Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

A consequence of cucumbers

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

This really is a full service blog.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

No Justins, No Peace

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / This Is Trump’s Idea of Winning

This Is Trump’s Idea of Winning

by | 159 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Posted without comment.  Okay, posted without much comment.

We already know that Trump has terrible judgment, but how can his attorneys think that all the crap he is pulling in court is a good idea?  Seriously, isn’t learning to control your client Lawyering 101?

This Is Trump's Idea of Winning

This Is Trump's Idea of Winning 1

Okay, one more thing.  I was in the WordPress Media Library and I saw this image out of the corner of my eye, it looked like someone was mooning me.  Is it just me, or do you guys see that, too, when the image is out of context?

And Done

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    Okay, one more thing. I was in the WordPress Media Library and I saw this image out of the corner of my eye, it looked like someone was mooning me. Is it just me, or do you guys see that, too, when the image is out of context?

    LMAO!  You missed a whole discussion (argument?) about that bread loaf yesterday.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato:

    LMAO!  You missed a whole discussion (argument?) about that bread loaf yesterday.

    I must have.  I read the comments that were there at the time, then turned off the laptop.  What did I miss?

  9. 9.

    RepubAnon

    Trump and his lawyers know they will lose. They’re mining this for campaign ads showing how Trump is standing up to the elites and their “rules.”

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, I wrote this post hours ago, and (obviously) posted it just now without looking at it.  So I scrolled up just now to see if I was wrong about the bread, and I burst out laughing.  It looks even more like that than it did this morning.  Perhaps I am not salvageable.

  12. 12.

    circular reasoning

    Regarding the “strategy” in court, Marcy at Emptywheel has a post up today with a theory for this behavior I find reasonable given the characters involved. Basically, that this is just an exercise in further trying to damage the institutions that hold our society together (and people like Trump in check).

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    Wonder if Habba is rethinking her declaration that faking being a lawyer is easier than faking being hot?

    Also wonder, even as I do not care, whether she got her hot ass paid up front. If she did not, then das ist schade.

    She’s only playing to one person in the courtroom, and that person is not the judge nor on the jury.

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Habba is doing this deliberately and not because she’s incompetent at her ostensible job, it has to be to try to provoke the judge so that Trump et al can scream to the rooftops about how unfair everyone is being to him.

    Provoking a judge, I am given to understand, is generally considered to be a suboptimal legal strategy, so maybe it is just stupidity and/or incompetence.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    @RepubAnon: I get that that’s what Trump has been trying to do for awhile.

    But this stuff from the last 3 – I don’t think that looks like bluster and “besting” the judge.  That looks like sheer incompetence.

    Maybe that will hurt him.

  20. 20.

    waspuppet

    @RepubAnon: Partly that—partly, like all domestic abusers, he’s trying to goad the judge into saying something regrettable (though understandable in context), so he can demand apologies and rail about how unfairly he’s being treated.

    No, it doesn’t do him any good in the real world, but there’s no worse feeling in the malignant narcissist’s world worse than acknowledging what he’s done and admitting that there are rules you have to follow.

    Don’t ask me how I know this.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: I don’t even think she has a “hot ass” – and her face just gets worse every time I see her.  Now she doesn’t look hot, she looks gaunt.  I imagine she had that surgery where they carve out some of the flesh in your cheeks.  At least that’s the way it looks to me.

  24. 24.

    Matt McIrvin

    And once again, I say my experience squares with John’s; I have totally made bread loaves that look like butts on many occasions.

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: And apparently – the legal eagles tell me – that this is not a judge you want to screw around with.  Even more so than the average judge.

    Can these people see even an inch in front of their faces?  Can they draw a connection between what they do at 1:05 and something that happens at 1:10?

    This display of total incompetence is mind-boggling.  I imagine every law professor everywhere is claiming that she was never in any of their classes.

  27. 27.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: your first sentence made me immediately think of Duchamp’s “L.H.O.O.Q.” and am now thinking what she needs to charm the audience is a Hercule Poirot mustache.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    @circular reasoning:Basically, that this is just an exercise in further trying to damage the institutions that hold our society together (and people like Trump in check).

    That’s the result, or side effect, sure.

    It’s an exercise in firing up his base, keeping the donations flowing, trying to run out the clock past Election Day, and/or take every single case to SCOTUS.

  30. 30.

    Martin

    The jury is going to award punitive damages roughly equal to the US national debt and the judge is going to wonder if that’s high enough. If you have a person with zero self-control, as the judge has already determined, you basically can’t bankrupt them into compliance because their microphone comes from other power. But you can try.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Also wonder, even as I do not care, whether she got her hot ass paid up front. If she did not, then das ist schade.

    I had not really paid attention before. Looked at an image gallery.

    She looks okay, but has a weirdly crooked smile in some photos.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl: having it in the circle does indeed make it worse

    “oh a POLITICAL BLOG you read, eh?  Political blog MY ASS” – Mrs. Fro, any moment now

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    @Martin: I woke up in the middle of last night and thought, they really don’t care that he raped someone. They just don’t care.

  38. 38.

    Ken

    @waspuppet: there’s no worse feeling in the malignant narcissist’s world worse than acknowledging what he’s done and admitting that there are rules you have to follow.

    That’s why I’m hoping during deliberations, the jury sends out a question for the judge: Is the penalty limited to money, or can they require Trump to apologize publicly to Carroll and admit that he is in the wrong?  Of course for full impact, this would require Trump to hear the request.

  39. 39.

    waspuppet

    Can these people see even an inch in front of their faces?  Can they draw a connection between what they do at 1:05 and something that happens at 1:10?

    No. They can’t. They really, seriously, non-rhetorically can’t. For people who like the phrase “Fck Your Feelings,” they live 100% in their immediate feelings every second of every day.

  41. 41.

    karen marie

    @WaterGirl:   Years ago I installed a thingy that changes “Trump” to “Individual-1” and another thingy that changes pictures of Trump to pictures of kittens.  I had forgotten about the kittens because that thingy hasn’t been working for years.  Suddenly today it is.  This picture and the ones in the main post are all kittens.  I’m a bit put out to miss the fun but not enough to spend time figuring out how to turn the thingy off.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia:  The last comment is from today, and it’s Joelle.

    I encouraged him to get artsy with the crust cuts and it fell on deaf ears.  Cole was all about making an ample loaf of Nicki Minaj butt crack bread.

    Does the second sentence not cry out to be a rotating tag???

    Cole was all about making an ample loaf of Nicki Minaj butt crack bread.

    Someone please stop me before I actually do it.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    I had (mercifully) forgotten all about Nancy Fowler and the Virgin Mary messages. For a while, her house was a must-visit site, for regular tourists, devout pilgrims, and the merely curious. That was a weird time in Atlanta

  45. 45.

    Martin

    @zhena gogolia: No. In fact, they admire that he got away with it. For a cohort of the US population, someone who can demonstrate the rules don’t apply to them is about as perfect a standard-bearer as they can find.

  46. 46.

    waspuppet

    @Ken: If he did that, he’d either melt like the Wicked Witch of the West or he’d renege literally a minute later on the courthouse steps.

    I don’t get many predictions right, but I was saying in 2017 he probably wouldn’t concede if he lost the 2020 election and he definitely wouldn’t go to the inauguration. He can’t handle it. He’s been a coddled weakling his entire life, and while I’ve always known about a third of this country hates America, it’s been an eye-opener to see how many people actually think he’s strong and tough.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Can they draw a connection between what they do at 1:05 and something that happens at 1:10?

    As Trump often loses track of what he’s saying within a single sentence, no.  Even if you meant those as minutes and seconds, not clock times.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin: Do you have any idea of how many women have been raped and assaulted?  (rhetorical question, I know that you do)

    Watching this pathetic attorney suggest that getting more followers make it totally worth it to be defamed repeatedly.  And worse, her rape and defamation is surely no big deal because she is getting invited to some parties!

    “And she wrote an advice column related to sex.  Surely she wanted to be raped!”

    Surely even MAGA women will be offended.

  59. 59.

    smith

    So the House just passed the CR, so we don’t have to sweat another shutdown until all the way into March. Republican governance in action.

  68. 68.

    japa21

    Regarding the picture. Anybody who has stood behind a plumber who is working under the sink knows exactly what this looks like.

    Regarding Trump and his attorney, I have no regard for either.

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    @smith:

    Biden’s giving the SOTU on Thursday March 7. Something would have to be really, really unusual for there to be a shut-down on March 8. I figure they’ll get the budget done before then – bottom line, all the GQPers want to get re-elected.

    Can you imagine the optics if they don’t pass a budget by then??

    But, we’ll see!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    but how can his attorneys think that all the crap he is pulling in court is a good idea?  Seriously, isn’t learning to control your client Lawyering 101?

    You’re not a cynic, WG, so I feel like this issue with the MAGATS always hangs you up.

    They’re deeply cynical, negative people. Nothing matters. Suckers prepare and work hard. Suckers follow the rules. Suckers follow laws and judges. Super savvy smart people don’t have to do any of that.
    It does not matter if she wins or loses- they’ll all lie and say she won no matter what happens.

  76. 76.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Andrew Weissman on MSNBC last night or this morning said that outside of a courtroom she is actually a competent lawyer, but she isn’t a litigator and doesn’t know the basic rules of evidence.

    Maybe that explains why she isn’t afraid to piss off the judge and humiliate herself in public. She isn’t intending to be in court again any time soon.

  79. 79.

    randy khan

    What stands out here in particular is that Habba doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing.  In previous trials, Trump’s lawyers have made laughable arguments and blustered their way through, but they seem to have gotten the picky technical stuff right.  But Habba doesn’t seem to have the slightest ideas about the basics, which if nothing else will make the jury have doubts that she’s doing anything right.

    It’s kind of like the court filing Lin Wood made after the 2020 election that contained stupid typos in the caption at the top – theoretically it shouldn’t have any effect, but anybody who sees something like that starts looking for more problems pretty much immediately, and certainly will find them.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: You’re right.  I can maybe grasp that for a minute and then it’s gone.  It just doesn’t take.  It’s the dollar bill that my vending machine brain keeps spitting back out!

    Thank you for the reminder.

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: +1

    It’s from the “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it” school of law public relations.

    TIFG figures if he can drag things out long enough, none of these court cases matter.  He’ll be carried back into the White House, declare himself dictator, crush all his enemies, and everything will be fine for him.

    I keep waiting for one of these judges to have enough and throw him in jail for a few days until he promises to behave.  For all his big talk, we know he’s a coward.  A shock to his fragile systems like that might cause him to behave differently, for a little while anyway.

    Losing his bigly business and being banned from doing business in NY might create a few cracks as well.

    We’ll see…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Martin

    @WaterGirl: Surely even MAGA women will be offended.

    Holier than thou evangelicals? No, they aren’t.

    These people believe, in their heart of hearts, that they are better than you and I. God created this world for them, not us. Everything follows from that fundamental truth.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    @randy khan: Trump has so many trials it is hard to remember which is which and which lawyer is which. There is one in which Trump’s lawyer is actually very good.

  88. 88.

    Scout211

    @randy khan: But Habba doesn’t seem to have the slightest ideas about the basics, which if nothing else will make the jury have doubts that she’s doing anything right.

    I dunno, IANAL but it all seems like Habba cosplay to me, designed to be provocative and trigger a reaction from the judge and also to create right wing media clips and spin to boost Trump’s campaign gripe fest.

    She may not have any idea of the basics but I would guess that she does. However, if she plays it straight she has a losing hand.

    Just my two cents.

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    @catclub: Perky Cross Buns was the original, ultimately rejected version of Hot-Cross Buns. Kids had a hard time pronouncing perky.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    @randy khan

    It was a year ago this week –

    A Florida judge sanctioned former President Donald Trump and one of his attorneys, ordering them to pay nearly $1 million for filing what he said was a bogus lawsuit against Trump’s 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and others.
    [snip]
    The ruling required Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba, to pay nearly $938,000 to the defendants in the case. Source

  98. 98.

    Dangerman

    I think it needs a Thong, er, I mean, a thing, I mean, oh hell, I don’t know what I mean. I do know my Mother would have no approved (same with the Sears Catalog).

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    @Scout211:

    I dunno, IANAL but it all seems like Habba cosplay to me, designed to be provocative and trigger a reaction from the judge and also to create right wing media clips and spin to boost Trump’s campaign gripe fest.

    I don’t know that Trump or his lawyer are smart enough to plan for this, even though I agree that Trump has the low cunning to use this in his rallies.

    Still, I note what you say here.

    The other thing, though is that while Habba may be playing to the MAGA crowd who may see or read about this later, this kind of thing may please some people, but it may strongly alienate others.

  105. 105.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Thing is, this is SOP for Trump. Why should he deviate from a reliable shuck ‘n’ jive conjob that’s worked for years? Decades. But this time around Trump is up against someone who has deeper pockets than he does and is doing it under the biggest spotlight in his life. When hustlers can’t hide under the radar anymore, they don’t look so good.

  106. 106.

    zhena gogolia

    BTW, we started watching Northern Exposure, and it really holds up! I was laughing hysterically at Ep 2, where Maurice takes over the radio station and plays classic musical comedy 24/7, so it ends up as the background to every scene. Really funny, and Barry Corbin is so brilliant.

  109. 109.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    “There are four words you need to know to adequately prepare yourself for childbirth. Take notes here, ladies: I…want…my…epidural.”
    (Season 1, episode 7.)
    ;)

  111. 111.

    TS

    @BethanyAnne:

    Per recent FEC filings, one of Trump’s PACs have already paid her 2.5 million from donations by his followers.

    Is this legal – or does trump just ignore the law & spend election money any which way what way.

    Is it a pac unrelated to elections – is there such a thing?

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    bryan metzger
    @metzgov
    1h

    NEW: For the 4th time in a year, more Democrats than Republicans voted for must-pass bills in the House, despite GOP control.

    May 31 debt limit deal — 165 D, 149 R

    Sep 30 CR — 209 D, 126 R

    Nov 14 CR — 209 D, 127 R

    Jan 18 CR — 207 D, 107 R

    businessinsider.com/more-dem…

    […]

    Jan 18, 2024 · 10:01 PM UTC

    (via Fritschner)

    We’ve been here before. Turnip Day!:

    […]

    Republican senators reacted scornfully. To Michigan’s Arthur Vandenberg, it sounded like “a last hysterical gasp of an expiring administration.” Yet, Vandenberg and other senior Senate Republicans urged action. “No!” exclaimed Republican Policy Committee chairman Robert Taft of Ohio. “We’re not going to give that fellow anything.” Taft surely knew that Truman had deftly placed Republicans in a no-win situation. The president “has us over a barrel,” one Republican lawmaker conceded privately. “If we do as he asks, he’ll claim all the credit.…If we don’t…he’ll blame…us for blocking his efforts.” Vandenberg and other party strategists convinced Senator Taft to take action on a few measures to solidify key voting blocks.

    At the conclusion of the 11-day Turnip Session, the 80th Congress sent two bills to the president for his signature: one aimed at inflation and one to spur housing starts. Though he signed both bills into law, predictably, Truman called the bills inadequate. “Would you say it was a do-nothing session, Mr. President?” asked one reporter at a press conference. “I would say it was a do-nothing session,” Truman responded delightedly. “I think that’s a good name for the 80th Congress.” The term stuck: the “do-nothing” Congress. In November, defying pundits and pollsters, Truman won and Democrats gained majorities in both houses of Congress.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  116. 116.

    Dan B

    @schrodingers_cat: Our barber has a weekend place in Cicely, AK = Roslyn, WA.  It’s gotten chi chi since I first stopped in on our way to hiking.  The Brick Tavern had the world’s longest “spitoon”.  It ran the length of the bar on the floor.  Interesting place to spit.  It’s just over the crest of the Cascades so is sunnier than the Puget Sound lowlands but because of 2,500′ elevation it’s not as hot as farther east.

  124. 124.

    Citizen Alan

    @trollhattan:  Agreed. I think she’s thinking that, no matter how this trial goes, if Shitgibbon wins in November, he won’t have to pay a dime and she’ll get a federal judgeship out of her efforts on his behalf.

  125. 125.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat: I do like the memes that came out of it, like Festivus and master of his domain.

    ETA: I just had trouble watching any given episode. There’s one where they’re in a Chinese restaurant and the maitre d’ keeps ignoring them and seating people who came in later — it’s excruciating!

  127. 127.

    PavlovsMan

    My wife and I love the Baby Boulle from Sprouts. We like it so much that we call it “crack bread.”

    Or should I say, we used to call it that. C’est la vie.

  128. 128.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: It is pretty funny, you should give it a chance.

    ETA: The Chinese restaurant episode is not one of my favorites. For show with as long a run as Seinfeld has to have some clunkers.

    The episodes with Jerry’s and George’s parents are usually pretty funny. I had Elaine like reaction to the English Patient….

  129. 129.

    Citizen Alan

    @Matt McIrvin:  I recall a hilarious Great British Bake-Off where Mel was obsessed with how much some obscure type of bread roll resembled an “adorable” baby’s bottom is baked properly.

  130. 130.

    Citizen Alan

    @mrmoshpotato: There was a famous (and utterly repulsive) photo of a MAGA woman wearing a T-shirt that said “Trump can grab me” with an arrow pointed at her crotch. Utter garbage humans.

  131. 131.

    mrmoshpotato

    @trollhattan:

    Perky Cross Buns was the original, ultimately rejected version of Hot-Cross Buns. Kids had a hard time pronouncing perky. 

    And then there’s the adult version Sexy As Fuck Buns.

  132. 132.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Citizen Alan: That’s what I was thinking about.  And it’s permanent marker on a white T-shirt.

    Can’t help but ask “What happened to you to make you hate yourself so much?”

  133. 133.

    Citizen Alan

    @japa21: It had some amusing episodes. But the longer I watched Seinfeld, the more I realized that the four main characters were all horrible people, and much of the comedy value was based on nothing but smugness over their self-inflicted misfortunes (none of which were ever serious enough to cause any of them to lose their expensive Manhattan apartments). That’s when I started losing interest.

  135. 135.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Citizen Alan: And Jerry never got robbed (that I know of).  Surprising for someone who seemingly never locks his door.)

    And, no, Kramer busting in arms a flailing was never funny.

  137. 137.

    Splitting Image

    @mrmoshpotato:

    And Jerry never got robbed (that I know of). Surprising for someone who seemingly never locks his door.)

    And, no, Kramer busting in arms a flailing was never funny.

    He got robbed once when Kramer borrowed a spatula and left the door wide open (so he could return the spatula later).

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    @Citizen Alan:  I tried to send you email yesterday because you had some post that were in spam.  The email address looked crazy, but I tried to write to you anyway in case you were locked out of Balloon Juice.

    But I see that you are commenting, so maybe email field got completely jumbled and that’s why you were in spam.

  144. 144.

    Manyakitty

    @schrodingers_cat: remember the scene with Elaine and David Puddy in the minister’s office? The part where she holds her curled finders above her ears and wags her tongue demonically might be the most insolent moment on television. 🤣🤣🤣

  146. 146.

    wjca

    @WaterGirl:

    Pity that the people urging you to just do it don’t phrase their advice as: “Let out your inner Trump.”  At least it would clarify the situation.

  147. 147.

    SFBayAreaGal

    @zhena gogolia: Loved the show. I was ready to pack my bags and go live in the fictional town of Cicley.

    One of my favorite episodes is Democracy in America, season 3 episode 15.

  148. 148.

    NotMax

    @Manyakitty

    I didn’t “get” Seinfeld until adjusting my critical filters to view the premise as being about a group of 12-year-olds somehow living in adult bodies. After that it all came into focus.

  151. 151.

    Bupalos

    NOW MULTIPLE PEOPLE HAVE TOLD YOU THAT BREAD LOOKS LIKE AN ASS AND YOU JUST GO ON ABOUT YOUR DAY???!!!!!!!

  158. 158.

    Three-nineteen

    @Citizen Alan:   @eclare:  George had to move in with his parents because he lost his job.  Elaine had multiple roommates in at least the first few seasons.

    @NotMax:  @Citizen Alan:  Seinfeld is indeed about of bunch of self-centered immature people – it was a forerunner of the wave of cringe comedy in the 2000s.  Succession just won multiple Emmys for basically the same premise, but as a drama about people who actually run the world.  At least the antics on Seinfeld only affected themselves (mostly, poor Baboo).

Comments are closed.