpās New York trial is expected to last between six to eight weeks. He is required to attend in person every weekday except Wednesdays, when the trial wonāt be held. Trump campaign officials have said the former president plans to hold rallies and campaign events on Wednesdays and Saturdays.Ā
In the runup to the start of the trial, the Trump campaign has been fundraising off his legal troubles, warning in a text message to supporters on Saturday that āin 48 hours, AMERICA WILL CEASE TO EXIST.āĀ
While in Scranton, Biden will revive a major economic argument of the 2020 campaign ā that he is focused on the needs of Americans like those in Scranton while Trump is trying to deliver for those who can afford to live on Park Avenue in Manhattan. During a town-hall style event near Scranton in the closing weeks of the 2020 campaign, Biden argued that āguys like Trump, who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited are the people Iāve always had a problem with.ā
On Tuesday heāll highlight measures in his 2025 budget proposal that the White House says would benefit the middle class, such as raising taxes on billionaires, according to the Biden aides.
To underscore his point, the Biden aides said he is expected to again highlight Trumpās telling donors at a recent private dinner that heāll keep their taxes low.Ā
The president will deliver different versions of that message during his other stops in what he and his campaign see as potentially the lynchpin state in the 2024 election. Pennsylvania, as well as Wisconsin and Michigan ā Democratsā so-called blue wall ā helped put Biden over the 270-electoral vote threshold four years ago.Ā
āItās all about the blue wall,ā a Biden campaign official said. āIf we canāt win those states, we lose.āĀ
After Tuesdayās event in Scranton, Biden will hold an official White House event focused on manufacturing in the Pittsburgh area, which the president has long seen as the home base for his union-focused economic policy. Heāll end the week with a campaign event in the Philadelphia area, a place that has often been where he focuses on what he believes is at stake for American democracy in November.