;)
The Conversation -- November 6, 2023
I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can't, I will. -- Judge Arthur Engoron to Donald Trump's lawyers, in court Monday
In my 33 years, I have not had a witness testify better. -- Christopher Kise, Trump's lawyer, at the end of Trump's disastrous testimony Monday ~~~
~~~ Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump vigorously defended his wealth and business on Monday, tangling from the witness stand with the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial and denouncing as a 'political witch hunt' a lawsuit accusing him of dramatically inflating his net worth. Trump's long-awaited testimony about property valuations and financial statements was punctuated by personal jabs at a judge he said was biased against him and at the New York attorney general, whom he derided as a 'political hack.' He proudly boasted of his real estate business -- 'I'm worth billions of dollars more than the financial statements' -- and disputed claims that he had deceived banks and insurers. 'This is the opposite of fraud,' he declared. Referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat whose office brought the lawsuit, he said, 'The fraud is her.' The testy exchanges, and frequent rebukes from the judge, underscored Trump's unwillingness to adapt ... to a formal courtroom setting governed by rules of evidence and legal protocol."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Trump told the judge he knew 'nothing about me,' before referring to [AG Letitia] James: 'You believe this political hack back there.' Trump ridiculed the prosecution's case against him as being part of the purported 'weaponization' of the government and courts. He repeatedly tried to invoke defenses that the judge had already decided weren't valid, including the 'worthless clause' defense. He called the trial 'very unfair' and a 'crazy trial.' He was repeatedly admonished for delivering political talking points rather than answering questions.... Yet again, putting Trump under oath was no match for his propensity for hyperbole and falsehoods. He continued to claim that his Mar-a-Lago property was worth between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. Experts find that claim highly dubious, and the county values it in the tens of millions."
CNN's liveblog of Trump's civil fraud case is here: "... Donald Trump on Monday was posting on Truth Social ahead of his expected testimony in his New York civil fraud case and continued to try to undermine the premise of the case brought against him by the New York attorney general. 'Getting ready to head to the Downtown Lower Manhattan Courthouse to testify in one of the many cases that were instigated and brought by my POLITICAL OPPONENT, Crooked Joe Biden, through agencies and surrogates, for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE,' Trump posted on Truth Social. The former president said the case has 'zero merit' and called it a 'witch hunt.'"
~~~ Here's the New York Times liveblog of court proceedings; it's usually the most fun. A few excerpts below: ~~~
Kate Christobek: "The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, turned to Trump after he gave a lengthy answer and said he'd like to move things along, telling Trump, 'Please, just answer the question. No speeches.' Trump smirked."
Jonah Bromwich: "Despite that, Trump just said that the judge will probably rule against him, because he always rules against him. The judge turns to Trump's lawyer, [Christopher] Kise, and asks if that was necessary. Kise takes the opportunity to note that Trump is the former and possibly the future president of the United States."
Bromwich: "Justice Engoron usually shows some playfulness. Not today. He has chided Trump multiple times, and is asking him repeatedly to answer yes or no questions simply."
Bromwich: "'Mr. Kise, can you control your client?' [Engoron] says.... 'This is not a political rally.' He asks Kise to have a talk with Trump right now."
Maggie Haberman: "The fact that these cases are wearing on Trump is evident by his demeanor and physical appearance, even as he tries to show people to whom he speaks that he isn't worried."
Bromwich: "Judge Engoron again asks Kise to control Trump and says that if he cannot, the judge will excuse him and draw negative inferences, which would be very bad for the former president's case. Kise is responding that he thinks that the judge should want to hear from this witness. The judge disagrees, saying much of it is irrelevant."
Bromwich: "The judge just directed Kise and [Alina] Habba, the Trump lawyers, to sit down. He asked [prosecutor Kevin] Wallace to continue. Trump says, from the witness stand, 'This is a very unfair trial. Very very. And I hope the public is watching.'"
Christobek: "While the judge was chastising his attorneys, Trump smirked and shook his head."
Bromwich: "Trump is being asked about why he decided to drop the value of Seven Springs, one of his properties in Westchester County, N.Y., on a financial statement. 'I thought it was high,' Trump says, yet again admitting his involvement in the process.... Trump appears not to realize that, because here the value was lowered, these admissions of his involvement in manipulating the financial statements are damning."
Bromwich: "Trump is asked how big his triplex in Trump Tower is. He says that he wouldn't know, except for the trial, but that it's about 11,000 feet. That's accurate, but then he started adding thousands, saying it may be 12,000 or 13,000 feet. This is Trump's problem in a nutshell: He exaggerates."
Susanne Craig: "Trump said the square footage on his New York City apartment may have been exaggerated in part because the elevator shafts were mistakenly included in the total." [MB: Hilarious: Can you imagine one appraiser saying to another: "Say, Charlie, run you tape down those elevator shafts, will you?"]
Bromwich: "Trump was just asked his involvement in the 2021 financial statement. He tried to answer saying that he was busy with the presidency, focused on 'China, Russia and keeping our country safe.' Wallace, the state lawyer, reminded him that he was not president in 2021." [MB: He's an old man; he can't remember when he was president*.]
Bromwich: "Trump is going long on the disclaimers attached to the [financial] statements, saying that any court in the country would observe the importance of the disclaimers, other than this one and this judge. Wallace then asks Trump if he thinks the statements are worthless and he says no."
Christobek: "We've only been back for 10 minutes, but Trump's testimony has been muted compared with this morning's. His answers continue to devolve into monologues, but he's more subdued. He's hunched over in the witness chair...."
Bromwich: "Trump looks a little more tired this afternoon, as we go through lengthy documents. He pulls a sheaf of papers very close to his face in order to scrutinize it. It's another loan agreement, which Trump has signed." [MB: He's a very old man. He missed his nap. He can't see too well.]
Bromwich: "'I think this case is a disgrace,' Trump just said, apropos of very little, going on a familiar rant about how New York is crime-ridden and people are leaving. 'It's election interference, because you want to keep me in this courthouse all day long.' He calls the judge hostile and attacks [AG Letitia] James too.... 'You should be ashamed of yourself,' he concludes, to Wallace, the state lawyer."
Here's a link RAS has provided to a Philiadelphia Inquirer op-ed column by Will Bunch, which I'm sure is well-worth reading if you have access to the Inquirer: ~~~
Will Bunch: "With the world on fire, a cowardly, timid news media is a threat to U.S. democracy. News organizations are using cowardly words to describe killing abroad, fascism at home -- downplaying the danger to democracy. In one of the most perilous moments of crisis the world has seen in 75 years, and with the basic notions of free speech under assault, most newsrooms aren't fighting back. They are, instead, pulling their punches in a defensive, 'rope-a-dope' crouch, and thus failing to truly inform -- when democracy itself is at risk."
~~~~~~~~~~
TRUMPERY: "Trumpery derives from the Middle English trompery and ultimately from the Middle French tromper, meaning 'to deceive.' (You can see the meaning of this root reflected in the French phrase trompe-l'oeil-literally, 'deceives the eye' - which in English refers to a style of painting with photographically realistic detail.) Trumpery first appeared in English in the mid-15th century with the meanings 'deceit or fraud' (a sense that is now obsolete) and 'worthless nonsense.' Less than 100 years later, it was being applied to material objects of little or no value. The verb phrase trump up means 'to concoct with the intent to deceive,' but there is most likely no etymological connection between this phrase and trumpery." -- Merriam-Webster ~~~
~~~ MB: M-W's list of synonyms is great, BTW, and anyone who wishes to henceforth refer to The Former Guy as "President* Codswollop" will be understood here. Via George Conway, via RAS: (Also linked yesterday.)
A Day of Trumpery
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: Today, "New York's attorney general, Letitia James, will call [Donald] Trump to the witness stand at his own civil fraud trial in Manhattan, where, under oath and under fire, the former president will try to convince a single skeptical judge -- not a jury -- that he did not inflate his net worth to defraud banks and insurers.... He may not be able to restrain himself on the stand.... The witness stand is ... a seat that requires care and control, where lying is a crime and emotional outbursts can land you in contempt of court. Another risk during his time on the stand: Mr. Trump, 77, has been showing signs of strain and age on the campaign trail, mixing up the names of foreign leaders and at one point confusing which city he was in."
** Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations. In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, including his former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and former attorney general William P. Barr, as well as his ex-attorney Ty Cobb and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley.... Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said. In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to 'go after' President Biden and his family. The former president has frequently made corruption accusations against them that are not supported by available evidence. To facilitate Trump's ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations." Emphasis added.
Mike Pivots Quickly from Plain Vanilla to Rocky Road. Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: "New House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took office pledging to unify his fractious GOP conference and work with House Democrats.... His first full week in office was marked instead by measures that drove a wedge not just between liberals and conservatives -- but also between the House and Senate. And with less than two weeks before a potential government shutdown, Johnson's early moves foreshadow a difficult path to bipartisan agreement.... [His] opening legislative salvo is indicative, lawmakers and insiders say, of the historic weakness Johnson brings to the gavel."
Wherein Mike dodges the question of whether or not he has a bank account. The questioner was Fox host Shannon Bream, so naturally she didn't press for a straight answer.
Mike Is So Weird. Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Rolling Stone highlighted a 2022 video of new Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from the 'War on Technology' conference, where he confessed that he and his sons monitor each other's usage of adult videos online.... [At the conference,] Johnson was talking about the 'accountability software' he installed called Covenant Eyes on devices to ensure he didn't stray into unsavory websites.... 'It sends a report to your accountability partner. My accountability partner right now is Jack, my son. He's 17....'... Johnson has spent the past several weeks scrubbing his social media, Receipt Maven noted on Sunday. One of those links included a 'refer-a-friend' link to the software, where he pocketed $20 with every referral."
Another Episode of "I'm So Scared of Trump." Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) refused to answer whether the 2020 election was stolen when pressed eight separate times in a Sunday interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos.... Scalise was among the two-thirds of the House Republican Conference to vote against certifying the election in all states after the House reconvened on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, to vote on objections to two states." Fortinsky cites a number of Scalise's pathetic (and worn-out) dodges.
Presidential Race 2024. Stephen Collinson of CNN: "A year away from Election Day 2024..., Donald Trump is set to testify in a civil fraud trial and separately faces more than 90 criminal charges, setting up the possibility that a convicted felon tops the Republican ticket next November. But it's President Joe Biden's political prospects that are plunging.... Biden is absorbing brutal new polls showing him losing to GOP front-runner Trump in multiple key swing states.... If the New York Times/Siena College survey is borne out in 2024, there would be no electoral path to victory for Biden. And an increasingly authoritarian Trump -- who is promising a second term of 'retribution' -- could pull off a White House comeback in spite of sparking a Capitol insurrection with his false claims of electoral fraud in 2020.... The poll is ... sure to renew the question of whether Biden is right to insist on running again, although some Democrats argue the time t coalesce around a different candidate may have already passed." ~~~
~~~ Phillip Nieto of Mediaite:"Former senior White House adviser for Barack Obama, David Axelrod floated the idea on Sunday of President Joe Biden dropping out of 2024 race after a new poll showed him trailing Donald Trump in several states. A New York Times & Siena College poll released on Sunday showed Trump leading Biden in five out of the six battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania by leads of 3 to 10 points. The only battleground state in which Biden had a lead was Wisconsin, by 2 percentage points, according to the survey taken among registered voters.... 'It's very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden's team says his resolve to run is firm. He's defied CW before but this will send tremors of doubt thru the party -- not "bed-wetting," but legitimate concern,' [Axelrod wrote on X-Twitter.]"
Book Review. Denise Kiernan, in the Washington Post, reviews Liza Mundy's The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.
Long Before There Was Musk, There Was Ford. Shera Avi-Yonah of the Washington Post: "An auto tycoon, one of America's most prominent businessmen, stood accused of enabling antisemitism on a platform he owned, allowing hate speech against Jews to spread to new audiences. The businessman was Henry Ford; the platform was his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. Nearly a century after the Independent spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, Elon Musk, the man sometimes called America's modern Ford, became embroiled in his own controversy over antisemitism and free speech this fall."
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Ankara Monday, continuing his second whirlwind tour of the Middle East since the Israel-Gaza war started. The shuttle diplomacy is aimed at deterring other countries or armed groups from widening the conflict, officials said. CIA Director William J. Burns arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with intelligence officials there and throughout the region, according to a U.S. official briefed on his travel. Internet and communications services were gradually returning to parts of the Gaza Strip on Monday morning after a 'complete disruption' Sunday night, Paltel, the main Palestinian telecommunications provider said. The blackout was the third since the conflict began." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
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Reader Comments (18)
So…trumpery…derived from trompe-l'oeil…
So basically, a fake. A trick. As a painting technique, trompe-l'oeil requires some significant talent, and I suppose as that goes, Fatty’s premier talent is as a con man. Not so much a trick of the eye as a trick of the ass(hole).
Re: "Mike is so Weird" article linked above; the internet is chock full
of questions regarding Mike's weirdness. For example: the Johnson's
took in a black child immediately after their marriage. There is no
mention on him or family photos of him at this time.
Mike Johnson is 51 years old and the black child is now 40 years
old. I was a math major in high school, but I can't quite figure out
that equation, agewise.
Could Mike be doing wome codswollop, or hokeypokey?
All this talk of Biden dropping out is ridiculous. He has proven himself to be a fine president. There is no one in the Democratic ranks, at this point in time, who can up to speed quickly enough to beat the Orange Monster, in my opinion. If people want another Trump Debacle (now with improved hatred and authoritarianism!) just keep attacking Biden.
Stupid.
Forgot a link: https://news.yahoo.com/speaker-mike-johnsons-
mysterious-black-160000420?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00
Forrest,
Bible Mike’s rise to the speaker’s gavel is the direct result of the combination of a defunct, malfunctioning party and an R electorate (especially in certain states) that has zero interest in an appreciation of a secular society. They live in a bubble, fed lies and conspiracy theories, and believe that only Jesus (and a fat fascist) can save them, and Johnson combines elements of all of that.
He seems hopelessly inept (and willfully so) at running a divided House, and he’s the perfect melding of toxic, fear and hate based religiosity and vicious, undemocratic authoritarianism.
(Just consider, for a moment, what it takes to believe that Jesus and Trump are a team.)
And, as I’ve been pointing out, if he really believed all his bullshit, why is he trying so hard to hide it? Let’s say he believes it but feels like he has to hide his past statements and positions because the majority of Americans won’t like it. What does that say? It says he basically doesn’t give a shit about the majority of Americans. He’s going to try to gaslight them to get his way.
That’s not exactly a description of democracy, now, is it? But he doesn’t have either the experience or the chops to do that. If PoT House members think they dodged a bullet by not having Gym Jordan up there, making them look bad, they must already be considering how much stupider (and weirder) they look with this fucking guy.
Basically, Bible Mike is on the highway to hell, politically speaking, a road trod by every Party of Traitors speaker since the execrable Newt Gingrich. His ineptitude, warped religiosity, faux Christianity, dislike (and downright ignorance) of democratic government, and desire for strongman control, with what seems to be a truly exceptional brand of weirdness, should bring about a wreck on that highway sooner than later.
And then what?
As the Orange Monster and his team of blood curdling orcs plot out his return to the throne, he’s floating, among a plethora of schemes ranging from hilarious to downright frightening, the possibility of another Trump University.
According to Professor All the Best Words:
“‘We spend more money on higher education than any other country—and yet they’re turning our students into communists and terrorist sympathizers of many, many different dimensions,’ he said. ‘I’m announcing today we will take the billions and billions of dollars that we will collect by taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments and then we will use that money to endow a new institution called the American Academy.’”
So…he’s proposing to effectively defund private institutions in order to pay for his propaganda operation.
Even the most deluded Trumper must be somewhat familiar with his previous educational scam, the one where the nice judge ruled it a fraudulent scheme and ordered Fatty to pay $25 million in restitution.
But this time it’ll be different! This time the guv’mint will pay Fatty millions to work his con.
What kind of degree will “students” be awarded? A BS, no doubt.
On second thought, I might be wrong about an imminent Bible Mike crack up. A big part of the demise of such charlatans requires the media to keep plugging away at revelations of stupidity, incompetence, and icky weirdness.
I’m betting that within a week or so, they’ll tire of such reporting and go back to Both Sides being responsible for House problems, and in the course of doing so, start treating Bible Mike like a legitimate Speaker.
Look how they treat a full blown traitor and con man. Like a reasonable and responsible presidential candidate.
More codswolloping: Last Saturday at his rally in Orlando, trump
said "we won all 50 states, we got them all, we got 12 million more
votes."
That statement probably needs some serious fact checking.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-claims-won-50-states-152719454,html
Financial Thin Ice
"There is very little wiggle-room left in many household budgets, and any decline in income will crack the ice."
"Zelenskyy invites Trump to visit Ukraine, saying ending war is not so easy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday invited Donald Trump to his country for a lesson on wartime diplomacy.
Referencing Trump’s boast that he could end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 24 hours if he’s reelected, Zelenskyy said the Republican presidential front-runner should come see the situation for himself."
Will Bunch
"With the world on fire, a cowardly, timid news media is a threat to U.S. democracy
News organizations are using cowardly words to describe killing abroad, fascism at home — downplaying the danger to democracy.
In one of the most perilous moments of crisis the world has seen in 75 years, and with the basic notions of free speech under assault, most newsrooms aren’t fighting back. They are, instead, pulling their punches in a defensive, “rope-a-dope” crouch, and thus failing to truly inform — when democracy itself is at risk."
Just checked the WAPO blog of the Pretender testimony:
What a wayward, spoiled child.... whose only defense in the fraud trial is that the valuations he signed his name to should never have been taken as true because in the fine print he said he just might have been lying...and that those who took the numbers seriously are only out to get him...and yet half the country says they'll vote for him again...
I can make more sense of the unfolding horror in Gaza...
Florida's CFO, Jimmy Patronis floated a plan for a taxpayer funded plan to cover legal fees for any Florida presidential candidate who is involved in politically motivated lawsuits. IOW, Donald Trump.
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-taxpayers-could-pay-trump-lawyers-proposal-1841038
"I became president because of my brand," said the Pretender today.
Finally...he told the truth about something.
@Ken Winkes: Obviously he can't recall that all his brands failed
miserably, as did his presidency*.
Did they mention if Trump added his disclaimer when he was sworn in that they can't take anything he says on the stand as the actual truth?
With the Supremes set to hear a far reaching guns rights case tomorrow [t would be interesting to hear some originalist thinker at least remark that the founders were thinking of single shot, muzzle loading, flint locks when they were discussing bearing arms.
'Getting ready to head to the Downtown Lower Manhattan Courthouse to testify in one of the many cases that were instigated and brought by my POLITICAL OPPONENT, Crooked Joe Biden, through agencies and surrogates, for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE,' NO WAY Trump wrote this. His propensity for gobbledegook would never permit a words like "...through agencies and surrogates...!"