As general election heats up, Trump camp prepares to be frozen in court

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, long used to juggling challenges that come with running for office while also battling multiple legal issues, is heading into even more uncharted territory: Fighting a general election while sitting in court for his first criminal trial.

The former president’s hush money case is set to kick off on April 15 following a series of delays, and while there’s still likely to be a push for an additional delay, Trump’s aides are preparing for that mid-April start date for a trial that’s expected to take six weeks.

One of the complications the campaign will have to sort through is scheduling. Up until now, Trump has only been seated in court for a few days at a time — and oftentimes, it’s been of his own volition, with the campaign seeing his presence as a way to merge the legal and campaign battles while heightening Trump’s claims of political persecution for Republican primary voters. Now, though, team Trump is readying for their candidate to be required in court multiple days a week, for weeks at a time, which will make organizing consistent campaign events that much harder.

“This is just the progression of where the campaign season is headed into,” one aide said. “Certainly, he’ll have to be in court quite a few days out of the week, and that’s never an ideal thing. We would never wish to be in that position, of course.”

But his team still believes there’s “ample opportunity” to work around these limitations: Based on the judge’s public schedule, they believe Trump, who is likely to camp out at Trump Tower during trial days, will have Wednesdays off, meaning the former president could participate in campaign-related events that day or on Tuesday evenings. The campaign also noted that they’ll have weekends to work with — and left open the possibility of doing mini-trips to neighboring states on court days, too.

The messaging challenges are also different as the campaign confronts a general election audience, rather than primary voters who are naturally inclined towards Trump’s argument that his various court cases are politically motivated. But neither Trump nor his staff seem to show any inclination to redraw their playbook for now.

“I don’t think our messaging needs to change,” the aide told Semafor. “It’ll be just as effective during the primary as it will be in the general, or vice versa.”

Nothing about this situation is typical, which makes it hard to predict exactly how it plays out.

There’s at least some evidence general election voters might be less than thrilled with the Republican nominee facing felony charges. One Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll published in March found that a conviction in the case could hurt Trump with independents in particular, with over one-third of respondents in that category saying they’d be less likely to support him. Still, 44% of independents said a conviction wouldn’t impact them, suggesting there’s a way for team Trump to move past the issue quickly.

But it won’t be easy, and the hush money case, while seen by experts as the weakest of the criminal prosecutions he’s facing, is going to be a major test for Trump’s campaign. How much will he be able to campaign outside of court? Will a stream of trial news help solve his recent issues with small donors, or scare off larger ones? Will voters tire of, or be turned off by, seeing Trump sitting in a courtroom day after day?

Ultimately, some close to Trump acknowledge the uncertainty in answering those questions. Running for president while also facing numerous indictments is, after all, unprecedented, and virtually every step of Trump’s presidential run this time around has been an exercise in figuring it out as they go along. So far, that’s worked in Trump’s favor — whether it continues to do so come mid-April remains to be seen.

The Biden campaign has so far not amplified Trump’s legal cases, although in recent weeks they’ve begun pointing out his less-than-robust campaign schedule (something that, amid an upcoming trial, will likely continue.)

They largely stayed away from the E. Jean Carroll case as well earlier this year, even as a judge awarded her $83 million in a defamation suit. Democrats argued to Semafor at the time that there were more fruitful avenues to attack Trump, at least when it came to the Biden campaign itself: Voters already were acquainted with his personal failings, while amplifying issues like the economy and abortion were better uses of their time.

While the Biden campaign has been reluctant to go all-in on Trump’s legal cases, the president himself has found a new way to try and irritate Trump: By making passing quips about the state of his money, how often he’s campaigning, and more, NBC News recently reported.