Democrats Need to Prosecute the Case Against Trump, Starting Now | Opinion

An incumbent Democratic president with a legislative record of accomplishment, presiding over a growing economy while fighting off a Republican-controlled House hellbent on investigating conspiracy theories rather than policymaking, all while mired in a closer-than-it-should-be reelection fight with an emerging Republican front-runner coming out of a crowded and messy primary.

While this might sound like the exact political moment that President Biden is in, it actually describes former President Barack Obama and the state of his reelection effort in the spring of 2012.

As spring turned to summer in 2012, a June Gallup tracking poll had Mitt Romney, the then-emerging Republican front-runner in a crowded Republican primary, beating Obama 47 percent to 45 percent. But by the time summer turned to fall, Obama had flipped that 2-point deficit into a 7-point lead—with the same Gallup tracking poll finding him up 50 percent to 43 percent over Romney by mid-September of that year.

So what changed between June of 2012 and September of 2012? It was this: a relentless campaign—including tens of millions of dollars' worth of paid ads—to portray Romney as a heartless plutocrat who made his fortune gutting companies and laying off workers.

The goal of the ad campaign was simple and ruthlessly effective: Define Romney for voters before he could define himself—before he was even the nominee. And use the fact that Obama did not face a real Democratic primary to start the general election early, while Romney was still fending off fellow Republicans in the primary.

The rest, as they say, is history. Obama would go on to win reelection, beating Romney 51 percent to 47 percent and getting 332 Electoral College votes.

And the summer 2012 campaign to define Romney was a big reason why.

As Obama's running mate, Biden had a front-row seat to this winning strategy, and he—and, more importantly, the plethora of Democratic-aligned Super PACs—would be well advised to take note of it and repeat it this cycle.

Democrats can't depend on others to derail the Trump train that is rolling down the tracks to the Republican nomination virtually unimpeded.

Republicans aren't going to do it in the primaries. As is evident by their feckless and cowardly response to the multiple indictments against Donald Trump, it is clear that Trump's 2024 Republican opponents lack either the will or the ability to effectively prosecute a case against him.

Unfortunately, the rule of law is also not likely to catch up to Trump before the election. While the work that special counsel Jack Smith, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are doing to hold Trump accountable for his numerous crimes is vitally important for both the rule of law and our democracy, the justice system moves slowly, and there is no guarantee Trump will face a trial before the 2024 election.

And waiting for Trump to self-implode under the weight of his many controversies and legal issues has been a losing strategy since he first rode down the escalator at Trump Tower to declare his candidacy in 2015.

This leaves denying Trump the keys to the White House up to Biden and Democrats alone. And Obama wrote the playbook on how to do it.

While the comparison between 2012 and what Biden faces today is not exactly the same—Obama's brutally effective ad campaign against Romney didn't start until the election year, not the summer before, and Trump is already more defined for voters today than Romney was at any point in the 2012 cycle—the basic concept is the same: Use the lack of a primary on the Democratic side, and the fact that Trump will have to pour significant resources into emerging from a crowded Republican field, to prosecute the case against Trump in the court of public opinion and define what is at stake this election. And do it now, while Trump is on defense and must use his resources to defend himself in court and fend off a growing Republican primary field.

Biden has made clear that he intends to run a classic Rose Garden reelection campaign. Leaning into the power and prestige of the office to look above the fray, Biden plans to brand himself as the adult in the room who can govern while the clown car of the Republican primary dominates news coverage. Add in the complication that it is Biden's Department of Justice, via an independent special counsel, that has indicted Trump and not commenting on the case—or trying to use it to his political advantage—makes sense.

That leaves the urgent task of prosecuting the case against Trump in the court of public opinion and clearly defining the stakes of this election to the vast army of outside Super PACs aligned with Democrats. In 2012, much of the heavy lifting of defining Romney was not done by the Obama campaign; rather, it was outsourced to his Super PAC (Priorities USA) and other aligned groups.

Outsourcing the work of defining Romney early to Super PACs worked in 2012, and it can work again in 2024 with Trump. There is more than enough material to work with, and Trump provides fresh material daily. But Democrats and their Super PACs need to act with urgency. Because every day they fail to take to the battlefield is another day Trump and his team continue to do what they do best: use disinformation, lies, and chaos to confuse and distract voters.

While elections aren't won 18 months out, they can be lost this far out. Especially if you fail to capitalize on strategic opportunities. Democrats cannot afford to wait much longer to prosecute the case against Trump and make clear for voters what is at stake in this election.

With Biden rightfully staying above the fray, it is time for the calvary to arrive and get his back. And now.

Doug Gordon is a Democratic strategist and co-founder of UpShift Strategies. He has worked on numerous federal, state, and local campaigns and on Capitol Hill. He is on Twitter at @dgordon52.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.