I originally thought former President* Pennywise had a shot to beat the Manhattan rap. He has only himself to blame for his conviction. He handcuffed his lawyers by insisting that they try and sell the “Trumpy didn’t shtup Stormy” story. There were no buyers. They also didn’t subject Pecker and Hicks to the sort of withering cross-examination that Daniels and Cohen faced. Cronyism was a factor in the verdict. Thanks, Donald.
Criminal lawyer Renato Mariotti engaged in some informed speculation in a post-conviction NYT op-ed. He’s mostly on point, but like everyone else he underrated Michael Cohen as a witness. The jury clearly believed the former Fixer’s testimony, which was corroborated up the wazoo.
I watched way too much MSNBC in the wake of the verdict. They spent too much time wondering how Trumpers would react to the verdict. It’s a waste of time: they’re lost souls. I don’t give a damn about their reaction and nobody else should either. This is where they belong:
My former cable news wife, Rachel Maddow, wore her worried face throughout the evening. She’s always trying to pull defeat from the jaws of victory. It happened again last night. There *are* security concerns because of Trump’s violent rhetoric BUT the last time Trumpers acted in concert was on 1/6/2021. His exhortations for them to rise have flopped since then. They may have consumed the Trump Kool-Aid, but they’d rather not drink it in prison.
Back to the Stormy mistake. Todd Blanche opened the door to her testimony by denying the shtupping during his opening argument. The cross-examination was withering but it’s questionable whether the venerable “nuts and sluts” approach still works. Her testimony detailed what a truly execrable human being the Indicted Impeached Insult Comedian is. He’s a turd on legs and a stupid one at that. If the jury didn’t already know that they learned it during the trial.
The one thing that the Kaiser of Chaos is good at is PR. The Bannon/Trump plan to flood the zone with shit has worked. They’ve blown so much smoke that it’s hard for many, including those who loathe Trump, to see that the country has passed the Reagan test: It’s better off than it was four years ago.
What’s next for Convicted Felon Trump? More whining, bitching, and complaining. His classic attack and deny approach failed in court, so he’ll try it out on his supporters. I have no sympathy for them. They’ve been conned by Trump for 8 years. I have only one suggestion for them: Read the article by former Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt in Slate. The image of Trump as wise business leader was an illusion created by the producers. He was the same racist and sexist asshole then as he is now.
I’m not one of those very serious people who think that this is a sad day for America. The legal system worked in this case. That’s something to celebrate as the Trumpers melt down. That, too, should be for cause of celebration.
Repeat after me: Vote against the crook, it’s important.
The last word goes to Three Dog Night:
Watching some of the MAGA aftermath, it seems to me that they’re still using the exact same arguments that served Needy Amin so badly in his trial. Not just “I never had sex with that woman – Ms. Daniels,” but this is all rigged, biased judge, selective prosecution, weaponization of the government, can’t win in November so they have to knee-cap their hero’s campaign now. And on and on. And on. 34 times.
It’s also of note watching Republicans utterly undermine our criminal justice system. Their standard bearer was tried in open court, under long-established rules of procedure, evidence, and testimony. The prosecution didn’t spring any surprise witnesses, scrupulously followed the law and the court’s rulings in putting forth their case, and didn’t resort to threatening anyone in pursuit of a just verdict. The defense? Not so much.