The White House is gambling that the public wants President Biden focused on the future rather than looking back at the events that led to his predecessor’s second impeachment trial.
But that strategy could be costing the administration two opportunities. The first, to stand with those traumatized by the Jan. 6 sacking of the United States Capitol. And the second? To undermine former President Donald Trump after his legal team’s opening oral arguments were panned by both Democrats and Republicans.
“He has certainly not been silent,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday of Biden when pushed on the approach. “He won’t be silent on, of course, his concerns about hate rhetoric and speech and the impact that has on society. And he hasn’t been silent on the actions of the former president.”
Trump’s Senate trial rolled into its second day Wednesday. But before House Democrats started laying out their case at noon that Trump last month incited an insurrection, Psaki gathered reporters for her daily briefing, 40 minutes earlier than expected.
Then, Psaki announced during her briefing that Biden would speak shortly afterward about Myanmar. The president later revealed during that address that he was slapping sanctions on military leaders behind this month’s coup in Myanmar.
Despite the hive of activity, CNN, MSNBC, even Fox News, covered the impeachment trial instead.
One of Trump’s most valuable political talents has been his ability to generate and hold “enormous amounts of media attention,” denying his opponents the “media oxygen” for their own messages, according to Thad Kousser, a University of California San Diego politics professor.
Wednesday was a test for Biden and Trump, predicted Kousser, who’s studied how politicians use social media. “Without the bully pulpit of the presidency and without such a broad social media platform, can Donald Trump still command media attention, or has he lost one of his key political assets?” he asked.
To Trump’s benefit or detriment, the answer seems to be “yes.” His Senate trial on Wednesday overshadowed Biden’s first visit to the Pentagon. And the president has another off-campus trip scheduled this week to the National Institutes of Health.
Biden told reporters before an Oval Office meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and business leaders, such as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, on Tuesday that he wasn’t watching Trump’s trial.
“We have already lost over 450,000 people, and we could lose a whole lot more if we don’t act,” he said. “Children are going to bed hungry. A lot of families are food insecure. They are in trouble. That’s my job.”
He added, “The Senate has their job, and they are about to begin it, and I am sure they are going to conduct themselves well.”
The White House has repeatedly dismissed questions about Trump’s impeachment by saying it was a matter for Congress, not the administration. When pressed by reporters Tuesday about Biden’s opinions regarding the Trump lawyer tactic of comparing Trump’s language with that of Democrats, Psaki reminded them that he was the president.
“He’s not a pundit. He’s not going to opine on the back-and-forth arguments, nor is he watching them,” she said.
But after Democrats, particularly lead impeachment manager Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, were lauded Tuesday for their emotional pleas, Psaki softened her own tone slightly.
On Wednesday, Psaki referenced Biden’s previous statements, including comments he made after Jan. 6. In those remarks, he called it a “planned and coordinated” “criminal attack” by “political extremists and domestic terrorists,” who were incited by Trump. She also pointed to Biden conceding the trial “has to happen,” as an indication he thought the proceedings were constitutional.
Psaki could have changed her stance based on the performances of Trump attorneys as well. Bruce Castor, for instance, gave a rambling, incoherent presentation, while David Schoen was criticized for being too harsh. Together, the pair lost the vote of Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, along with five other GOP senators, on the trial’s constitutionality given Trump was no longer in office.
“Anyone who listened to President Trump’s legal team saw they were unfocused. They attempted to avoid the issue. And they talked about everything but the issue at hand,” Cassidy said.
Although Trump is almost certainly going to be acquitted, public polling on the matter is split. A CBS News poll published in February found a plurality of respondents believed investigating Jan. 6 should be one of Congress’s many priorities. A quarter of people felt an investigation should be the body’s primary concern. Simultaneously, the same percentage didn’t think it was important at all.
But Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center, was confident Biden was playing his strongest hand since his campaign was “a pitch for national unity and a return to normalcy.”
“Doing the regular business of the presidency is the best way to demonstrate that he is working toward those goals,” Burden told the Washington Examiner. “The Democrats have assembled an effective team of managers who are prosecuting the case. The chances of convicting Trump would be no higher if Biden were involved.”
Biden’s “business as usual” posture appeared to be “geared towards the long run rather than the short run,” Middlebury College political science professor Bertram Johnson continued.
“When the trial is over, he wants to be seen as having worked hard throughout on the big issues facing the nation,” Johnson said. “Saying much about the trial one way or another won’t do him any good with Congress or the public, and staying completely silent about everything would make him and his administration seem as if they are ceding control of events.”
