As I noted in my March 27th post Trump never should have been a candidate and allowed to campaign at all after launching the Jan. 6th insurrection. He ought to have been disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th amendment, i.e.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
Frankly the bastard ought to have been hung by now - and then maybe drawn and quartered like the Brits did to traitors in the olden days. But failing that we have the so-called "hush money" (read: election interference) trial and case which will reveal to one and all what a loathsome piece of orange carrion this maggot is. It's blatant election interference given the rat smoked his Reepo opponents (including Rubio and Cruz) using devastating "news" from the National Enquirer rag and its head honcho David Pecker. All this came out Tuesday and much more is to come today. Anyway, here are other voices weighing in on the trial which the media has covered breathlessly and was originally deemed not worth the cost of paper or digital bytes.
by Amanda Marcotte | April 26, 2024 - 5:58am | permalink
In his opening statement in the People v. Donald Trump, defense attorney Todd Blanche told the Manhattan jury to gaze upon the criminal defendant and see a devoted family man. "He’s a man. He’s a husband. He’s a father," Blanche said of the former president accused of election interference. "He’s a person just like you and just like me." Hamfisted as it may be, it was a play by Blanche to distance his cranky, often sleepy client from what promised to be days, if not weeks, of testimony detailing a tawdry conspiracy to pay hush money to an adult film actress in order to cover up what sounds like rampant adultery.
There are many obvious pitfalls in this effort to recast Trump in the image of a suburban sitcom dad. The biggest might be one very noticeable absence in the courtroom. As a reporter who was pointedly ignored by Trump asked on Tuesday: "Where's Melania?"
It's not just the failed fashion model-turned-Mrs. Trump #3 who hasn't shown up in support. None of Trump's five children, or their spouses, have stood by his side in court, either. His two adult sons would rather spend time screening hypothetical future political appointments for "loyalty" than bother to show their father any in-person care at court. His eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, is posting photos of her fancy vacations rather than staying in New York with her father.
by Amanda Marcotte | April 24, 2024 - 6:50am | permalink
While this falls far short of the punishment he deserves, there was considerable satisfaction to be gained from reports that Donald Trump spent much of the first week of his first criminal trial sitting in silence listening to mean tweets about him read aloud in court. For hours at a time, potential jurors in his New York "hush-money" trial were interviewed to determine whether they could judge the ex-president with an open mind. In the process, both past social media posts and in-the-moment honest opinions were made public.
Trump is such a famous narcissist that he literally has a woman who follows him around with a wireless printer to feed him a steady supply of online praise. Hearing what people outside the paid shills have to say was, all reports suggest, very upsetting for the former president. He glowered and eventually tried to leave the courtroom so quickly that he had to be told to sit down by the judge.
And:
by Elizabeth Preza | April 23, 2024 - 7:05am | permalink
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday detailed Donald Trump’s frustration with courthouse security as “a few dozen” supporters “are kept cornered off a bit of a distance” from the former president’s Manhattan “hush money” trial.
Opening statements in the Manhattan district attorney’s 34 felony count case against Trump began Monday morning as prosecutors alleged the former president lied “over and over and over” in an “illegal” conspiracy to hide hush money payments to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, the New York Times reports.
According to Collins, Trump is growing increasingly frustrated as he views “this all through the lens of the campaign trail.”
“I think big picture, when you look at what Trump has been saying, his mindset going into this, he’s complaining about the gag order incessantly,” Collins told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. "I’m told privately the idea that he can't directly attack the judges family, the prosecutors in this case — he can go after [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg— but not other members of the team … it has been a big thing of his.”
And:
by Carl Gibson | April 24, 2024 - 6:59am | permalink
If former President Donald Trump is convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison, it's likely his permanent Secret Service detail would follow him to the cell block.
Since 1965, the U.S. Secret Service has been required by statute to protect all former presidents of the United States and their spouses for life, unless they decline protection. This means that Trump could theoretically have his personal security team with him — even if he's an inmate.
According to a Tuesday New York Times report, the logistics of incarcerating a former president are already being discussed now that his first criminal trial is officially underway. The topic of how Trump's Secret Service protection would operate in a prison environment initially emerged after this week's gag order hearing in Judge Juan Merchan's courtroom.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team of prosecutors have argued that Trump should be fined $1,000 for each instance of him allegedly violating Merchan's gag order. They also stressed that the gag order — which was meant to prohibit Trump from attacking trial witnesses, court staff and their families — could also be enforced by incarceration of up to 30 days should financial penalties prove ineffective (prosecutors did not call for Trump to be jailed over the current alleged violations).
by Heather Digby Parton | April 27, 2024 - 6:52am | permalink
Donald Trump held a little rally at a construction site in New York before his trial commenced on Thursday morning. He glad-handed the workers and passed out pamphlets that claimed he would end Biden's electric vehicle mandate. They all seemed to like him but, of course, they would, as Fox News reported that the attendees were solicited and vetted by the Trump campaign. In fact one of the "workers" interviewed at the event was a former staffer of disgraced GOP congressman George Santos:
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