TRUMP DIMINISHES HIMSELF

One of Chris Cilizza’s favorite Trump quotes, since it reveals so much, is the one he gave in a 1990 Playboy interview: “The show is Trump, and it is sold-out performances everywhere.”

Consider Trump from even before he landed on the front page of a newspaper 50 years ago, when he and his father were charged by the Department of Justice with unfair housing practices regarding the rental of apartments they owned to African Americans. Even then, when he attended Junior and Senior High t the New York Military Academy (known widely as “The New York Rich Juvenile Delinquent Factory”) he thought of his life as a performance wherein he is the leading characer, the hero.

Look at what he said on the Access Hollywood tape back in October 2016; the audio presents an extraordinary level of vulgarity - even for Trump - where what he described amounts to sexual assault, which he claimed he was entitled to commit because “When you’re a star, they let you do it.” It’s a story he is telling where he sees himself as the hero.

But the story of Trump the Hero in this trial is anything but. He has little to no control over the fact the proceeding requires his presence, no control what can and can’t be said. The result is that Trump has been subject to shrinking. You can see it in the photos over the course of the trial. He’s been obsessed with big-ness, from his hand size to the size of his woody, to how rich he is.

Now he is forced to endure a this thing he can’t control like a normal person, the people he’s always looked down on.

His attempts to assert some control over the proceeding has only resulted in him being slapped down and losing the opportunity to subvert the trial. His willful refusal to act in accordance with the gag order, making the attacks he did on the proceeding, the jurors and the witnesses after being told if he did so there would be “consequences”, resulted in Judge Merchan refusing to make the prosecutors disclose the identities of the first three witnesses to his defense team. This might be thought of as a small thing, but as Neal Katyal pointed out, it makes defense preparation for cross-examination very difficult since they have to make guesses as to who to concentrate on for one of the most important aspects of the trial, when the main witnesses are put on by the prosecutors. That loss is on Trump.

Trump has expressed his frustration with the situation in his impromptu “press availabilities” after the court breaks for the day. Today, his frustration is likely even higher, since he was unable to get his “fix” last Saturday - campaigning in front of the supporters who follow his hatealongs from gig to gig like political Grateful Dead fans. The large crowd that gathered to watch the performance in Wilmington, North Carolina, were disappointed when the show was canceled because of “severe weather.” All he got was speaking to them by telephone, saying, “We want to keep everybody safe. That's the most important thing.” In fact, the weather was not that severe. He had to cancel because his campaign staff were worried he would go off on one of his meandering riffs about all his grievances, and violate the trial gag order to such a degree he would be in danger of facing 30 days at Rikers Island when he walked into court this morning.

Trump-whisperer Maggie Haberman, has done the best job of ay reporter so far in describing both how Trump attempts to show his disrespect and contempt for the entire proceeding, and his inability to stay awake in court, the result of all this being his dminishment:

“For the first few minutes of each day during jury selection, a small pool of still photographers was ushered into Part 59 on the 15th floor of the courthouse. Mr. Trump, obsessed with being seen as strong and being seen generally, prepared for them to rush in front of him by adjusting his suit jacket and contorting his face into a jut-jawed scowl. But, by day’s end on Friday, Mr. Trump appeared haggard and rumpled, his gait off-center, his eyes blank.

“Mr. Trump has often seemed to fade into the background in a light wood-paneled room with harsh fluorescent lighting and a perpetual smell of sour, coffee-laced breath wafting throughout.

“His face has been visible to dozens of reporters watching in an overflow room on a large monitor with a closed-circuit camera trained on the defense table. He has whispered to his lawyer and poked him to get his attention, leafed through sheafs of paper and, at least twice, appeared to nod off during the morning session.Nodding off is something that happens from time to time to various people in court proceedings, including jurors, but it conveys, for Mr. Trump, the kind of public vulnerability he has rigorously tried to avoid.”

His actions in court are shrinking him in the eyes of observers and more importantly, in the eyes of the jury.

Opening statements were yet to begin on Monday when Trump dozed off for the first time.

When both sides made their opening statements to the jury, it was clear that Trump’s lawyers are presenting arguments he has specifically commanded them to present. When Blanche addressed the jury, he began, “President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes.” Blanche was repeatedly interrupted by objections from the prosecutors, resulting in sidebar conferences at the bench, after which Judge Merchan upheld every objection. This not only disrupted the defense presentation, but the jury cannot help but conclude that the objections the judge upheld mean the Trump defense team is committing bad acts and lying in their account of what happened. That is not a good sign for the defense; by the end of the day, following Trump’s instuctions has left the defense “in the hole” with the jury, and this is just Day One.

Trump’s orders to the defense, to argue that he is innocent and did not commit any crimes, that Stormy Daniels is lying about the story, and that he did not make payments to Michael Cohen that were anything but “payments against the retainer” for legal services rendered to Trump’s company, which he had completely divested himself from in 2017 when he took office as president are three big whoppers. The only way the defense can make these claims in testimony is for Trump to testify. That he believes he can convince the jurors he’s telling the truth, when there is ample evidence the prosecutors can use to demonstrate he is lying on the witness stand, shows how far divorced from reality he is. He has never been able to successfully testify in court without being caught in lies.

After the opening statements were presented, prosecutors called their first witness, David Pecker, who proceeded over the next 30 minutes to describe how “checkbook journalism” worked in this case.

Afterwards, Trump spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom, and may have violated the gag order stating he cannot comment on witnesses.

“I got indicted. I’m the leading candidate, I’m beating Biden,” Trump complained, going on to say that his campaign was being “interfered with” and he should be in Georgia and Florida, campaigning. He then lit into Michael Cohen, describing him as a crook who went to prison for “things that had nothing to do with me.” Trump also tested the gag order with statements about o former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who came out of retirement to work on the case and may now be called as a witness, claiming that Pomerantz did “bad stuff,” and was “caught lying,”before calling the entire case a “witch hunt.”

Later, Cohen posted on X, “Hey Von ShitzInPantz… your attacks on me stink of desperation.

We are all hoping that you take the stand in your defense,”

So far, Trump’s legal strategy of pursuing delays and repeating smoke-and-mirror sideshowsin his federal trials and the Georgia RICO case has increased the odds that any defeat of his campaign to retake the presidency will only come from voters at the ballot box in November.

This case in New York is now incredibly important because it is the only one where the voters of America are likely to see definitive evidence of his massive criminality and his lifetime criminal behavior in time to act on that knowledge when they go to the polls.

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