If Trump is found guilty, Democrats must make his first name “CONVICTED FELON”
Dems need to message!
Let me repeat what I’ve been writing and saying for months: Don’t count on the courts, the prosecutors or a jury to save us from Donald Trump. We are the only ones who can do that by coming out in huge numbers to defeat him this November.
With that truism repeated, if Trump is convicted in his criminal trial, everyone from the Biden campaign to the DNC to Democratic leaders must pound home that fact to the point where Trump’s first name becomes known as “Convicted Felon.”
To that end, there was reporting last week that the Biden campaign will get more “aggressive” about Trump’s legal charges if Trump is convicted. What “aggressive” means is anyone’s guess. But we know even if Trump is convicted of all 34 felonies he’s charged with in New York, some Democrats will say we shouldn’t talk about because the convictions are on appeal, it’s somehow unfair, etc.
Stop it. Democrats must pound Trump’s convictions for felonies in ads, speeches, social media posts, etc. because too many of our fellow Americans are simply not paying attention to the charges or politics this far out from November. Even the President of the NAACP Derrick Johnson stated on my SiriusXM show on Tuesday that a big chunk of voters are not tuned in yet.
When I say Democrats must repeatedly invoke Trump’s conviction, there are a few key points. First, this is not because I believe that Trump being convicted of a felony will move the MAGA faithful. Forget polls like the recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that a fifth of Trump's supporters said they would either reconsider their support (16%) or withdraw it (4%) if he's convicted of a felony. I can 100% guarantee you that they will still support Trump if he’s convicted of hundreds of felonies.
The hardcore MAGA believers are more loyal to Trump that than the USA. Their flag outside Trump’s courthouse and events that reads “Trump or Death” sums that up perfectly. (See photo below from outside Trump’s trial in NYC.)
Even the so-called moderate Republicans who publicly criticized Trump like Nikki Haley and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu have now said they will vote for Trump despite his attempted coup, inciting the Jan 6 attack and pledge to pardon the MAGA terrorists who waged the attack. Same goes for the Wall Street types like Blackstone Group CEO and billionaire Steve Schwarzman who had distanced himself from Trump after Jan 6 only to announce last week he is back to helping Trump win. These people are not diehard MAGA, but all have a reason that benefits themselves personally for selling out the United States to help Trump.
And when I say that Democrats must repeat the fact Trump is a convicted felon over and over, it doesn’t mean this should become the only issue of the 2024 campaign. But in the context of raising issues from abortion access to climate change, every press release, statement, etc. should include a reference to Trump being found guilty. As in, “Today CONVICTED FELON Trump announced he would support a national abortion ban…”
The reason I believe this is important is for two groups of people: Democrats and low info voters. For Democrats—as I hear daily on my radio show—they want Democrats to be fighters. They want them to pound Trump for his criminality—not be timid. This helps on that front. Every Democrat wants to see Trump be held accountable and a jury conviction will be a step in the right direction. However, if Democrats ignore the conviction, it will soon fade from the news, again helping Trump become normalized. They can’t allow that.
Second, polls find only about 40% of Americans are following the trial “a lot.” That means many Americans don’t even know the issues being discussed. But everyone knows what a felony conviction means. And the question will be for these voters: Do they really want a convicted felon as President of the United States? A felon representing our nation on the world stage? A convicted felon who committed crimes to cheat in an election as a role model for younger Americans? If Democrats make Trump’s convictions a visible part of the campaign, it will be impossible for even low interest voters to not ask themselves those questions and more.
Backing that up are recent polls that find more than a third of independents responded that Trump being convicted would reduce their likelihood of supporting him. The real-world impact of a conviction has yet to be seen but one thing is certain: If Democrats don’t pound home Trump’s status as a convicted felon it will have no impact.
Again, even if Trump is convicted of all 34 felonies, acquitted or there is a hung jury, at the end of the day it will be up to us again to defeat Trump. But if Trump is found guilty, Democrats need to constantly remind voters that a jury of his peers convicted him of felonies. They need to make case that our nation cannot be represented on the world stage by a convicted felon, etc. In the close election that 2024 is expected to be, this is one of the issues that help Democrats make the case for why the traitorous criminal Trump should never again be permitted to step foot in the White House.
News media organizations should regularly describe him that way, if convicted. It will be relevant and simply accurate.
So many of us are binding our nails waiting for the verdict. I salute Robert De Niro for standing up for freedom and democracy.