Who would have thought that using the American legal system to punish the political opposition via a kangaroo-court case in one of the bluest corners of these United States would backfire on the left? I mean, aside from those who still have a modicum of functioning gray matter.
Yes, despite the predictions that voters would abandon presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump if he were found guilty of a felony, the guilty verdict in what’s likely to be the former president’s only court case before this November’s election — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s patently absurd “porn star hush money” case in New York City — has only strengthened his hand.
But don’t just ask Trump or other conservatives. Instead, ask his campaign about the money they’ve raised since the guilty verdict came down on Thursday afternoon.
As of Friday evening, The New York Times reported, Trump’s campaign announced it had raked in almost $53 million in the 24 hours since a jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts in the Bragg case.
“It is hard to put the enormity of the sum into proper perspective, but it would nearly match, in a single day, the $58 million that Mr. Trump’s main fund-raising arm raised online in the last six months of 2023, according to federal records,” the Times reported.
“The campaign first said on Friday morning it had collected nearly $35 million in the hours after the verdict. By Friday evening, the campaign had revised the figure up to $52.8 million in the 24-hour period following Mr. Trump’s conviction.”
This being the Times, they also didn’t note that this dwarfs President Joe Biden’s recent campaign hauls, despite the fact it’s now clear that the primary process has — for all intents and purposes — ended, and the general election cycle has begun in earnest.
Biden raised $51M in all of April.
Trump just beat that in one day. pic.twitter.com/tVH7Lxokge
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 31, 2024
Are you voting for Trump?
Also to put that in perspective — Biden only raised $26 million almost four years ago when he announced then-Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate. This, mind you, was back when Kamala was considered a home-run choice and not better known for her cackle and for committing the same senile blunders her boss does, all without the excuse of senescence or a “childhood stutter” to fall back upon.
The American people see through Crooked Joe Biden’s rigged show trial.
So many Americans were moved to donate to President Trump’s campaign that the WinRed pages went down.
We are working on getting the website back online as quickly as possible.
Stay strong.
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 30, 2024
The verdict also doesn’t seem to work for Biden when it came to fundraising. While Trump’s donation site on Republican-centric fundraising platform WinRed went down in the aftermath of the verdict, the same thing can’t be said for Biden’s site on ActBlue. Furthermore, a social media attempt to fundraise off the verdict was met with near-universal derision on social media platform X:
I’m making a donation to President Trump today — thank you for the inspiration.
The next 5 months of my life are dedicated to defeating you & electing Trump.
Never been more determined.
— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) May 30, 2024
Hard pass Joe Biden. https://t.co/A8YWLsu0OE
— DEL (@delinthecity_) May 30, 2024
You lock him up like a dictator would do? pic.twitter.com/Jf7kAG2rio
— Jack Buckingham (@Jbuck9797) May 30, 2024
“Despite a jury finding Donald Trump guilty today, there is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box,” Biden’s campaign wrote in a fundraising text, according to Fox News, telling supporters that “if you have been waiting for the perfect time to make your first donation to Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, we’re here to tell you today is the day.”
Well, apparently, they didn’t take advantage of the perfect time.
The president’s insistence that Trump not call the verdict out for what it is — namely, “rigged” and “disgraceful,” as per Trump’s words — also didn’t go over well.
Speaking at the White House Friday, Biden said that “it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”
“Our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years and it literally is the cornerstone of America. The justice system should be respected, and we should never allow anyone to tear it down. That’s America.”
President Biden: The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed. Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. It was a state case, not a federal case. And it was heard by a jury of 12 citizens. 12 Americans, 12 people like you. Like millions of… pic.twitter.com/ieUwJn4hLq
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 31, 2024
It’s here worth noting that the Biden family has long protested that first son Hunter Biden did nothing wrong and was, in fact, “innocent” long before he was either given a sweetheart deal by Biden’s Department of Justice (which fell apart when a judge actually took a look at its preposterous tenets and gave it a hard pass) or was charged with crimes far more serious than anything lobbed at Trump in the Manhattan courtroom.
But, please — do tell us about how you’re standing up for those legal norms, Mr. Biden. You don’t sound like a hypocrite at all.
Whatever the case, the apparent willingness of everyone on the American left — the White House, the media, the DOJ, the Manhattan DA’s office — to use this as a political finishing move on the Trump campaign seems to have backfired spectacularly. We could have told them this and saved them the trouble. Now, the spectacle in downtown Manhattan looks like a paid political advertisement for Trump — a development that should have Biden, Bragg and the rest of the lot nervous about the legacy of this farce. Good.
