You can never predict what a jury will do – in Trump’s first criminal trial, a single MAGAt can ensure that he skates – so we might as well revel in the here and now. It is exhilarating to see this weak aging lummox stuck in court, starring in a dirtbag drama he can’t control, veering wildly from fury to somnolence to petulance to flatulence, tethered to a narrative he can’t erase, a prisoner of rules he can’t escape.
Given the strength of the prosecution’s election-interference case – Matthew Colangelo stated yesterday, “This is about a criminal conspiracy. Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election” – and given the fact that the prosecution’s case is powered by texts, emails, phone recordings, and eyewitnesses, the criminal defendant has precious little room to maneuver.
Trump doesn’t dare testify under oath on his own behalf, because he lies as he breathes and because Judge Merchan has already ruled that, if he does testify, the prosecution is free to confront him with past evidence of his low character, most notably: the recent financial fraud civil trial, where the judge ruled that Trump “repeatedly and persistently falsified business records,” and “testified untruthfully under oath”; and the E. Jean Carroll civil trials, where juries decided that he “sexually abused” her and then made “false statements with actual malice” about her.
Better for him to keep his big mouth shut and let his lawyers offer their preposterous defense. But they have so little to work with. Addressing the jury yesterday, Todd Blanche tried to humanize Trump: “He’s a husband. He’s a father.” Wait til the jury hears the evidence about how this “husband” and “father” trysted with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels while his wife was pregnant with Barron (during the McDougal affair) and nursing newborn Barron (during the Stormy episode)…and how both women were paid off to keep quiet – especially Stormy, on the eve of the ’16 election.
And the jury will surely notice that this “husband” and “father,” this purported family man, is being buttressed in the courtroom by zero members of his family.
Yesterday, Blanche also offered this gem of wisdom: “There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.” Um, hello? Falsifying business records and violating federal election laws – the Trump Organization’s CFO, who’s currently in prison, outlined the whole scheme in handwritten notes – are not expressions of “democracy.” They are crimes.
Trump’s only recourse is to yap at the cameras outside the courthouse (where virtually zero MAGA fans have shown up), uttering imbecilic remarks about the key witnesses arrayed against him. Referring yesterday to ex-fixer Michael Cohen, Trump said: “He got caught lying…He went to jail. This had nothing to do with me.” Um, hello? Cohen went to jail for him, Cohen lied for him, having paid off Stormy with his money – and was personally reimbursed by Trump, whose signature appears on the checks.
He’s not supposed to be attacking witnesses anyway, given the strictures of the judge’s gag order, although he keeps doing it. He’s not supposed to be attacking the jurors either, although he did so on social media last night. It’s clear that if he persists, he’ll rack up fines and risk incarceration. (At a gag order hearing today, Trump’s lawyer insisted that his client was fully complying. The judge said: “You’re losing all credibility with the court.”)
How sweet it is to see Trump brought so low, hemmed in by the rule of law. And it’s still early days. The prosecution says the hush-money payments were designed to illegally help Trump’s ’16 campaign – and whattayaknow, one of Trump’s ex-wingmen, National Enquirer fixer David Pecker, said under oath today that his “highly, highly confidential” financial arrangement with Trump was designed “to help the campaign.”
There’s lots of conventional wisdom that few voters will be swayed either way by this trial, but I’m not so sure about that. Being reduced to decrepitude is simply not a good look. Donald Trump, an empty shell who’s all about branding and optics and image, knows this better than anyone.
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By the way, here’s what the criminal defendant said about covid four years ago today:
“…And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning…”