Thursday, April 25, 2024

New York, New York, It’s A Wonderful Town!

Why does the press keep doing that? Trump says the same thing over and over. 🥱  Trump’s idea of a “good day.” Trump doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. This isn’t just fear of what Pecker might start reminiscing about (that would actually spark a mistrial, so it won’t happen). This is bone-deep ignorance. Pecker has testified for three days now, without cross-examination yet. Trump’s defense team hasn’t had a good day yet. We can safely surmise that’s the report Trump got. Though I agree that’s probably not right.
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This Is Also Why The Court Should Not Be Ruling On Hypotheticals

Alito is still the best living argument for term limits for Justices. Not what oral arguments should be about, IOW.
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The Only Thing Scary About Lara Trump…

...is how dim she is. Ed. Note: does the RNC have the money to train 100,00 poll watchers? Doesn’t Trump need the money for his lawyers?
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Pretty Much What Justice Jackson Said

The legal doctrine of appeals is that the court, especially the High Court, limit itself to the facts and parties before it rather than act as a “super-legislature.” “Change the facts, change the outcome” is not similarly a legal doctrine, but it is how case law and legal reasoning work. The general principle of the tort of assault, say, rests on the recognized elements of the tort, and the facts presented by the case. There is no one rule for all cases of alleged civil assault. One if the things you learn in Torts is that the concept of “offensive contact” is a fact-specific one. The Court does not have to establish, in Justice Jackson’s phrase, a “bucket of official acts” v. private ones, based solely on this case. Rule on the facts before the Court, and leave the future, to the future.

That, I fear, this Court will not do; and working out the parameters of presidential immunity in this one case could therefore take…years.
Which is how the lower courts understood it: on these facts, is former President Trump entitled to immunity? The majority of the Supremes went haring after the defense of the Imperial Presidency. Which was not the issue presented, by the facts or the parties. Oh, Trump argued it that way. But the Court could have fairly and reasonably swatted that aside. Really the factual and legal issue, isn’t it? Does the President have immunity to any extralegal attempt (or illegal one) to retain office? To be fair, that issue was actually recognized in arguments. And the justices didn’t seem overly impressed with Trump’s argument. But three hours? Really? It’s not (it shouldn’t be) that nuanced an issue. Especially on these facts as presented by these parties. A point the DOJ made very well; again, on the facts of the 2020 election, the 60+ failed lawsuits, etc. The legal issue presented by the facts. And how in the world can those facts POSSIBLY raise the issue of whether such actions are within the powers of the POTUS? Because if they do, then every election going forward will prompt a constitutional crisis as the losing incumbent goes to court to establish his authority to use whatever extra-legal authority is available to remain in office. And as C in C, that arguably includes using the military. And we’ll only know if it’s a coup four years later, when the Supreme Court finally gets around to it. Of course, by then… In my hypothetical, we’d need several years in Court to work that out. Which always falls to the”Rich White Man Privilege” rule. Is it a coincidence that most of the strongest critics of this case on the High Court are women of color?

I think not. 🧐 
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“All The News That Fits”

Unrelated, but now I understand why Trump wanted to be in D.C. today: that’s where the attention is. I’m listening to uninterrupted arguments (no ads on a station that runs 15 minutes of ads every 10 minutes) before the Court on Trump’s case. There was even a guy outside the courthouse yelling “HEY, FAKE NEWS!” as reporters talked to TeeVee cameras, which is what Trump wants to do himself. Can’t tell you what’s going on in NYC right now.

I’m also not getting anything out of these arguments (except minor dickishness from Kavanaugh, who really is a lightweight). Nothing like the desperate efforts yesterday to let the states make women suffer in pregnancy, apparently because that’s what the Bible says (Genesis 3:16. Perhaps I exaggerate, but the lack of concern for the mother struck me as incomprehensible). Interesting discussion, but I don’t think you can draw much from it except the court is helping Trump by delaying this trial.
Definitely vast-case scenario. But I still don’t think Trump will return to office, and these cases won’t go away if he loses the election. But the money Trump can raise, will.

He’s screwed, IOW. The mills of God grind slowly; but they grind exceeding fine.
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“A Very, Very Nice…He’s A Nice Guy”

One of the most damaging aspects of the current case is that day in and day out for the next six to eight weeks the public will be given examples of how Trump lies, surrounds himself with liars, and has in fact made a profession of lying," Rothkopf wrote. 
"That almost does not do his business association with lying justice. He is alongside friends and associates like Rupert Murdoch, the late Roger Ailes, Vladimir Putin, the FSB, the Internet Research Agency, the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, and Christopher Ruddy, one of the pioneers of the Misinformation Industrial Complex." 
There's no aspect of Trump's life that's not built on lies — his political and business careers, his marriages, his height and his weight, even his golf abilities — and Rothkopf said this trial shows why he has fought so hard to avoid appearing in court where the truth might finally be exposed and he could be held to account for his inherent fraudulence. 
“Trump is not a man who lies. Trump is a lie," Rothkopf wrote. "Trump is a fabrication of the mind of Trump. Trump is a fictional character who has fictional achievements and fictional wealth. He is no more real than the tales of visitors from outer space that are so popular with his partners in prevarication at the National Enquirer. 
"In some respects, it is no surprise he has become the world’s most notorious liar. He has had quite a lot of success lying and then lying about his lies."
"I was talking to a friend after David Pecker's testimony, as somebody who knows David Pecker and Donald Trump," Scarborough said. "I said, it's interesting — David Pecker just blew this case wide open against Donald Trump, yet nothing on Truth Social. 
My friend started laughing and said, 'You will never hear Donald Trump say anything bad about David Pecker.' [He] then suggested that, you know, he knows a lot more about Donald Trump than Donald Trump would want people to know. Listen to this, again, after this guy just blew open the case against him." 
Trump told reporters that, "David has been very nice, very nice – he's a nice guy." Meanwhile, he could be held in contempt for violating a gag order by attacking Cohen and Stormy Daniels, both of whom could testify in the trial. 
... 
"Whoever your friend is, I think is correct," Sharpton said. "When Donald Trump says David has been nice, when David got on the stand and just about nailed his legal coffin in terms of this trial, it is because he knows he's been nice not to tell all the other things he may know about Donald Trump. 
“If you have a guy that knows 100 things and he only testifies to 10, you say he is a very nice guy because you don't want the other 90 to drop out."
Can’t let ALL the lies out.
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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

🦍

Sure he is.

 

I’d say Watters was trolling us all, but I’m not sure Trump appreciates being compared to an ape. 🦧 

I’m sure the ape doesn’t like the comparison.
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🎶Tin Soldiers And Nixon Comin’🎶

But you can arrest them, right, Speaker Johnson?

Welcome to Texas. I’m sure all the defenders of police action against college students in New York City are happy now.

Nobody does irony like Texas does irony. I’m pretty sure those jack-booted thugs will hang around to root out DEI on campus, since the Lege outlawed it in the last session.

Thank God DEI is not anti-semitism, huh?
It was fun while it lasted.
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🎶Four Dead In O-Hi-O🎶

Wouldn’t that be up to the Governor of New York? Or is Biden supposed to invoke the Insurrection Act over a handful of campus assholes in New York City?

Like I say, what could go wrong with the National Guard on campus?
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Except for DEI

Nobody can talk about DEI. 

You can’t be a transgender or gender nonconforming teacher in Texas. Soon, anyway. So you can censor or silence viewpoints you disagree with., so long as you’re a Republican legislator in Texas.
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Blah Blah Blah

"Because he thinks he is above the Supreme Court, he is prohibiting me from going to the presidential immunity hearing where some of the great legal scholars will be arguing the case — the most important case in many years on the Supreme Court," Trump told Fox News Digital.
First question: would he stay awake?

Second question: what would he get out of it? Other than maybe hearing his name mentioned?



Yeah, pretty much like that.
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It’s A Real Thing

It's a thing, and it's real:
Special gold-tone ceremonial White House key released in very limited quantities during the presidency of Donald Trump. The key measures 8″ x 2.5″ with both sides of the bow featuring the seal of the President of the United States of America, and both sides of the shaft engraved with text: “Key to the White House” and “President Donald J. Trump.” Includes its original handsome wooden display box, 9.25″ x 4″ x 1.5″, with the underside of the lid featuring an artistic depiction of the north portico of the White House, and the top of the lid laser-engraved with presidential seal. In very fine condition. This White House-exclusive key was specially made for and presented to foreign dignitaries and other VIPs during the Trump-Pence administration.
Why it exists is another matter:
Trump’s sense of ownership of the building extended even to a souvenir he had created: a “key to the White House.” In his book “Breaking History,” Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner described the tchotchke.
“When Trump met with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], he whipped out his signature gift — an oversize bronze ‘key to the White House’ in a wooden box carved with the presidential seal. Trump had designed the key himself to give to special guests.” 
" ‘This is the first key I’m giving to anyone,’ he said. ‘Even when I’m not president anymore, you can walk up to the front gate of the White House and present it, and they will let you in.’ "
— "Breaking History," Jared Kushner 
Kushner writes that he “tried to keep from laughing” at the presentation. 
Understandably. It is not the case that presidents can simply grant other people lifetime access to the White House. Not only because of the security implications but, again, because the house isn’t the president’s to offer to others. Trump was allowed to stay there by the people; that grant isn’t transferrable.
This is Trump, so I’m a little curious about who paid for this souvenir, and why Trump still has one.

And “Trump designed the key himself”? I’m old enough to remember when Carter was criticized for reports (probably apocryphal) that he concerned himself with the schedule for the White House tennis court.

Gold-tone. Trump’s name. Trump designed. It all checks out. Trump is the stain on the White House it will take a century or more to eradicate.
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Eric IS The Smart One

Apparently she had just learned the consent decree out of New Jersey (for GOP poll watchers harassing black and Latino voters) had expired. But what she’s saying is aligned with “81 states.”

I just voted (school board election) with a relatively new process meant to generate a paper trail. None of the volunteers who checked my registration and gave me the log in code, ever touched the ballot sheet. They took my driver’s license (to scan it), and handed it to me, and the slip with the code on it. But no one touched the ballot sheet except me.

I put that in the machine, cast my vote, printed the ballot, and put it in a scanner which kept the paper and recorded my vote. Nobody touched that sheet of paper but me. And no one will, except persons authorized by law to do so.

Lara Trump is not making even empty threats. She’s simply as dumb as a ream of blank paper ballots.
According to Cupp, the trial distracts the public from the fact that the GOP is on the defensive when it comes to subjects like abortion and fallout from the overturning of Roe v. Wade, for which Trump has taken credit.
Well, I guess that explains this: And this: The GOP remain strategic geniuses. Dems remain in disarray.
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“Sometimes I Think The Narrative Is A Great, Grey God…”

Confessions of an NYT political reporter.

The narrative is the fox being chased by the baying hounds, who never catch it, even after the hunt is over. And yet the Narrative is all, and must never be forsaken or questioned.

Honestly, reading political coverage in a Presidential election year is like that scene from 1984 where the enemy and ally switch places in mid-speech, and no one notices.
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“Those Who Do Not Learn From History…”

Because that worked so well at Kent State!

(Young people in government is not always a good thing.)

🎶 Tin soldiers and Nixon coming/We’re finally on our own/This summer I hear the drumming/Four dead in Ohio.” 🎶
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Behold The Power Of Government

When the people in government know what the fuck they’re doing, and understand national and world security apart from their petty personal attempts to rig elections with National Enquirer-style fictions.
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The Narrative Catches Up As Reality Takes A Breather

What was obvious to sentient beings for 8 years finally becomes “conventional wisdom.”
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When The Walls Fell

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Funny that’s not having any effect.
"We have a Rigged Judge, who is working for the Democrat Party and refuses to terminate this 'case,' which should have never been brought by Soft on Crime Alvin Bragg," Trump posted at 2 a.m. on Truth Social. 
"Judge [Juan] Merchan should be immediately removed, and the Appellate Courts have to take over. That also applies to Corrupt Judge [Arthur] Engoron, who knew I did nothing wrong, and still fraudulently fined me $500 Million Dollars while having no knowledge of Valuation, Finance, or in any way what he was doing. Same with Judge Kaplan, who allowed a woman, who I have never met (celebrity photo line does not count!), and know nothing about, to get a lawless judgment of $90 Million Dollars. New York Justice is in shambles, and only the Appellate Courts can save it."
Except the courts can’t (or won’t, because they’re rigged, too), so the GOP must.
A Republican doesn’t stand a chance," Trump raged in his overnight post. "This is not Justice." 
"This New York Cabal, run by Crooked Joe Biden’s White House, is a hit job on a Political Opponent the likes of which the USA has never seen before," Trump added. "For the Good of our Country, it must be stopped. The Crooked Joe Biden Witch Hunts have to be ended. REPUBLICANS IN WASHINGTON MUST TAKE ACTION!"
"MOMMY!”
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Trump’s Day Off

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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Trump Can’t Campaign…

I missed this, where Trump complains the articles he’s clutching should be “put in” at trial. In the same day David Pecker testified about all the articles he published that were lies invented by Trump.

He has no idea how a trial works. No wonder he’s miserable.
A good story teller sets the stage for the story:
There was an arrangement that Michael Cohen would, according to David Pecker, would call him up after one of the Republican debates," Schneider explained. 
"Whoever was doing the best at the debate, [Cohen] would direct him — David Pecker — to run a devastating story about that person." 
"That's setting up...for the jury to see, the fact that Trump allegedly seems to have a pattern and history of gaining an unfair advantage during that election," Schneider said. "And I think that that point, although subtle today, is going to come back later on in the trial."
And you know Trump still doesn’t know what happened.
Pennsylvania primary today. Trump couldn’t campaign.
Since Trump can’t campaign, his allies do it for him. Old news. Real news. Slowly, slowly, slowly, the narrative catches up with reality. While reality leaps relentlessly ahead.
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Don’t Try This At Home, Kids!

Seriously. Don’t chop celery this way. Unless you have a dull knife. And want dirt in your food.
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🤦🏻‍♂️

Why do people always act like this has never happened in the history of our country, ever? As Molly Ivins loved to say: “It’s a representative government.” As Ecclesiastes said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Who was it said you’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public? Self-awareness is not a success trait. And probably an impediment to getting on TeeVee. Remember when they called it the “boob tube”? I think that’s too highbrow a label now. But, of course, “highbrow” is too highbrow. Clearly Lara Trump thinks the RNC has become a government above all governments in the U.S. of A. Or maybe she just thinks so because now she gets on TeeVee. The irony of this is that David Pecker (Trump: “I never knew him. I think he brought coffee, or something. There was no relationship.”) is in that building testifying about all the fake news stories Trump invented about his political opponents that Pecker put on the front page.
And Trump is still at it.

 Truth is stranger than fiction.
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“History Is Bunk!”—Henry Ford

Not that many progressives in charge of the Democrats, actually. Daley was responsible for the police riot in ‘68 (hey! They were on private property, right? Or something.) Conservatives nominated Humphrey over McCarthy (who was hardly seen as being as radical as McGovern). I’ll give you the assaults on LBJ over Vietnam (he was terrible), and not giving him any credit for civil rights and his Great Society legislation (Medicare was a small part of it). 

But Reagan was the snake oil salesman Trump wanted to be. His career was little more illustrious than Trump’s TeeVee stint, but Reagan hosted “Death Valley Days,” which increased his name/face recognition. And frankly, the Democratic nominees between Carter and Clinton weren’t that memorable.

Reagan also launched his campaign from Philadelphia, Mississippi, rather than California. A clear sign he wasn’t going to continue the legacy of civil rights, especially when there were welfare queens to blame for excessive government spending on the “wrong” people.

It was a reaction to the’60’s, not the legacy of blinkered progressives. It carried right through Clinton’s eight years, where he carefully disavowed being a “child of the ‘60’s,” and Gingrich claimed Reagan’s mantle. And the heir of Gingrich is…Trump. And MTG. Except Reagan and Gingrich both knew how to make government work.

Yes, we had only one Republican President between 1932 and 1968. But by ‘68 the differences between the Democrats and the GOP were truly academic.(HHH ran more like Gore 30 years later, than LBJ ran like the heir to JFK.) And the American public didn’t really like all the radical changes in American life between ‘45 and ‘67. I wouldn’t blame that on college students on a few campuses. I mean, you might as well blame Beatniks, Daddy-O.
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The Reviews Are In!

"Thousands of people were turned away from the Courthouse in Lower Manhattan by steel stanchions and police, literally blocks from the tiny side door from where I enter and leave," Trump wrote. "It is an armed camp to keep people away.”
"Maggot Hagerman of The Failing New York Times, falsely reported that I was disappointed with the crowds," Trump declared. "No, I’m disappointed with Maggot, and her lack of writing skill, and that some of these many police aren’t being sent to Columbia and NYU to keep the schools open and the students safe. The Legal Scholars call the case a Scam that should never have been brought. I call it Election Interference and a personal hit job by a conflicted and corrupt Judge who shouldn’t be allowed to preside over this Political Hoax. New York Justice is being reduced to ashes, and the World is breathlessly watching. Hopefully, Appellate Courts can save it, and all of the companies that are fleeing to other jurisdictions. They can no longer take a chance on New York Justice!"
Funny thing, they don’t have to try very hard. Especially when you’re doing the work for them. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 
The five hour days are the worst part.  (I regularly go 7-8 hours between breakfast and dinner without eating. It can be done!) Even I’m not that old. Except Trump is only making that claim in the media. Let’s see if he raises it in the courtroom. (Pro-tip: it would require Trump’s testimony. But it’s also not remotely a defense to the charges. So all Trump’s testimony would do is ruin his credibility.) Projection is a really harsh mistress.
I read that Blanche (who is forever now Seamy Todd to me) was looking forward to this trial giving a big boost to his private legal career. I'd really love to know what he was doing in his time at SNDY, which I think should be investigated for a number of issues. I wonder if he was part of the faction that sandbagged Hillary Clinton or did similar things from that rogue branch of the DoJ.

You put me in mind of Jarrell’s “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.” I read a footnote to it once that said the hose mentioned there was a steam hose. It seems an apt metaphor for Blanche’s career after Trump.

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Numb And Number

Trump is not being strategic. He’s just desperate for money, and he figures jail will flail (!)  the outrage nerve attached to his supporters wallets one more time.

Does he want to go to jail? Then why did he attack Merchan this time, instead of the jury or a witness? He heard the judge bristle at the “two systems of justice” comment in the show cause hearing, so he goes for “kangaroo court.” But if he really wants to visit the cells, he could stand up and read that post in court. Or this one:
#DonSnorleone

Such an act of defiance would get him in a cell instanter. He doesn’t want to go to jail. He wants credit for the possibility. He wants to touch his supporters in their happy place, so they’ll send him money, without putting himself at risk. But you can only tickle that spot so many times before it becomes dull, and then numb.

Even going to jail might not work. And that’s what he fears most.
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“The Only Thing That Matters Is The Front Page”—David Pecker

That pretty much sums it up. Plus ce la change...
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Why Blanche Lost Credibility

Do you remember the scene from “The Paper Chase” when Kingsfield hands some coins to a student and tells him to go call his mother, and tell her he’s never going to be a lawyer?

That’s the response Blanche’s statement merits.
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🪦 R.I.P. Todd Blanche, Esq.

☠️

(If the judge is already telling you that you have lost credibility, you are well and truly fucked.)
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Monday, April 22, 2024

What’s To Understand?

NOT Trump’s lawyer in New York. Or influence a fair jury trial. IOW, the way every defendant in a classified case wants the case to be tried. Before CIPA, that’s why so few classified cases were tried to juries. Nothing new here, IOW, just trying to threaten the prosecution with what they don’t want. And recognizing Cannon is so far over her head, she’s looking up to see bottom. I guess he’s seen the pictures. What if they held a trial protest and nobody came? I’m just guessing the crowd who travel to a field in North Carolina aren’t coming to downtown Manhattan anytime soon.
He has been hoping for something of a circus around his trial, but the reality is that only two to three dozen supporters over the last week have shown up," said Haberman, who has been covering the trial in person. "He looked very unhappy."
So his desperation is expanding? Makes sense. Also makes sense. Newt was rooting for the police. In fact... I’m really not worried about how the right-wing press covers this trial. C’mon, you gotta give me that one!
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Masterclassing

If my knife was that dull, I’d replace it (and take the old blade to a knife sharpening service). Way too much effort going into cutting celery. (And considering how much dirt hides in a celery bunch, I’d never cut up celery that way. You have to separate the stalks and rinse them.) Gott mit... who, exactly? A little louder for the folks in the back!

I wasn’t going to, but this is too good to pass up:
Hillary said the following: "His bromance with Putin - it was actually called that by the former PM of Australia who said he saw Trump with Putin and Trump was just gaga over Putin. Because Putin does what he would like to do - kill his opposition, imprison his opposition, drive journalists and others into exile, rule without any check or balance. That's what Trump really wants."
Lake responded:
Lake responded to the clip, "That's really rich coming from a woman like Hillary Clinton. How many of her friends have mysteriously died or committed suicide?" 
"Then know they can't win on their policies ... They know they can't win on that so they have to try every other measure to try to control the government. It's comical that Hillary is talking about Trump wanting to kill his opponents? I just want to say, as I'm speaking about this topic I want everyone out there to know that the brakes on my car have recently been checked and they work. I'm not suicidal. Hillary, I don't mean any harm to you, please don't send your henchmen out to me. We understand what you're about."
See how quickly that turned from a comment on Trump into a threat on the life of Lake? Truly Trumpian. Or by DEI trying to teach them to recognize people not exactly like them, are people, too.
Another masterclass. Besides, I thought he needed to be campaigning. Actually, the silly part is suggesting golf is exercise. It’s not really even a good walk. And the way Trumps does it (he drives his cart onto the greens), it’s not even a walk. Trump had better disavow her immediately, or he’s lost Texas. Sear? Brisket? What fresh hell is this? So many people knew. Because all the businesses have already left the city, donchaknow?
Bill Maher predicted last year that this trial would only rally pro-Trump voters and help him secure the presidency. “I think this is a colossal mistake if they bring these charges,” the pundit argued. “I mean, yes, [Trump’s] done a lot of bad things, and I'm sure he did this—everything they accused him of [doing], he did. But first of all, it’s not gonna work. It’s gonna be rocket fuel for his 2024 campaign.”
It’s certainly drawing people to the courthouse.
Yet last week felt like the opposite of “rocket fuel.” If anything, what we saw was a grumpy 77-year-old man who was exhausted from hours of sitting on a hard chair in a cold room, falling asleep to potential jurors talking about their (oft-negative) feelings about him. Before the trial started, Trump’s campaign sent out a fundraising email promising that it was “72 hours until all hell breaks loose.” But there was no hell to speak of. Trump supporters didn’t storm the courthouse like they did the Capitol back in January 2021. In fact, the only turnout Trump got was a smattering of his usual toadies, including Andrew Giuliani. We don’t know what the next four days of Trump’s trial will hold. But if he and his supporters are already feeling depleted, imagine how they’ll feel in June.
Well, with all those businesses leaving the city… Of course.
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