WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced this week new steps to conserve water and land. He met with Ted Lasso to discuss mental health, and released a 500-page economic report.
There was no acknowledgment of the drama which has gripped Washington: the possible criminal conviction of his past rival and potential future rival, Donald Trump.
There is no set of guidelines for how a sitting president should respond to a former president being charged with a crime. This has never happened in our nation’s history. According to White House sources and Democratic strategists, Biden has chosen to remain silent, and to avoid any scrum that could threaten to bring him in.
An indictment of Trump could present a difficult set of temptations for a sitting president who is on the verge of winning a second term. Biden’s close friends see Trump as a strong favorite to become the Republican nominee for 2024, and a candidate they don’t want to face in a general elections.
For campaigns at any level, the best move is to magnify rivals’ problems — it’s tempting to talk endlessly to Trump about his legal problems. Legal experts warned that Biden should be cautious given his situation. Merrick Garland was appointed by Biden, who will decide whether Trump is to be prosecuted in a separate federal investigation based on his handling of classified documents.
Any comments Biden makes regarding Trump’s legal woes could be seen as an attempt to influence Garland.
“If Mr. Trump was indicted by a State Grand Jury, Mr. Biden would have to refrain from commenting on that criminal case in part because there’s an ongoing federal investigation being carried out by a Special Counsel within the Justice Department,” stated Chuck Rosenberg, NBC News legal analyst and a former U.S. Attorney in Virginia.
Biden might be trying to capitalize on Trump’s situation, which could backfire politically. This will push Biden’s critics to make more noise around the legal inquiry he faces regarding classified documents.
Biden’s comments could also be seen as Trump’s attempt to make the narrative worse that the investigations are a backhanded attempt by Democrats to undermine his presidential campaign. Trump had previously sent fundraising emails in which he made this argument before he was indicted.
“It would have been smart for Democrats not to politicize this,” Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist who advised Pete Buttigieg on his 2020 presidential campaign, said. “If they jump all over it it gives Donald Trump’s and the Republicans the opportunity to claim that this is a witch hunting.”
An adviser to Biden said that it was too early to predict the impact of Trump’s indictment on the election. Biden will focus on economic issues. He will strengthen his budget proposals while criticizing the conservative Republicans that he believes are endangering Medicare and Social Security.
The White House is still monitoring any protests that could arise from an indictment. Officials from the White House expressed relief that Trump’s calls for protests last weekend had been largely ignored.
John Kirby, a Biden national-security spokesman, stated at a briefing this week, “We’re constantly monitoring [as you would imagine we should] in the wake of what occurred on January 6th.”
It’s normal for candidates to be indicted because it’s safe to assume that they will face more difficult roads to victory. Some pundits believe that Trump, who has shown a remarkable ability to defy political gravity, could be an exception. However, many Biden aides said that they didn’t think Biden would be able to enjoy any political gains beyond a small increase in small-dollar contributions.
They said that an indictment would not change any person’s opinion about Trump given his fame and how opinions about him have hardened in both direction.
According to NBC News polling, Trump’s favorability rating doesn’t seem to change despite any provocation. His overall rating, which was in the mid-30s, remained basically unchanged after the FBI searched for classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida home in August.
“Those who believe he is lawless believe that he is lawless,” Amanda Loveday, an ex-aide to Rep. Jim Clyburn (D.-S.C.), and adviser to Unite the Country. This group promotes Biden’s policy agenda. “Those who don’t believe he is lawless don’t think he’s lawless, even if he is indicted.” Trump is one those rare politicians that you can believe whatever you like about him, regardless of whether it’s factual or fiction.
Even though those closest to Biden continue to suggest that he will run, he has not yet made his candidacy official. There will always be speculation about Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race, even if he doesn’t say those magic words. This could become more intense if Trump’s candidacy is irreparably damaged.
Biden, 80, has been subject to skepticism within his party. A poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last month showed that only 37% wanted Biden to run for another term.
The white supremacist march that took place in Charlottesville in 2017 was one of the events that motivated Biden to run for president in 2020. After the event, Trump stated that ” very good people” were present on both sides. These words are what Biden claimed motivated him to become a counterforce.
Biden may still be motivated, but that does not necessarily mean he is ready to retire.
Carolyn Maloney, a former Democratic Congresswoman from New York was one of those who were skeptical about Biden’s re-election campaign. She said that she doubted Biden would run for re-election after she lost her congressional seat last fall.
Maloney, 77, answered a question about whether Trump’s baggage could cause Biden to leave the race. He’s cooking with gas! She said that she had never seen such a record.
She stated that she had met many people who live productive lives despite their age. “You’ve got to recognize that there has been a shift in American health.” Americans live longer.
She said, “If you look at Biden,” “he’s just too busy to die.”
