trump s new message. i did everything right and they indicted me. president front-runner at the center of his came. but is it what voters want to hear? plus biden hits the road. are you with me? the president holds his first big campaign rally with the focus on the economy. two word he did not say donald trump. and a taunt from gavin newsom. and a dare from ron desantis. are you going to throw your hat in the ring and challenge joe? a new war of words between two of america s most prominent governors. welcome to inside politics sunday, i m manu raju, abby phillip has the day off. my dad and all of the dads out there, thanks for spending your father s day with us. we re still 7 months for the first votes being cast for the 2024 republican primary. five candidates gracing the sunday shows today to make their case to voters. but like it or not, there is one question every republican contender must answer. should voters look past a federal indictment of
this. they have a very fine line to walk. and i think what i ve been hearing a lot of through my reporting is to look at the primary election strategy versus the general election strategy. a lot of them are focusing on the primary, which is they do not want to alienity at trump base because they need those voters. and it is very similar on capitol hill as well. a lot of the republicans are rallying to donald trump s defense. they re dismissing some of these charges like you said, even though they are very serious charges and trying not to, you know, step into a land mine here with donald trump. and i think that is what we re seeing the majority of the candidates, of course some lean in harder, ramaswamy saying he would pardon donald trump, and others not willing to go so far but not trying to admit that these charges are as serious as they are. and i think that is what we ll continue to see. and i know they re looking at
polls very carefully. they re looking at fundraising numbers, he brought in $7 million since news of the indictment was auns nnounced. so their trying to figure out how could we message on this and show that these charges are serious but not go so far as to criticize donald trump out right and alienate his base. and we talk about ron desantis. we talk about on the air this morning and on the sunday shows, ron desantis was not. he avoided interactions with reporters one-on-one. with people that could challenge him and often does friendly interviews. he did speak, instead of trying to attack donald trump from his right, not get into the indictment as he told the christian broadcasting network, this week about the issue of abortion. well i appreciate what the f former president has done. he he opposed that bill. he said it was quote, harsh to protect a child when there is a
president trump today, that is not justice. now some of trump s former cabinet officials say the charges are serious. including former defense sect mark esper this morning here on cnn. he said trump cannot be trusted with the nation s secrets. based on his actions, if proven true, no, it is just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, it places our nation s security at risk. so let s discuss all of this and more with toluse olorunnipa, and leigh ann caldwell from the post and alayna treene and amy walter. thanks for spending your father s day morning with us. let s talk about how these candidates are trying to deal with the trump indictment or not deal with it or try to ignore it. amy, what do you think is the strategy for how these candidates should deal with it? should they take it head on and step aside from it.
president biden spent the past week staying as far away as possible from the trump indictment. instead he held events focused on nato and prescription drugs and hidden fees for concert tickets an bridge repair. as the new york times, as trump battle charges, biden focused on the business of governing and he held his first re-election rally yesterday and kept the focus on what he calls an economic success story. i m looking forward to this came. i want to you know why. because you have a story to tell. we have a story to tell. we have a record to run on. we ve created 13 million new jobs. since i became president. inflation has come down 11 months in a row and it continues to come down. today, it is less than half of what it was one year ago. folks, this didn t just happen. we made it happen.