Democrats insist with deadly seriousness that there is nothing political about Donald Trump's criminal trials. But as the first case gets underway in New York, allies of Joe Biden - and Biden himself - have come awfully close to admitting that the whole thing is a "witch hunt."

None other than Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, admitted that it's a good thing for Biden that his rival is tied up in court.

Virtually gloating about the situation, Messina said that Trump will have a difficult time persuading voters while news coverage of the trial is everywhere.

“Trump lost the popular vote twice and has a lot of ground to make up from his 2020 loss," he said. "It’s going to be hard to move any swing voters while there’s wall-to-wall coverage of Trump campaigning from a courtroom."

Dems embrace Trump's trial

Democrats see a positive contrast emerging between Biden on the campaign trail while Trump is absorbed in legal "drama."

As they see it, the situation could erase nostalgia for the Trump years, and get voters to re-think their pessimism about Biden's America.

"For anyone who was starting to feel nostalgic for the past, the daily courtroom news will remind them how exhausting it was to live through the never-ending drama of a Trump presidency and why they voted for normalcy in 2020," Democrat strategist Katie Grant Drew said.

But of course, the success of that strategy hinges on actually convincing voters that Trump's legal problems are self-inflicted, and not politically motivated.

One poll found that just one-third of voters believe Trump did anything wrong in the hush money case.

In any case, Democrats bragging about Trump being stuck in court doesn't exactly help their argument that it's not political.

Not political?

The hush money trial is expected to take six weeks, and Trump is required to attend the whole thing.

Trump has sought to turn the situation to his advantage by meeting with locals in crime-ridden New York.

The message from Trump is clear: instead of locking up serious criminals, Democratic prosecutors like Alvin Bragg are prioritizing a political vendetta against Trump.

Messina said it's "smart" for Biden to "focus on the issues" and not feed the argument "that this trial is political," but Biden mocked Trump's situation on Monday while campaigning in Pennsylvania, joking that Trump was "busy" at the moment.

If Democrats are not careful, they could end up creating sympathy for Trump.

Regardless of the trial's outcome, it looks like Democrats have already succeeded in interfering with the election. The only question is whether it will help them or hurt them.