Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu made it clear that the President will not be shying away from Trump’s felony conviction at the debate.
Transcript via Meet The Press:
PETER ALEXANDER:
Well, they’re going to get a chance to see these two men side by side just four days from now. Let me ask you about a new ad from the Biden campaign that was just released. It focuses heavily on Mr. Trump’s felony convictions. It calls him a quote, “Convicted criminal who is only out for himself.” Will Joe Biden make that same argument on the debate stage?
MITCH LANDRIEU:
Well, I’ll let the president say what he’s going to say. But the fact of the matter is that the sky is blue sometimes, and Donald Trump is a convicted felon. And the American people have to sit in that for a second. The person who wants to be president has to go sit with his probation officer before he actually goes to the debate. And so it is just a fact, but it’s not just to call Donald Trump a convicted felon. It goes to his behavior and it goes to his character. Remember, he’s actually filed bankruptcy six times. That means that he’s not just a bad business guy, it means he screwed all the small people who actually relied on him for a living. And so the American people are going to see that. When you have 17 cabinet members and his chief of staff saying to you, “I witnessed this–“
PETER ALEXANDER:
Understood.
MITCH LANDRIEU:
–“this guy.” The people who know Donald Trump the best like him the least. That’s worth taking a moment on, to think about whether or not this guy is just going to be better next time at being bad.
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Going after Trump for his felony convictions makes sense because polling has already demonstrated that the convictions have hurt Trump with Independent voters, and it helps to solidify the contrast in character between the two candidates.
Plus, if the Biden campaign was looking for something that could send Trump into a spiral, the felony convictions would be the issue.
The Biden campaign should not normalize Donald Trump being convicted of 34 felonies by ignoring it. As Landrieu pointed out, it is a fact that Trump has been convicted of these crimes.
Democrats should make sure that voters know the full ramifications of voting for a convicted felon to be president, and if Biden drives the message home, it could be a very long night for Donald Trump.