Former President Donald Trump is set to give voters an early sense of his post-conviction message during a campaign swing this week through the Mountain West.
Mr. Trump is scheduled to participate in a town hall event in Arizona and a campaign rally in Nevada — putting him in battleground states that President Biden carried four years ago, but where the presumptive GOP nominee leads in recent polling.
Mr. Trump has provided a possible preview of what is to come in interviews and social media posts. He has railed against the guilty verdict, “the enemy from within” and the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement.
The former president also presented himself as an antidote to Mr. Biden, whom he cast as clueless and criticized for making a mess of everything from the U.S.-Mexico border to the economy and global affairs.
“They are doing damage to this country,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “They want open borders, they want high interest rates, they now want to quadruple your taxes.”
In addition, Mr. Trump predicted the public is running out of patience with the way the legal system has treated him. “At a certain point, there’s a breaking point,” he said.
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A Manhattan jury last week found former Mr. Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
As the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime, Mr. Trump is looking to spin that fact — which traditionally would be considered a political weakness — into a political strength against Mr. Biden.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump is slated to be in Phoenix to appear at a “Chase the Vote” town hall event sponsored by Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action, the Arizona-based conservative group led by commentator and activist Charlie Kirk.
The group is leading a new campaign this year focused on getting voters to use the mail-in balloting option, something of which Republican voters and Mr. Trump himself have been suspicious.
Mr. Trump is expected to take live questions from the audience.
“Now is exactly the right moment for the President to speak directly to voters in state 48, and around the country in this unique town hall format where the President shines so brightly,” Mr. Kirk said in a statement announcing the event.
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From there, Mr. Trump is set to appear Sunday in Las Vegas for one of his signature campaign rallies.
Mr. Trump has been running strong in both states, according to the latest Real Clear Politics average of pre-conviction polls that showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden by 4 percentage points in Arizona and more than 5 points in Nevada.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.