Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

The willow is too close to the house.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Republicans do not trust women.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / Trump’s NY Criminal Trial / Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 17 (Michael Cohen)

Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 17 (Michael Cohen)

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This post is in: , , ,

 It’s Day 17 of the trial.

Hard to believe it’s possible that the prosecution could rest as soon as Thursday.  That would be trial days on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday this week.  Trump has Friday off to go to Barron’s graduation.  Odds on Trump skipping graduation to go to his own rally that night?

Michael Cohen will be back testifying today!

I think the trial must be making Trump jumpy!

Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 17 (Michael Cohen)h/t Subaru Diane

Best sources of live blogging that I have found.  It looks like some of them are only live blogging for the “big” witnesses.  Pretty sure that Michael Cohen counts as a big witness.  This is gonna be lit, as the kids used to say.  (What do the kids say these days?)

Josh Kovensky (TPM)   live blogging

Mark Sumner (Daily Kos)  live blogging

Tyler McBrien (Lawfare) on twitter

Anna Bower (Lawfare) on twitter

Adam Klasfeld on twitter.

AP Live blogging

NBC live blogging  (not seeing it yet this morning)

Still loving this awesome image.  When you get tired of it, let me know.


So easy to find the image in the media library.  I just search for bitch, and it comes right up.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

238Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    Good morning, everybody!

    Michael Cohen today.  I wonder if the prosecution will have him up all day, or if the defense will have a crack at him before our day off tomorrow.

    Having Wednesdays off in the middle of the trial turned out to be brilliant!  If we are all grateful – I certainly am – imagine how the jury feels.

    So smart.  It’s almost like Justice Merchan knows what he’s doing!  :-)

  2. 2.

    oldgold

    So far,Cohen’s direct testimony has gone well.

    There is one unusual aspect to it. Normally, when you call a witness with criminal baggage, like Cohen, you unpack it early.  Get it out there. Signal it’s no bug deal.  Let the jury get comfortable with it.

    Here,  the prosecution has decided to disclose this late in the direct testimony. This is a dicey decision. The wisdom of which I am less that sure of.

  3. 3.

    TS

    So Mike Johnson the evangelical is there supporting Trump. Quoting from TPM

    the obvious irony of Johnson’s presence here today: he’s not just lending support to Trump’s defense in the criminal case. He’s doing so in the context of a trial at which Trump’s sexual encounter with a porn star is at the center

    It seems maybe Johnson doesn’t want to listen to all that sinning

    It should be noted: While Speaker Johnson did come to the courthouse, he does not appear to have entered the courtroom. Instead, he plans on giving a press conference from outside the courthouse in 45 minutes.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @TS: Thanks!

    I checked for him first because he is first on my list.  I guess I should have checked him first and then also checked him last. :-)

  7. 7.

    p.a.

    Defense: hey jury, all these prosecution witnesses are criminals, liars, trash people!

    Prosecution: hey jury, these are the only people another criminal will gather to do his criminaling!

  8. 8.

    Jackie

    @TS: 😂 Johnson is probably going to offer to pray for TIFG’s soul.

    Rumors are TIFG VP hopeful Tim Scott might be TIFG’s support blankie today.

  10. 10.

    TS

    @Jackie:

    Johnson is probably going to offer to pray for TIFG’s soul

    I gather he has already said that – check the TPM link at the top.

  13. 13.

    Layer8Problem

    @p.a.:  “hey jury, these are the only people another criminal will gather to do his criminaling!”

    Congressional Republicans?  Ohhh, you meant the witnesses, not his special guest star support audience.

  14. 14.

    hueyplong

    The support congresscritters are there to distract from Melania’s absence.

    Hilariously, he has far greater control over them than he has over Melania, a fact also emphasized by the sudden reversal of Barron’s status as a convention delegate.

  17. 17.

    artem1s

    So Mike Johnson the evangelical is there supporting Trump.

    WTF has he got on them? At this point I don’t care if he ever does prison time but I do want every single one of these sycophants to be publicly humiliated or criminally prosecuted for whatever they are trying to hide.

  18. 18.

    artem1s

    @hueyplong:

    The support congresscritters are there to distract from Melania’s absence.

    It’s worse than that. They’re using the TV coverage to campaign for him and as a way around the gag order. Yesterday Tuberville went after the judges daughter. They are holding a whole other trial out on the courthouse steps.

  20. 20.

    jonas

    Trump’s lawyers are definitely going to pile on Cohen and his previous perjury conviction to paint him as an unreliable witness. Frankly, they wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they didn’t. What Cohen has going for him, though, is that he doesn’t run away from it. He admits that when he was in Trumpworld, he was a pretty big douche and paid a high price for it, but has since come around. I think as long as he can maintain that stance and not loose his cool, he has a pretty good chance of coming off well in front of the jury. This is NYC — everyone understands that if you’re going to convict the mob boss, you have to flip some underlings who also tend to be pretty unsavory types themselves.

  21. 21.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @artem1s: Johnson is there because if he’s elected POTUS, Trump won’t care when the United States goes Full Frontal Handmaid’s Tale. Trump is a convenient Holy Tool to be used by the evangelicals because the Ten Commandments are more like guidelines in their empty minds and hollow souls.

  22. 22.

    BlueGuitarist

    Liz Cheney:

    “Have to admit I’m surprised that Speaker Johnson wants to be in the ‘I cheated on my wife with a porn star’ club. I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all.”

  23. 23.

    Spanky

    I also suspect that Trump sees parading all these high level GOPers through the courtroom is a form of jury intimidation. That’s just how he rolls.

  25. 25.

    Mousebumples

    @Geminid: 4 Directions is quoted!

    “Where there’s been enough money … we’ve been nearly able to close that Native to white voting gap,” says Bret Healy, a consultant with Four Directions Native Votes, a multi-state nonprofit working on tribal turnout.

    ….

    For example, through legal work and voter registration events, Four Directions registered more than 5,000 Native voters in Arizona in 2020 — nearly half of the 10,000 votes by which President Joe Biden won this key state. But to accomplish this, organizers have to overcome a lot of hurdles — including a lack of basic infrastructure that other communities take for granted.

    “They don’t have the same internet access,” Healy says. Rural native voting precincts don’t have the same access to news about upcoming elections as rural white precincts, he explains. That poses challenges for everything from politicians campaigning to voters hunting for information about upcoming elections.

    We’re helping with that! 👏👏👏

  26. 26.

    TBone

    These flaming clowns are not pwning the libs as much as they think they are.  It’s a huge self-own to appear in criminal court or to grandstand outside the court house for the cult.  Cult. Cult. Cult.

  27. 27.

    smith

    @oldgold: Could be be because they’ve been presenting the case so far in pretty much chronological order? And perhaps they’d also like to make the point that Michael Cohen did so much dirty work on the Defendant’s behalf, then got screwed by him, and finally went to jail to protect him? Might make his criminal past more understandable.

  28. 28.

    Lapassionara

    @The Thin Black Duke: Last week, Johnson made a speech calling for the end to all of the Trump trials. The next day, Judge Cannon took the documents case off the trial roster and the Georgia Appellate Court agreed to hear the appeal re Fani Willis. So, maybe he thinks he can perform a miracle and get the NY trial stopped too. It is the only one left, until we hear from the Supremes re immunity.

  31. 31.

    hueyplong

    @smith: I’ll be surprised if that’s not how the prosecution team is thinking. And, maybe ok in this case only, the “insulation” is the last thing the jury hears before Trump’s team lights into Cohen.

  32. 32.

    oldgold

    @WaterGirl: Having Wednesdays off in the middle of the trial turned out to be brilliant!

     

    How so?  Pecker’s and Stormy’s direct testimony were both chopped up unnecessarily.

  33. 33.

    Jackie

    @Spanky: Do these NYC jurors even know who these GQPers are? I don’t see many – or any of the jurors being political junkies.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    Let’s face t. As a lawyer Cohen was an obnoxious scumbag.

    As a witness, not so much.

  35. 35.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @BlueGuitarist:

    Where was Cheney when she said that?

    The GQP Hypocrisy Train left the station a looooong time ago but, I always hope that normies, who might have at least a vague sense of just how conservative Cheney is, see this and think about it.

  36. 36.

    TS

    @jonas:

    From the Daily Kos blog

    CNN reports that Hoffinger is underscoring the nature of these documents by calling each a “false invoice” or saying that check stubs “falsely state” their purpose. Which, surprisingly, doesn’t seem to be resulting in objections.

    So trump’s lawyers could be missing the boat by not objecting in regard to the invoices being “false” (IANAL)

  38. 38.

    schrodingers_cat

    4 stages of polling are over in the Indian elections. Modi cried in his latest “interview”. He is another clown I am waiting to see the back of

    These RWNJs and their leaders, it all drama all the time. They are so tiring and tiresome.

  39. 39.

    Old Man Shadow

    I want to skip to the part where he’s “Convicted felon Donald Trump” and does 3-5 in Riker’s.

  41. 41.

    Scout211

    (NBC)
    Cohen’s testimony today is slow-going but legally important. The jury has already seen his invoices and checks but now the prosecution has him directly confirming each of the alleged false statements on the record.

    It’s anticipated that Trump’s defense will argue that the statements weren’t false because Cohen was acting as his lawyer at the time.

    The jury is showing no emotion to this evidence and testimony.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid: yes, thank you! Our friends at Four Directions sent that to me to share. They are doing good stuff with our $$ for Montana!

  46. 46.

    hueyplong

    @Jackie: Kind of funny that FoxNews is so bogus that even when Republicans criticize it, they’re calling it Republican-lite and not neutral.

    “They won’t lie and spin enough.  Get ’em out of there.”

  47. 47.

    Scout211

    (CNN)Michael Cohen, who is on the stand right now, says he made false statements to Congress.

    “They dealt with the Trump Tower Moscow real estate project, specifically the number of times that I claimed to have spoken to Mr. Trump about the project as well as the time period for those conversations,” Cohen says of his false statements.

    Asked why he lied, Cohen says, “Because I was staying on Mr. Trump’s message that there was no Russia, Russia, Russia, and again in coordination with the joint defense team that’s what was preferred.”

    Trump did not react to Cohen using his “Russia, Russia, Russia” line.

     

    Michael Cohen is testifying that he spoke with Trump about the false statement he was giving to the media.

    Cohen says he told Trump “that I had paid the money on his behalf without his knowledge because just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you and that I did it.”

    Trump responded, “That’s good, good,” according to Cohen.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @jonas: Also, when you’re a fixer as he was, all those traits are selling points.

    I imagine that when you need a fixer, you want the asshole that gets stuff done.

  51. 51.

    LAO

    @oldgold:

    “Here, the prosecution has decided to disclose this late in the direct testimony. This is a dicey decision. The wisdom of which I am less that sure of.”

    I think it was the right call, allows the prosecution to put his criminal conduct in context.

    eta: idk how I f’d this  but I did

  52. 52.

    Scout211

    @LAO: I’m in the middle of mohs surgery, have I missed anything good?

     

    My sympathies for the Moh’s surgery.

    It’s mostly Cohen and the prosecution building a “yes I am a lying liar but I did it all for Trump and he approved all of it” testimony.

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    (NBC)
    A New York appeals court has rejected Trump’s team’s appeal of the gag orders that were imposed in this case.

    He’s already been found in violation of the order 10 times.

    Trump has repeatedly insisted the order is unconstitutional.

  55. 55.

    dr. bloor

    @LAO: Yeah, prosecution has made a point of eliciting testimony from every witness to the effect that Cohen is a lying, self-aggrandizing sleazebag.  The jury has already been filtering his testimony through that lens.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @LAO: has the prosecution indicating whether they’ll be taking the whole day with Cohen today or or is it expected that there will be the cross sometime today?

    PS. A couple of friends had Mohs, not fun. Hope it goes quickly and you’re out of there soon!

  60. 60.

    smith

    @dr. bloor: Even if the jury were seeing the asshole Michael Cohen, and not this mild, repentant Michael Cohen, I don’t know how off-putting it would be. In my opinion, in his previous incarnation, Cohen came off as a particularly New York-style asshole — brash, aggressive, in-your-face — to be honest, in some recent  interviews I’ve seen, he still comes off like that to me. The jury is made up of Manhattanites. They know this type, deal with them every day. They also know that it’s often a pose, and wouldn’t necessarily automatically discount what he had to say, especially with the amount of corroborating evidence presented.

    On the other hand, I’ve heard that a cardinal rule of jury trials is that you want the jury to like you, so I guess the current Michael Cohen is still a better witness.

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Old Man Shadow: ​
     Pedantry alert: Rikers Island (no apostrophe) is for pre-trial detention and, generally, for misdemeanor convictions. Convicted felons almost invariably go “upstate.”
    NB: In the olden days, my dear wife was employed there.

  62. 62.

    dr. bloor

    @smith: Cohen came off as a particularly New York-style asshole — brash, aggressive, in-your-face — to be honest, in some recent interviews I’ve seen, he still comes off like that to me.

    Oh, he hasn’t changed a bit; my comment was in response to the timing of the prosecutor getting him to admit to lying.  It’s going to be interesting to see if the defense can get that out on the cross and make him look like a petty, vindictive loser who would gladly lie to retaliate against Trump.

  63. 63.

    LAO

    @WaterGirl: I don’t know why I think this, ie where I heard it, but the prosecution expects to be done with Cohen by the lunch break.

  65. 65.

    Jackie

    I see Vivek Ramaswamy and FL Rep Byron Donalds are TIFG’s blankies today. No Eric today?

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    @skerry: ​
     

    I did that myself just last week.

    If it were me, I’d leave that work to a trained professional, but to each their own, I guess.

  67. 67.

    Spanky

    @Gin & Tonic: beat me to it

    ETA: Hope it’s not too extensive, LAO. I had a bit taken out of the top of my ear, and it wasn’t too bothersome. No sign of the incision 6 months after, also too.

  71. 71.

    hueyplong

    @Jackie: I guess none of these guys wants to do it twice.  And the flow of one-off volunteer babysitters would really dry up if their chores included diaper changing.

  72. 72.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Gin & Tonic: In fact, that’s the source for the colloquialism “send him up the river” – the literal river is the Hudson River, and the destination is Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York.

  73. 73.

    scav

    @Jackie: Blankies or chew toys?  &, is there a difference?

    (Damn, I rather liked Linus.  Hate contaminating my mental image with that.)

  74. 74.

    TS

    So the trial is now into texts with Maggie Habberman & discussion that all would be well because trump had A-G Jeff Sessions in his pocket.

    From Mark Sumner (Daily Kos)

    We’re not here for a trial of how Trump told his personal attorney that the Attorney General of the United States would protect him from facing consequences for his crimes. But it sure seems like we could be.

    Did trump have any options in regard to a plea deal? Would that have been better than letting all of this information out for public viewing? I have no idea but this doesn’t sound to be going well for a number of people – anyone who got into trump’s orbit seems to end up in trouble.

  75. 75.

    Dangerman

    I need to have conviction day be on a Loma Linda day (Loma Linda is where I do my heart procedures); I want Mommie Helen’s Carrot Cake. MH is an Inland Empire Institution, kinda like the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. I avoid things orange but carrot cake seems so appropriate when this fucker hears “gulty”. I hope he blows a head gasket.

    Hmmm, it’s rather odd I know the local institutions for desserts.  Or maybe not.

  76. 76.

    cmorenc

    What is the max potential sentence for the NY felony Trump is charged with?  What is the range?  Is there any mandatory minimum, or as 1st time conviction, would Trump just get probation?  A fine + probation might be worse than meaningless – Trump will use the conviction as if he was portraying Jesus bearing the cross of persecution in a passion play.

  77. 77.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:
    As a kid I/we occasionally sailed racing dinghies (“420″s) very near Sing Sing Prison. The guards in the towers on top of the very high wall would shoo us away with loud amplified warnings.
    It was an impressive prison. Curiously, the commuter trains to/from NYC went basically through one side of it.
    My sister lived up the hill for a while and could hear people in the prison yard exercising.
    “Upstate” prisons are bigger and scarier, at least the obvious ones with high barbed wire fencing.

  79. 79.

    TBone

    “We find that Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” according to the order.

  80. 80.

    Bill Arnold

    @cmorenc:

    Trump will use the conviction as if he was portraying Jesus bearing the cross of persecution in a passion play.

    You mean “Convicted felon Trump”. We get to say that instead of “Trump” if he is convicted, and will.

  81. 81.

    hueyplong

    @cmorenc: “Trump will use the conviction as if he was portraying Jesus bearing the cross in a passion play.”

    He will do that regardless of outcome.  Actually, he’s already doing it and we don’t have an outcome yet.

    It’s also predictable that on our side many will be disappointed regardless of outcome.

    I’m rooting for psychological and neurological decline to the point at which non-partisans feel the need to avert their eyes ahead of the election.  On that (perhaps limited) front, this has already been a success in that it is a continual stressor and blow to his apparent need for 24/7 fulsome praise.

  82. 82.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @oldgold:

    Here,  the prosecution has decided to disclose this late in the direct testimony. This is a dicey decision. The wisdom of which I am less that sure of.

    This is a guess. If the prosecution goes through the criminal history and credibility issues at the end of direct, it would make the defense look kind of ridiculous if they open with it.

  85. 85.

    TS

    @TBone:

    I’m not finding it boring – I would like trump never to be heard of again, but if I have to hear about him – in court is the best option. The blogs are basically bypassing what the MSM is providing, details of trump’s defense OUTSIDE the courtroom. I ignore any of that & go with what is happening inside the court room. I hope he takes some more of the sycophants down with him. Sessions should have kept his happy role in the Senate, he has already gone down with the ship – and now he’s back for more negative news.

  86. 86.

    dr. bloor

    We’re not here for a trial of how Trump told his personal attorney that the Attorney General of the United States would protect him from facing consequences for his crimes. But it sure seems like we could be.

    This also weakens any argument by defense that if this was such a horrible crime, why didn’t the Feds go after Trump years ago?

  87. 87.

    Betty

    @Spanky: The NYC jurors are highly unlikely to recognize these mooks. Lots of people don’t even know their own Congressional Reps.

  88. 88.

    Scout211

    (NBC)
    In a post to X, Joyce Alene Vance, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, noted that the gag order against Trump prohibits him from “making comments about jurors/witnesses and also from causing others to make them.”

    Her post was in response to Trump’s remarks this morning outside of the courtroom, in which referred to Republican lawmakers who accompanied him to court today as his “surrogates.”

    “I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully. They come from all over … and they think this is the biggest scam they’ve ever seen,” Trump said.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    @Lapassionara:Last week, Johnson made a speech calling for the end to all of the Trump trials. The next day, Judge Cannon took the documents case off the trial roster and the Georgia Appellate Court agreed to hear the appeal re Fani Willis. So, maybe he thinks he can perform a miracle and get the NY trial stopped too. It is the only one left, until we hear from the Supremes re immunity.

    I think Americans need to prepare themselves for what the GOP will do over the next six months (and beyond).

    Almost all of them are already acting as if there’s no possible way to have a legitimate election this fall, given alllll the illegal immigrant voting going on and all of the “lawfare” going on at Biden’s direction.

    Not good.

  91. 91.

    Betty

    When you read the posts on Cohen’s testimony and understand the lengths he went to to take care of Trump and the way Trump dumped him after he was elected, you don’t need much else to know what a scumbag he is. Yet you still have the Hope Hicks type crying over her testimony because it hurt his case. Just baffling to me.

  92. 92.

    hueyplong

    @Jeffro: By now we should be at the point where we realize that FoxNews and the Republicans will pick something/anything to delegitimize a Trump defeat.  It literally doesn’t matter which things are or are not on the list.  It will be something.  Accept that as a given and move to the attack.

    So laissez les bon trials rouler.  When this one concludes, return the focus to collection of Trump’s fraud, defamation and other court losses.  Keep Trump focused on fundraising for his lawyers and feeling oppressed.  Tack on ridicule whenever and wherever possible.  Put on endless replay any and all verbal/cognitive glitches at his “rallies” and place cameras where they can record smaller than advertised crowd size, empty seats, and people leaving while he’s talking.  Make the “failure” of his beloved rallies a meme.  Get anyone who will do so talk about how he sucks at golf.  Psy-ops 24/7.  It’s likely to work.  Anyone who can’t get through a day without uttering the word “unfair” will be unable to take it.

  93. 93.

    smith

    @Betty:  Even more baffling to me was Madeleine Westerhaut crying over her testimony, after she’d been fired for revealing what a jerk father the Defendant is. She’d like to go back to working with an asshole who casually disses his own daughter?

  94. 94.

    Steeplejack

    @Jackie:

    Eric is there, or was earlier. He was sitting next to Vivek but moved back a row or two when Byron Donalds came in. (Per Adam Klasfeld.)

  95. 95.

    cmorenc

    I recall that 30 years ago, lying about getting a blowjob was considered to meet the “high crimes and misdemeanor” criteria for impeachment against then-President Clinton by a majority of Republicans, including Senators.   But today, lying about boinking a porn star while your wife is pregnant with your child is OK?

  98. 98.

    Ksmiami

    @TBone: I just wrote to the DNC that they need start fighting with fire. Ffs it shouldn’t even be a close election

  99. 99.

    Eolirin

    @TBone: This kind of thing is how Obama crushed it. Now that we’re not dealing with pandemic conditions and Biden has money early, we’ll really get to see how much of a difference a competently run campaign truly makes.

  100. 100.

    Kelly

    @cmorenc: The Clinton blowjobs were impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors according to still sitting Senators that now support Trump

  101. 101.

    LAO

    Wow. I’m so impressed with the prosecution, this is an absolute masterclass on witness rehabilitation. Unbelievable.

  102. 102.

    Trollhattan

    Which reporter-wag will be first to quip “Speaker’s Johnson”?

    Also “Hey look, it’s the governor of North Dakota, wherever that is.”

  105. 105.

    Anonymous At Work

    @smith: Stockholm Syndrome, it’s a thing.  TFG would shower you with affection as long as you didn’t require anything from him.

  107. 107.

    PaulWartenberg

    Dear Maggie Haberman:

    Michael Cohen just tagged you as being one of trump’s most reliable mouthpieces. How does it feel to be outed as a trumpian lackey?

    Signed,
    Joe “I’m Never Talking to the NYTimes Again” Biden

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    @Betty:

    Yet you still have the Hope Hicks type crying over her testimony because it hurt his case. Just baffling to me.

    Those were weaponized White Women’s tears.

    I don’t know who said it yesterday on MSNBC, but, one of them said that the biggest revelation from Cohen, his testimony, with audio and emails, was how much Hope Hicks was all up in this mess. Up to her eyeballs as a more than willing participant. It was clear that she wasn’t ‘ swept up’ in it. She was full blown organizing and creating the lies and coverups.

  109. 109.

    Timurid

    @LAO: I’m just worried that this jury is completely cooked. Everyone was worrying about a hidden MAGA juror. The bigger problem is jurors being scared to convict. The whole point of Trump’s rotating cast of guest stars is that the jury will make an enemy out of not just Trump but of the entire Establishment if it votes the wrong way…

  110. 110.

    Anyway

    @schrodingers_cat:

    When do they start counting votes? (re indian elections)

    I’m not a fan of  the Trump show either but to me this is about holding the powerful accountable, rule of law, accountability — things Ds are supposed to care about.

  112. 112.

    LAO

    @Timurid: I’m going to try to talk you down off a ledge: (1) the jurors don’t recognize any of the Trump stooges. We’re NY’ers we don’t care. (2) you can’t worry about the makeup of the jury, that fear isn’t grounded in actual facts. We won’t know until the verdict comes in.

  116. 116.

    TBone

    @Timurid: I’m gonna go ahead and say that, with the examples in courage and bravery set by the witnesses in front of these jurors, especially the females, I’m not worried about them being scared to convict.  Even the female paralegal showed up.

  117. 117.

    oldgold

    @LAO:  Up to this point, I agree that the prosecution has done an excellent job. They have clearly outperformed the defense.

    Still, I would have brought up Cohen’s criminal convictions, at least in passing, earlier. But, over all, I give the prosecution very high marks. Yet, even given the prosecution having done an excellent job, a felony conviction in this bank shot in the side pocket case remains far less than certain.

  118. 118.

    TBone

    Brilliant! (TPM)

    Hoffinger is bringing us to the Michael Cohen of today: a minor media personality with a podcast that discusses Trump and his travails.

    Cohen says that his felony conviction destroyed his previous livelihood. He lost his law license, and was forced to sell his taxi medallions due to a New York state law which bars felons from owning the items. He says he’s also sold off his real estate holdings, and is down to his last two apartments (unclear how much sympathy that will buy with the jury).

    In a framing that strikes this member of the press as quite funny, Hoffinger then suggests that Cohen has only one form of work left available to him amid his felony-induced infirmities: “Media and entertainment,” he says.

    Trump’s attorneys are almost sure to use his public commentary on Trump — much of which is infused with mockery and hatred — as a means to discredit him as a motivated witness, someone with a grudge. Hoffinger presents it differently: this is what he has left to earn a living.

  119. 119.

    Almost Retired

    Wow.  Andrea Mitchell just stumbled and mumbled that the prosecution announced that Cohen is the prosecution’s last witness!

  123. 123.

    RandomMonster

    @Almost Retired:Wow.  Andrea Mitchell just stumbled and mumbled that the prosecution announced that Cohen is the prosecution’s last witness!

    And NBC blog said that the defense may not call any witnesses. (Gee what a surprise, Donald Trump may not take the stand.)

  125. 125.

    billcoop4

    @Captain C:

    Put him in Dannemora.  It’s far from everything.

    That would be a violation of the NYS Environmental regulations, I’m sure.  Not the Adirondack Park rules, alas, since Dannemore is excluded from the Park (because of the prison).

     

    BC

    Adirondack Resident

  126. 126.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Villago Delenda Est: TFG is a seasoned litigant, a bullshitter, and a malignant narcissist.  While the last one gives him the urge to testify, the first two SCREAM at him to stay off the stand and out from under oath.
    Oh, and when he last gave into that urge, it cost him ~$50-60 million in the second E Jean Carroll case.  His “testimony” there proved to the jury that higher punitive damages were required.

  127. 127.

    RaflW

    @Jeffro: Judge Cannon just totally going rogue should be a big f*ing deal. But we have absolute dogsh*t political press, so the naked corruption just does not even register.

  129. 129.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: If Biden actually wins in November, I’m not hugely concerned about violent or other Republican rebellion. The big danger of that was in 2020-21 because Trump actually controlled the government and had some ability to help or not hinder it. I suppose that Republicans may control Congress in 2025 even if Biden wins the Presidency, but they won’t have the Presidency of the Senate (that will still be Kamala Harris).

    Now, if Trump wins, we have big trouble, and he may do his best to prevent a fair election in 2028. I think a lot there depends on whether he decides to ignore term limits and be President-for-Life, because Trump doesn’t actually give a shit about Republicans who are not him, except inasmuch as they can help him.

  130. 130.

    Bill Arnold

    @H-Bob:

    Don’t you mean “Adjudicated Fraudster Trump”?

    Sure, that too. But “felon” is punchier.
    And we’d get to watch members of Trump’s fluffer horde tie themselves in knots explaining that those aren’t real felonies, while making noises next sentences about law-and-order in other contexts. (E.g. about violent crime, though that is actually down in the USA.)

  131. 131.

    Layer8Problem

    @Captain C:  Nonsense, Dannemora’s convenient to exciting Plattsburgh and it’s an easy jaunt to the bright lights of Montreal!

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:

    If they didn’t have self made drama what would they have?

    One word – nothing.

    They want a world where they are elevated because of who they are but they couldn’t find an actual humane being among themselves so they act like they are in a grade school play about politics but the script blew away when they were playing in their back yards and so they run about like survivors on a desert island, unprepared, lost, scared and without the mentality to figure out or do anything better.

  133. 133.

    Barbara

    @RandomMonster: They will move for a directed verdict, which will be denied.  Then they will decide which witnesses if any to call, but I am not sure who else they would put up unless it was Trump or his family.  They have had the opportunity to cross examine all the key players, who were witnesses called by the prosecution.

  134. 134.

    Jackie

    I hope one of the Front Pagers puts up a new post for cross examination 🤞🏻

  135. 135.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @RaflW:

    It’s Episode #1,275 of “If This Were a Democrat” brought to you by the iron clad rules of political media.

  136. 136.

    Soprano2

    @smith: I remember seeing an episode of Oprah where the guests were the wife and kids of a man who had terrorized them for years. He slept in the front room with a shotgun under his bed to keep them from leaving the house without him knowing. they escaped once; he tracked them down and forced them to come back (I think he threatened to kill them all if they didn’t). He beat the wife and kids and abused them mentally. The oldest daughter shot him in self-defense when she was 16. She was talking about it, crying, saying all she wanted was for him to let them go and leave them alone, she was sorry about shooting him it was an accident. The way people feel about their abusers is complex and impossible for us to understand.

  137. 137.

    West of the Rockies

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Will Trump be a viable candidate in 2028?  Will he be cognitively functional?  Will he be alive?  He will be 84.  I know he seems like Jason in the Friday the 13th movies, but he is slowly disintegrating before the nation’s collective eyes.

  139. 139.

    Soprano2

    @Timurid: I don’t think most of those people give two shits about that, if any of them do. They probably have no idea who the people supporting TFG are, or what kind of power they have.

  140. 140.

    RandomMonster

    @Barbara: They will move for a directed verdict, which will be denied.  Then they will decide which witnesses if any to call, but I am not sure who else they would put up unless it was Trump or his family.  They have had the opportunity to cross examine all the key players, who were witnesses called by the prosecution.

    From the NBC blog (if you’re interested):

    During a morning sidebar, Trump attorney Blanche said that he could not commit to calling any witnesses. He said the defense has one expert witness who couldn’t be available until Monday — but that his testimony is contingent on a decision about how the instructions to the jury will be written.
    He said he didn’t know whether Trump would testify. And that the defense has decided not to call Alan Garten.

  141. 141.

    frosty

    @TBone: Double yay!! Fetterman’s strategy was “Every County, Every Vote” and it worked. During one of the Obama campaigns the precinct captain told me “If we get York County over 35% we win the state.”* So, same as Union Co. A couple of percent in each of these 2R-1D counties and Biden’s got PA .

    *I checked the numbers going back to 1988 and he was right.

  142. 142.

    TBone

    Among the things Cohen claimed under oath was that  back in 2019 Rump coordinated with then-AG Bill Barr to grant immunity to Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to testify in Cohen’s case.

    This shoulda made a bigger splash IMO.

  144. 144.

    TBone

    @frosty: I’m very happy about this, I knew it was happening but to see it highlighted in print is great.  Courtesy of Susie Madrak.  We’re gonna win this, going for the trifecta!

  147. 147.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @JoyceH:

    Yes. They will point out what they believe are gaps in the proof and points on which there is reasonable doubt.

  149. 149.

    Fake Irishman

    @JoyceH:

    Defense doesn’t need to present a case; burden of proof is on prosecution. Defense can say “look, they didn’t show our client is guilty, you have to acquit.” It’s what Manfort’s attorneys did.

  150. 150.

    Jeffro

    @Matt McIrvin: if trump wins, we are done as a democracy.  And unless he keels over during his second abomination term, I don’t think we’ll have a presidential election in 2028.

    He will claim he’s owed another term due to all the ‘deep state’ investigations (aka, the rule of law trying to hold him accountable) in his first term, and the GQP will nod and go right along with it.

    (so, as you say…he’ll ignore the term limits and try to remain President-for-Life.)

    We have to win.  The GQP literally cannot stop humiliating themselves, and to stop supporting trump now would mean that they have to face up to that.

  152. 152.

    cmorenc

    @West of the Rockies: If Trump loses in 2024, a new GOP monster (not Trump) will arise from his ashes.  Not quite an incarnation of the phoenix myth because not the same bird, but a different one equally monstrous and dangerous in his stead.

  153. 153.

    Warblewarble

    Pastor Johnson says case against tRUMP is a sham, US says South Africas case against israel at the IJC. is “Meritless’ each case should be heard.

  155. 155.

    hueyplong

    After all the talk about Mike Johnson this AM, Ron Filipowski says Johnson never went inside the courtroom. So the only difference between him and a puppet is a couple of IQ points in one direction or the other.

  157. 157.

    Scout211

    Questions are centered around Cohen’s interest in the trial. Sounds like he is going for Cohen’s motive for revenge, maybe.

  159. 159.

    dr. bloor

    Blanche trying to jump start Cohen’s lizard brain right out of the gate.

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    @West of the Rockies:

    It’s not actually all that slow of a decline. But with his personality, he is never going to see himself as anything but top of the heap of humanity, no matter what happens. I have no idea what he sees in a mirror but it is in no way normal, that should be obvious. When I was a mental health counselor I had a client who was mid teens but looked like a 30 yr old mafia enforcer, big, muscular, armed…. Very nice human but he saw in a mirror what everyone else saw at first glance. He didn’t know who he was. Now a lot of humans his age either don’t know who/what they are going to be in a few years, but he looked to others and in that mirror like he was that enforcer. And because of that, seemingly no one really talked to him. He actually was almost scary. On the outside. On the inside he was a 15 yr old teenager. SFB is the exact opposite of him. SFB KNOWS he is that guy, because he can lie so easily that few question him. He was elected president, without a clue what to do or how to do it. Part of that is because of his size and his attitude, he looked different than who and what he is, and yet he proves who and what he is on a daily/hourly basis. Some humans can’t see who and what he is. Most see through him with the regularity of the sun coming up.

  161. 161.

    E.

    @Gin & Tonic: I have the same question!! But didn’t ask because I was afraid the answer was both obvious and involved some piece of tech I’ve never heard of.

  162. 162.

    Scout211

    @Gin & Tonic: They are allowed cell phones but no video or audio from what I read.

    ETA

    Link WaPost, May be paywalled.

    Throughout the case, broadcast news outlets have struggled to capture the proceedings. New York judges have typically been reluctant to permit live TV feeds, and Merchan last year declined a request from media organizations to make an exception for this case. Instead, networks have relied on reporters in both the courtroom and an overflow room to send updates that are shared in text on the screen or read aloud by anchors and reporters.

    . . .
    Still, many journalists say access has been more than sufficient — at least for print reporting. “A piece of cake,” said one veteran court reporter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment. Unlike past cases in the same court, including the prosecution of Harvey Weinstein in 2020, reporters have been able to post from the actual courtroom, rather than having to do so from an overflow room or the hallway.

    . . .
    And although networks cannot broadcast the case, they have been able to take video of Trump’s hallway comments before court goes into session and sometimes after. At the same time, online news organizations have covered the case in bite-size updates using live blogs and other real-time publishing formats.

  164. 164.

    Hoodie

    @Melancholy Jaques: They’ll do that but I wouldn’t be surprised if they go with something analogous to the OJ defense of  institutional bias and attacking the motives of the prosecution, something along the lines of “what President Trump did is not even a crime, this is just a witch hunt by Alvin Bragg, relying on proven liars with a grudge like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels to attack the President.”  That’s an attack on the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses but used to further a bigger narrative of prosecutorial bias.  Trump has been working that angle throughout the trial.  The prosecution’s motives really are not relevant to his guilt or innocence but, as we saw with OJ,  this approach can be effective.  Hope Marchan deals with it better than Lance Ito did.

  166. 166.

    Tazj

    The reporter from NPR says that the jury is blocked from seeing Trump in the courtroom today.I haven’t been paying close enough attention to know if this has been reported on before, if it’s unusual or accidental obstruction.

    The NPR news anchor asked the reporter about the politicians who showed up to support Trump today. She said most didn’t stay and gave press conferences outside the courtroom. However, she left out the most important information which is what they said and how they are circumventing the gag order for Trump.

  168. 168.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro:

    if trump wins, we are done as a democracy.

    People keep saying this, but I think we need to make plans for losing, because it’s a real possibility. If we lose, what are we actually going to do? Commit mass suicide? That doesn’t seem right. Decide not to even try any more, resign to abetting an oppressive regime? That doesn’t seem right either. Gear up for civil war, become terrorists or something? Doubtful, at least for most of us.

    When Trump came in the first time there was this big market for writers like Kendzior or Masha Gessen whose message was basically, it’s all over, don’t even bother. (And then when the Democrats won elections later, Kendzior seemed so committed to the idea that the US was a dictatorship now that she had to find ways that the Democrats were really part of the regime and the victories were all fake.)

    So I think a lot about “how bad could it be?” Massachusetts will at least initially commit to remaining a democracy. Could we have, say, a Trump-supported police coup overthrowing the state government? I worried about that last time but it didn’t happen. But we did have a Republican governor then.

    Breakup of the United States? That seems likely to lead to a civil war in which the national government would have recourse to nuclear weapons. Use of those is maybe the worst-case scenario. But my thoughts are getting way way out there at that point.

  171. 171.

    VFX Lurker

    @Matt McIrvin: You might be the target audience for Alex Garland’s Civil War. It imagines the USA under Trump’s third term. They just don’t call him “Trump.”

  173. 173.

    LAO

    “I was knee deep in the cult of Donald Trump. “

    my favorite answer so far on cross.

  174. 174.

    Fleeting Expletive

    It’s been years, but early in the 2016 campaign, Cohen was the goon who leaned some opponent’s guy over a hotel’s upstairs railing and was threatening him with bodily harm.  Maybe a guy who was or became a Republican congresscritter. Wish I could remember his name.

  175. 175.

    frog

    @Timurid:

     

    rotating cast of guest stars is that the jury will make an enemy out of not just Trump but of the entire Establishment if it votes the wrong way…

    “When I’m President again, you’re all dead.”

  176. 176.

    Lyrebird

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
      When Trump came in the first time there was this big market for writers like Kendzior or Masha Gessen whose message was basically, it’s all over, don’t even bother. (And then when the Democrats won elections later, Kendzior seemed so committed to the idea that the US was a dictatorship now that she had to find ways that the Democrats were really part of the regime and the victories were all fake.)

    FWIW seemed to me that Kendzior offered some very useful insights re: Putin and demagoguery. I was really disappointed by some of her other writings… seems like she wears some of those “anti-East-Coast-elite” blinders like forgetting that wages have to be different if rent is 3x more in a city, maybe that widespread and pernicious “only white poor* people count, forget the rest o’ yuz” attitude. Haven’t read enough to speak with authority.

    Glad you’re hear opining!

    *ETA: in my experience, this attitude also travels with discounting non-poor non-white people as well. If I claim to be a pacifist, that means I should not slap Michael Tracey. Not that j-ck-ss who called South Carolina Dems low information voters, either. But I can wish them both to receive the respect they deserve I guess.

  177. 177.

    MomSense

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I think we will end up in a nuclear exchange.  He wanted to last time and his horrible people (Kelly for one) were able to keep him from doing it.  The people who would serve in a second trump administration are not going to stop him.

    He wants to use nukes.  He loves the idea of them, the power and exclusivity.  He just needs to experience sufficient narcissistic injury and he’ll do it.

  178. 178.

    TBone

    I’m not ever going to believe he’d “win.” We trounced him once and will do so again.  If he is somehow appointed, I’ll join up with formal resistance in whatever form it takes.

  179. 179.

    Matt McIrvin

    @VFX Lurker: I heard it’s careful to Both Sides it all by anonymizing the warring camps to the degree that California and Texas are on the same side. Yeah, that’d annoy me.

  180. 180.

    rikyrah

    @MomSense:

    I think we will end up in a nuclear exchange.  He wanted to last time and his horrible people (Kelly for one) were able to keep him from doing it.  The people who would serve in a second trump administration are not going to stop him.

    He wants to use nukes.

     

    You are right about this. I know you are. And the craven people he’d be surrounded by this time would have no hesitation.

     

    After all, Jared has told us that they want to ‘ finish the job’ in Gaza so that they can put up beachfront condos.

  182. 182.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @cmorenc:

    But today, lying about boinking a porn star while your wife is pregnant with your child is OK?

    IOKIYAR.

  184. 184.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Lyrebird: ​

    If I claim to be a pacifist, that means I should not slap Michael Tracey.

    Slapping Michael Tracey is always permissible.

  185. 185.

    rikyrah

    Keith

    @gr8shotkeith

    #ProudBlue #Fresh In Louisiana, legislators are moving to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV drugs which could lead to prison sentences from 5-10 years. At the same time, they denied attempts to allow exceptions to the abortion ban to allow children under 16 to get the procedure if they have been the victims of rape or incest. These MAGA politicians are pure evil. Only our massive blue votes can defeat them.

    https://x.com/gr8shotkeith/status/1790452394066866195

  186. 186.

    cckids

    @Jackie:   I see Vivek Ramaswamy and FL Rep Byron Donalds are TIFG’s blankies today. No Eric today?

    IDK just why, but I would pay money to watch Trump pronounce V. Ramaswamy’s names. I’d support choosing him as VP just for the entertainment value of that alone.

  187. 187.

    cain

    @cmorenc:

    I think that will be hard – his base are generally older and have been taught by Fox that everyone is lazy and culture wars – literally taught to shit on the other generations not theirs. It’s harder to gin up the same kind of resentment in the younger generations with whatever “good times” it was. For Millennials and Gen Zs it’s been shit so far and everyone knows which party has made it shit.

  188. 188.

    Chris

    Anyone here from Maryland?  If so, anyone here have any strong opinions on David Trone vs Angela Alsobrooks?  As is so often the case in primaries, they don’t seen all that different policy-wise: feel like I can live with either outcome.

  189. 189.

    lowtechcyclist

    @BlueGuitarist:

    Liz Cheney:

    “Have to admit I’m surprised that Speaker Johnson wants to be in the ‘I cheated on my wife with a porn star’ club. I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all.”

    The only ‘morality’ they care about is whether you’re either in their tribe, or useful to it.

    In 25 years, they went from bemoaning how an immoral man like Bill Clinton could be President, and how awful it was that blowjobs had entered the public discourse where kids might see it because of him, to showing pics of Hunter Biden’s penis in Congress, and displaying gigantic posters of said penis where Little Leaguers could see it.

    And there is only inconsistency there if you think that the morality they frequently preach actually matters to them.  It doesn’t. It’s all about the tribe.

  191. 191.

    cain

    @cckids: I fucking hate Vivek Ramaswamy – his exchange with whatshername just seals the deal that he’ll suck anyone’s teat.

  192. 192.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Lyrebird: At this point Kendzior is an outright conspiracy theorist–she claimed that Nancy Pelosi was paid off to protect Trump from impeachment and now is saying that Biden is softening us up for the Trump dictatorship.

  196. 196.

    Bupalos

    @Lyrebird:Masha Gessen whose message was basically, it’s all over, don’t even bother.

    Wow, that was/is in no way Masha Gessen’s message. From watching political decline in Russia she had a lack of surprise, maybe. A kind of “what did you expect? This isn’t that surprising!” thing that probably offended many who definitely didn’t expect Trump and definitely were surprised or shocked.. But to cast “don’t even bother” as her message is just not justifiable.

  197. 197.

    cmorenc

    @Hoodie: The OJ / Atty Johnny Cochran tactic of playing to the ethnic sympathies of the jury might work if the trial was in aga Staten Island rather than Manhattan, but I suspect the composition of this jury is more likely to channel Michael Cohen as victim of Trump than as playing the Mark Furhman role against Trump as victim.   That said, all it would take is one covert MAGA-type who stealthily lied their way onto the jury to hang it, which is IMO the main play the defense is hoping to play off of.  If they are wrong, IMO the jury will find Trump guilty.

  198. 198.

    VFX Lurker

    @Matt McIrvin: Alex Garland wrote the film in 2020. It’s Trump’s third term.

    I saw a free screening earlier this year. It makes its point about the danger and trauma faced by war photographers. It also convincingly portrays a dissolving Union, and how it would affect American soldiers and American civilians.

    I won’t watch it again, but its perspective reflects your own writing upthread.

  199. 199.

    TBone

    Anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy sentenced to 57 months, or 4.7 years, in prison for orchestrating the invasion and blockade of a D.C. clinic in 2020. Judge Kollar-Kotelly said Handy’s views took “precedence” over the human needs of patients.

    This is the pathetic loser woman who saved parts in jars in her home.  Buh bye LOSER.

  202. 202.

    suzanne

    @Matt McIrvin:

    People keep saying this, but I think we need to make plans for losing, because it’s a real possibility. If we lose, what are we actually going to do? 

    Yes, agree.
    I can hope for the best, and I do, but we also should plan for the worst.

  203. 203.

    PAM Dirac

    @Chris:

    Anyone here from Maryland?

    I voted a few hours ago. I agree with you on Alsobrooks vs. Trone. I think Trone would make a fine Senator. Since he is my rep I hear a lot more about what he actually does than what hits the press. He does a lot on the local level and is really supportive of local Ds. I don’t know as much about Alsobrooks, but I lot of people I trust like her a lot. It was a close call, but in the end I voted for Alsobrooks. I think it was a choice between short term almost the same vs. long term there is a bigger upside for Alsobrooks.

    I think it will be very interesting to see what happens on the R side. Here in the 6th Cox, the failed R governor candidate, is running and I am very curious to see if the MAGAs rally behind him. If they do, I think it suggests trouble for Hogan.

  204. 204.

    Anonymous At Work

    @rikyrah: Yes, but if something is Schedule VI at federal level, and Schedule IV in Alabama-stan, which Schedule’s procedures for prescribing and dispensing apply?  By default, it’s usually the more restrictive but Controlled Substances Act could have specific provisions.

  205. 205.

    M31

    in MD about to go vote Alsobrooks

    policywise they are similar, and I did entertain some thoughts that the old white guy might do better in the suburbs but on the other hand our base reallllly needs to come out for this election and the Dem base has a lot of black voters (I think MD is about 1/3 black), and also, she’s much younger and has a good record in gov’t, and won elections in some big counties

    also, fuck Larry Hogan and I can’t believe his high approval ratings, yeah, he’s not Trump but he’s a sleazy developer and did his best to screw Baltimore

  207. 207.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Bill Arnold:

    And we’d get to watch members of Trump’s fluffer horde tie themselves in knots explaining that those aren’t real felonies, while making noises next sentences about law-and-order in other contexts.

    Now, students camping out on the quads of their respective universities, those are the real criminals!  //

  208. 208.

    Martin

    From the liveblogs it sounds like Cohen continues to understand the assignment.

  209. 209.

    Bill Arnold

    @Matt McIrvin:

    At this point Kendzior is an outright conspiracy theorist

    We broke her mind by separating Trump and his henchmen from the levers of power in 2020/2021. (Those Senate seats runoff elections in 2021 FTW.)
    Incumbent Trump lost, and was forced out though he and his accomplices tried hard to keep him in power. They didn’t attempt armed seizure of power/civil war, but only because the military would not have cooperated.

  212. 212.

    Hoodie

    @Martin: The consensus seems to be that Blanche is following a path that might backfire on him in trying to paint Cohen as a jilted follower, as it kind of reinforces a narrative that Trump is manipulative, uses weak people to do his dirty work and then throws them under the bus.  That could actually make it more believable that Trump is the kind of guy who covers up an affair for purely transactional reasons like protecting a political campaign.  He really doesn’t give a shit about his followers — or his wife.  Could the prosecutors do redirect to bring out more about the “cult of Trump” brought up in cross?  Blanche seemed to open the door for that.

  214. 214.

    skerry

    @Chris: I voted for Alsobrooks.

    I didn’t see a big policy difference between the two candidates and they both seem to be well liked. So I went with the 53 year old black woman instead of the 68 year old white man.

  215. 215.

    Dangerman

    Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain

    I might go buy Cohen’s book.  I would if the quote was Hicks had to car vac him for said Cheetos.

  216. 216.

    2liberal

    @Matt McIrvin: Now, if Trump wins, we have big trouble, and he may do his best to prevent a fair election in 2028.

     

    Will he still be mentally competent at that point?

  218. 218.

    PAM Dirac

    @Baud:

    That would be sweet if the primary voters take out Hogan.

    I have no idea how likely that is, but I can’t see MAGA voters treating Hogan with nothing except contempt. When the MAGAs rejected his hand picked candidate in the ’22 governors primary Hogan called the candidate a “QAnon whack job” and refused to support him in the general. Why would they want Hogan in anyway? He says he won’t vote for a lot of the things they want. Anyway, we shall see.

  219. 219.

    karen marie

    @Bill Arnold: As a convicted felon, will Trump have to bend a knee to DeSantis to have his voting rights restored, or does it not count because it’s a NY felony?

  220. 220.

    Harrison Wesley

    @TBone: She saved parts? What kind of….parts?  This sounds like something out of a Hammer film.  Where are  Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee when we really need them?

  221. 221.

    lowtechcyclist

    @cmorenc:

    If Trump loses in 2024, a new GOP monster (not Trump) will arise from his ashes.  Not quite an incarnation of the phoenix myth because not the same bird, but a different one equally monstrous and dangerous in his stead.

    I’m less than sure about that.  First of all, Trump was the person his followers wanted to be: a billionaire, a TV star, getting all the women.  The GQP has a vacuum of that sort of person, which is why Trump was able to move into it so easily.

    And the other big thing is that Trump really does have a talent for connecting with his followers that even most politicians don’t have.  Genuinely charismatic politicians like Obama or Reagan aren’t all that common.  And the GQP of today seems even thinner in the charisma department than most political parties.

    Trump has pulled a lot of previous nonvoters out of the woodwork.  A lot of them are going to go right back there once he’s off the stage.

  222. 222.

    Bill Arnold

    @2liberal:

    Will he still be mentally competent at that point?

    No, he will not. And if he somehow seizes power in 2025, he would probably be 25th-ed out by 2028, IMO.
    Need to have plenty of solid (but juicy) oppo vs his VP candidate well before the 2024 elections, to complement the “Trump is clearly descending into dysfunctional dementia” narratives.
    Much easier to win an election than to fight fascists (or “populist aspirants to fascism”) from within the country.

  224. 224.

    lowtechcyclist

    @MomSense:

    I think we will end up in a nuclear exchange.  He wanted to last time and his horrible people (Kelly for one) were able to keep him from doing it.  The people who would serve in a second trump administration are not going to stop him.

    I wonder what the military could do, that Biden could order them to do, to disarm our nukes in the 2.5 months between the election and the inauguration?

  225. 225.

    Harrison Wesley

    @PaulWartenberg: As Roy Edroso so wisely observed, “If you don’t have the facts, pound the law.  If you don’t have the law, pound the facts.  If you don’t have the facts or the law, pound your pud.”

  226. 226.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah:

    In Louisiana, legislators are moving to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV drugs which could lead to prison sentences from 5-10 years.

    Maybe bullets should be Schedule IV drugs.

  227. 227.

    Martin

    @PaulWartenberg: I think that’s what everyone expected. The challenge would be whether Cohen would take the bait or not. Sounds like he’s not taking the bait.

  228. 228.

    rikyrah

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I’m less than sure about that.  First of all, Trump was the person his followers wanted to be: a billionaire, a TV star, getting all the women.  The GQP has a vacuum of that sort of person, which is why Trump was able to move into it so easily.

     

    you had DeathSantis..

    put all that hate into policy….the MSM thought he was the next big thing

  229. 229.

    Bill Arnold

    @karen marie:
    Any state, it appears. The 2018 Florida constitutional amendment says

    Article VI, Section 4. Disqualifications.—
    (a) No person convicted of a felony, or adjudicated in this or any other state to be mentally incompetent, shall be
    qualified to vote or hold office until restoration of civil rights or removal of disability. Except as provided in subsection
    (b) of this section, any disqualification from voting arising from a felony conviction shall terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.

    Plus, there is executive clemency:

    Restoration by Executive Clemency
    Clemency allows felons to ask for relief from punishment and seek restoration of their civil rights, including the right to vote. The power to grant clemency is vested in the Governor and Cabinet. For information about clemency, visit the website for the Florida Commission on Offender Review.

    From this page, and a link off that page.

  230. 230.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Chris:

    Anyone here from Maryland?  If so, anyone here have any strong opinions on David Trone vs Angela Alsobrooks?  As is so often the case in primaries, they don’t seen all that different policy-wise: feel like I can live with either outcome.

    I’d rather have Alsobrooks, but the main thing is beating Hogan, whichever one wins.

    I’ve known Trone’s name for years, because I occasionally look to see who’s in our Congressional delegation, but other than that I’d never heard jack shit about him until he started filling our mailboxes with his crap.

    Hogan is doing his best to make invisible the reality that he’s a Republican, he’ll caucus with the GOP if he wins (putting them in control of the Senate and kiss goodbye to being able to pass anything useful for the next two years), and regardless of how good a game he talks, you know he’ll vote with his party the vast majority of the time.  And he’ll break with them where it matters the least.

    There are signs up for him here and there around Calvert County.  I want to get big stickers made with the word “REPUBLICAN” in big letters to attach to every Hogan sign I see.

  231. 231.

    Marcopolo

    @Chris: Either of them can beat Hogan. Do we really need another middle-aged white dude in the Senate?  As a middle-aged white dude myself I’d be voting for Alsbrook.

  232. 232.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah:

    you had DeathSantis..

    put all that hate into policy….the MSM thought he was the next big thing

    Sure, the MSM did, but how many DeSantises and Scott Walkers have they thought was the next big thing?  My own crystal ball has a pretty iffy record, but the MSM is really out of touch (and out to lunch).

  233. 233.

    Shalimar

    @rikyrah: Maggie Haberman’s mom literally worked for the company that did Trump’s PR in the ’80s and’90s.  Of course the daughter has unusual access and acts as his promoter.

  235. 235.

    cmorenc

    @Bill Arnold: Betcha that DeSantis will grant Trump executive clemency in Florida before the ink is dry on any felony conviction in New York, thus sparing Trump from being ineligible to vote in Florida.

  236. 236.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @piratedan: the consensus among the Jackaltariat is with Alsobrooks

    So what? Very few Jackals are familiar with the peculiarities of MD politics, which I’ve been active in since 1970. Knowing that a significant percentage of MD Democrats are DINOs who’d crawl over their dying granny to vote against any POC, and despite some reservations about self-funding multimillionaires, I voted for Trone today – IMO he’s more likely to defeat Hogan, and that’s the only thing that matters.

  237. 237.

    wjca

    @Bill Arnold: Clemency allows felons to ask for relief from punishment and seek restoration of their civil rights, including the right to vote.

    I’m trying to picture TIFG being willing to ask (beg) DeSantis for anything.  I think he’d rather skip voting altogether.

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