When it comes to Donald Trump’s many legal difficulties, yesterday was an unusually busy day. A New York state appeals court, for example, gave the former president 10 days to pay a $175 million bond in the Republican’s civil fraud case while he appeals the ruling.
Around the same time, the presumptive GOP nominee also learned that his first criminal trial — stemming from the hush-money-to-a-porn-star scandal — is now set to begin on April 15, at which point jury selection will get underway. As my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin noted, this will be “the first criminal case against a former U.S. president.”
It was against this backdrop that the accused felon decided to hold an odd press conference in his former hometown. It didn’t go especially well.
Trump began by blaming President Joe Biden for his legal crises, which was both wrong and nonsensical. The Republican went on to say, “You can’t have an election in the middle of a political season,” before adding, “We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already.”
What that meant was anyone’s guess.
Asked whether he’d accept a financial bailout from a foreign government to address his legal debts, the former president initially said he wouldn’t, though he quickly added, “I think you’d be allowed to, possibly. I don’t know. I mean, if you go borrow from a big bank many of the banks are outside of this, as you know, the biggest banks frankly are outside of our country.” But just as notable as what the criminal defendant told reporters was the response from Biden’s re-election campaign. Spokesperson James Singer issued a written statement that read: “Donald Trump is weak and desperate — both as a man and a candidate for president. He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have. His campaign can’t raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda.”
The statement concluded, “America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.” The reaction from the Democratic incumbent’s campaign not only served as a reminder of the kind of intense campaign that voters should expect, but also of Team Biden’s interest in turning the tables on a familiar refrain: For all of the Republicans’ preoccupation with the president’s age, Democrats believe they can characterize Trump as “feeble, confused, and tired” — and the GOP candidate is offering plenty of evidence to help make the case.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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