WORCESTER — Local Democrats attempted to skewer former President Donald Trump at their party convention Saturday, only days after his felony conviction, and sought to cast the 2024 presidential election as a fight for the future of democracy in the United States.
Trump, who was twice impeached during his presidency and faces a litany of other legal issues, was found guilty earlier this week by a jury of 12 New Yorkers of 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying off a porn actor to keep silent about allegedly having sex with him.
“We all know that Donald Trump’s got 34 problems and being rich ain’t one. So here’s the truth, we all know that the only man electable in Massachusetts who wears 34 will always be Big Papi David Ortiz,” U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said at the DCU Center to hundreds of Democrats.
Trump has denounced his conviction and told reporters shortly after the verdict that he had a “rigged, disgraceful trial.” His sentencing was set for July 11 — only days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — and his lawyers have said they plan to appeal the ruling.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale rallied to Trump’s defense after the ruling, saying in a statement that she was “disheartened by the outcome of this political prosecution.”
“(Thursday) marks a profoundly troubling moment for the integrity of the American judicial system. The Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice both investigated these allegations and chose not to bring charges against President Trump. It should have ended there,” she said in a statement.
In the runup to the Nov. 5 general election, those on the left in Massachusetts, like Gov. Maura Healey, cast a potential second Trump presidency as likely “far worse” than his first time in office.
“Donald Trump would be more vengeful, more divisive, more dangerous than he was ever before. But don’t just believe me, believe Donald Trump. Donald Trump said he’ll launch the largest deportation operation in American history and tear apart millions of families. He said he will use his Department of Justice to prosecute his political opponents,” Healey said.
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, a Worcester Democrat, said the upcoming presidential election is “about more than Donald Trump.”
“It’s about what he represents, a political movement that is completely detached from our values, a movement that uses political violence and threats of vengeance and retribution to maintain power. If Donald Trump and his MAGA allies win, they will continue to push for a national abortion ban,” McGovern said.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is up for reelection this fall and faces Republican challengers, said “Democracy is on the ballot.”
“Donald Trump cozies up to racists and white nationalists. He posted a pro-Nazi ad calling for a unified Reich and the convicted felon says he wants to be a dictator on day one. Listen to him,” Warren said.
A video posted last month to Trump’s account on his social media network, Truth Social, included a reference to a “unified Reich” among hypothetical news headlines if he were to win the election. The word is most often associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, Karoline Leavitt, distanced the former president from the post in a statement last month.
“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the president was in court,” Leavitt said in a statement.
Secretary of State William Galvin said “some people” have taken the approach of reminding voters of “all the bad things that Trump did.” But Democrats, he said, are a “party of hope, not a party of fear.”
“But we do have to remind people about the importance of voting, we do have to make sure that they don’t stray off to fringe third, fourth, and fifth party candidates as some kind of a protest to nowhere. There’s too much at stake. There’s too much that has to be done,” Galvin, a Democrat said.
An NPR/Marist poll released earlier this week found the race between President Joe Biden and Trump was still close but the addition of independent candidates put Trump in the lead. Independent candidate Cornel West, Green party nominee Jill Stein, and independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. pull voters away from Biden, the poll found.
But Worcester Mayor Joe Petty argued Democrats needed to stack up behind Biden because Trump is “guilty of leaving his fellow Americans behind as he works for … himself and other wealthy people.”
“Here in the City of Worcester, we welcome the people that Donald Trump is trying to keep out. Racism, hatred, homophobia, xenophobia have no place in the United States of America,” Petty, a Democrat, said.
Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.
Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald
Sen. Elizabeth Warren takes the stage at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention at the DCU Center Saturday in Worcester. (Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald)
Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald
Gov. Maura Healey and Lt Gov Kim Driscoll congratulate the Worcester North High School basketball team on their state championship at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention at the DCU Center Saturday in Worcester. (Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald)
Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio sings at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention at the DCU Center Saturday in Worcester. (Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald)
