Democrats are painting former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy following a Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity that offers President Joe Biden a chance to move past last week's disastrous debate.
The justices' decision to grant Trump partial immunity related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election was widely viewed as a win for the former president. It denied him immunity for nonofficial acts but granted him absolute immunity for his core presidential powers and the presumption of immunity for other official acts.
From an electoral perspective, it also meant that special counsel Jack Smith’s case against him would likely not go to trial before the presidential election.
Democrats were quick to denounce the Supreme Court as beholden to Trump, who cemented a conservative majority with the appointment of three justices.
But their messaging also suggested the party sees a political upside in the decision, warning that Trump would have even more power to enact his agenda should he win a second term in the White House.
"They just handed Donald Trump the keys to a dictatorship," Quentin Fulks, Biden's principal deputy campaign manager, said on a call with reporters. "The Supreme Court just gave Trump a permission slip to assassinate and jail whoever he wants to gain power.”
"I'm scared as s*** ," he said. "And I think Americans are scared and should be scared of what Donald Trump will do.”
Biden himself later delivered remarks painting Trump as a threat to democracy shortly after arriving at the White House on Monday night.
"This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States," Biden said. "With today's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed. For all practical purposes, today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do.”
Lashing out at the court for delaying Trump's trial beyond the election date, Biden promised to uphold the limits of his office and said the voters will ultimately decide.
"The American people have to render a judgment about Donald Trump's behavior," he said. "The American people must decide whether Donald Trump's assault on our our democracy on Jan. 6 makes him unfit for public office in the highest office in the land, the American people must decide if Trump's embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable."
Republicans, who celebrated the ruling as a matter of “common sense,” waved away the alarm bells sounded by Democrats as overstating the impact of the decision. They have leveled the same claims at Biden, arguing Smith’s prosecutions are evidence of a “weaponized” system of justice.
But Democrats are betting they can further their narrative about Trump by attacking the integrity of the high court. Following a disastrous debate performance against the former president last week, it also gives Biden a chance to deflect attention as party insiders worry about his fitness for office. During that debate, Biden delivered a halting performance and repeatedly lost his train of thought.
"There is a political case to be made about Trump’s suitability for office, and the court’s ruling likely strengthens that case, because Trump will likely feel even more empowered to push legal boundaries if reelected," Kyle Kondik, elections analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said. "I think this is a potentially effective and persuasive message from Democrats, but after the debate, it seems reasonable to ask whether Biden is capable of making that argument effectively."
While two lower courts had ruled against Trump and in favor of Smith, the justices sent the case back to decide what constitutes official versus unofficial actions. That likely means the charges will not be tried ahead of the 2024 election.
"This essentially is a long delay of game," Republican strategist Doug Heye said. "Voters definitely would’ve preferred some finality."
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The practical result from an elections standpoint is that Trump's immunity claims and actions on Jan. 6 will remain fully in the realm of politics as the 2024 presidential contest is decided over the next four months.
"I do think voters have significant concerns about how Trump would behave in office if given back the White House," Kondik said. "Biden’s problems, particularly after the first debate, seem to be predominating in the public eye to a greater degree, but that does not mean the voters who will decide this election all of a sudden like and trust Trump."
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