The day after Donald Trump was found guilty, with every network carrying him live for the first time in months, he did exactly what his opponents hoped for: He acted like Trump.
“When he gets emotional, he goes off,” former Hillary Clinton spokesperson Josh Schwerin told NOTUS. “He can’t control himself. And that’s what this was today.”
It’s rare for Trump to get such a major platform — while many networks used to carry his rallies live, he seldom gets the wall-to-wall coverage he received Friday. It could have been a perfect opportunity to appeal to folks who could aid him in November. Instead, in remarks that lasted 33 minutes, Trump wound his way from President Joe Biden to District Attorney Alvin Bragg; made several stops at the border, a couple at polling numbers; repeatedly visited his gag order and the prosecution’s top witness, Michael Cohen; waved at the Jan. 6 committee; and detoured into Venezuelan and Congo prisons.