Biden's team "doesn't expect the verdict to fundamentally alter the presidential race."
That is incredibly dumb and self-fulfilling messaging to ever say to a reporter.
Simply assert that it's a political earthquake. Loudly. Repeatedly. To an almost deranged degree.
Will it into existence!
President Biden’s campaign weighed in after Trump was found guilty on 34 counts, saying the verdict showed how “no one is above the law.” But campaign officials say privately they don’t expect the verdict to fundamentally alter the tight presidential race.
I invite you consider that this is a work. You don't say "yeah obviously we're gonna wipe the floor in the debates" because momentum is about expectations. Same thing here.
That....ain't it. The conviction has happened. There's no more "expectation game." This is about pure power politics. Beat you opponent over the head with their biggest weakness.
But biden could at least act like this matters. This could be a big deal if he made it one. Obviously it shouldn't be framed as now trump is a convict it's in the bag but it is a race that can be won. This should matter. Voting for trump is voting for a lying criminal felon
Has any Dem official ever referred to him as a rapist? It's true. It's proven in court. And it's political devastating. There is zero reason not to use it.
Convicted fraudster, held liable for rape by a court of law, found guilty of 34 felonies by a citizen jury. Dems will only apologetically mention any of it.
"I can go out there tonight with the leads and materials you've got and get myself 150,000 voters. Tonight! In two hours! Can YOU? Go and do likewise. Get mad! The votes are out there. You pick it up, it's yours. You don't, I got no sympathy for you."
There's nothing more absurd about this campaign than the fact that the only presidential candidate screaming about his opponent being corrupt is the presidential candidate who was impeached twice, is an adjudicated rapist, adjudicated fraudster, and convicted felon.
You might be wrong or you might be right. It's been in the back of my mind since 2020, so maybe I'm crazy too. One thing is for sure: going with this as a working theory is far more predictive of Biden's words and actions than the alternative.
“Campaign officials say privately…”
Sounds like some interesting messaging issues that should have been fully sorted before the verdict. This WH press shop is just not crisp.
Honestly given some of the things the paper in question has been getting up to lately, until that comment is verified with a named source, I'm excepting as a given that it's editorializing.
Zients is certainly worse than Klain but Klain is nothing special LOL just not a literal Republican like most of the people who Biden hangs around HAHAHAHAHAHah
Any campaign staffer who feels the need to talk "off the record" to reporters to prove he's too savvy to stick to the messaging needs to be fired out of a cannon.
