As the verdict for Trump’s criminal case in New York over falsification of business records anears, it is worth noting this started with Trump cheating.
The character of conflicted people
Like or dislike Trump is not the issue, even if you condone him cheating on his third wife while she was at home with their last newborn son. It was already stated in legal proceedings that Trump did in fact had some sort of sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels – however brief and unpleasant. And that Trump was supposedly trying to spare his wife Melania from finding about this extramarital encounter.
Surprisingly – legally speaking – if Trump would have just paid Stormy’s silence directly, instead of going through this weird, elaborated scheme to have Michael Cohen pay her and create a bunch of alternative paperwork – Trump would have not been sitting in court for the last several weeks.
That does not make it right morally speaking – but it would not have been illegal. What was illegal was the falsification of records and how this was a coverup that seems intended to have the American people not to factor his moral characters shortcomings before the 2016 election. If you’ve been following the trial, then you would have also realized that Trump had made many tactical and strategic mistakes all along (to this day).
So that begs the question. If a man is so shortsighted and manipulated others into trying to get away with something such as hilariously pathetic extramarital sexual encounter, and went through great lengths to cover it up, and failed – what other mistakes would this person be capable of doing if he gets the powers of the highest office in the world? And yes, we know he committed a lot of huge blunders during his presidency.
Think about it for a second. Let it sink in – and for good measure if you like Trump, think if anybody you dislike was accused of the same actions, and would have made the very same mistakes, and committed the same moral shortcomings. I am saying this because it is important to remember that biases are highly exploitable. Even if you didn’t not commit the same crimes Trump committed, if you condone it, it also says a lot about who YOU are as a person.
Trump traffics in the court of public opinion, but he is a lot less effective in an actual court of law. For this case – arguably the most important case in his life – thus far, because he is facing the possibility of going to prison on 34 criminal charges, he chose NOT to testify in his own defense.
This is despite the fact Trump said very publicly that he would testify on his own defense for this trial – after he had a lot of choice words for everyone involved. Why do you think he did not testify? Afterall, Trump is not shy about attacking anybody when he feels attacked for lesser matters – even though those would not land him in prison. This is arguably the most significant fight Trump has right now – and he chose not to speak out – when for lesser “injustices” he goes on midnight social media storms.
It is easy to ascertain that it is because he would have gotten his butt handed to him on the stand. In this case it might have been smart not to testify, because the last two times he sat on the stand he lost the case – and as a consequence he owes almost a half-billion dollars, he has not paid yet. In other words, his adoring fans might buy everything Trump and his acolytes cherry pick for them to repeat. But when you subject those talking points to scrutiny, then you start finding out a lot of plot holes to the story.
For example, that happened when the defense witness Robert Costello testified in favor of Trump. Somehow this man was even less likable than Michael Cohen, and essentially torpedoed Trump’s defense, not only in substance, but on the optics, as it has been reported that Costello’s unpleasant attitude even caused the courtroom to be cleared and reminded of proper court decorum. Which says a lot about Costello, who is a former Federal Attorney himself. And also screams about Trump’s faulty strategy, because Costello’s presence only damaged whatever little gains the defense had accrued.
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So, how did stormy defeat Trump?
Stormy exposed Trump’s insecurities, and [perhaps unintentionally] amplified them in ways that Trump won’t be able to recover a great part of his formerly adoring following – those ex-MAGA who are willing to choose country over Trump.
A layer that some people might have not realized it is that Stormy was attacked from all directions when Trump went on the offensive. She endured death threats, got arrested on unrelated charges, had her name disparaged by the entire MAGA-verse, her family was at risk, she got economically affected, she was a target of harassment and other frauds – such as her former lawyer who used the scandal to gain national attention – and due to his own actions ended up in prison himself.
As Stormy herself said, if she was writing this as a fictitious story, she would have made a better story than this ridiculous plot line. But then again, sometimes reality is a lot more mind-bending than the greatest fiction. For many of us, it is like being forced to watch an insane reality show. And thanks to Stormy, we are seeing a lot more than the unpleasant knowledge of her cringeworthy sexual encounter with Trump.
During this criminal trial, we’ve seen Trump at his worst. For example, when it pertains to the gag orders – which he seems to misunderstand that they are to protect the witnesses, jury, and court staff from potential retaliation by MAGA followers who have a history of taking violent action in favor of Trump – even if they have never had a conversation with him. A person of influence can inspire people for good or bad – the gag order was because many MAGA fans tend to become violent.
Do you know when was his best chance to speak? On the witness stand! When he could testify and “set the record straight” if there were any inconsistencies on the arguments he sat (and reportedly slept) through during the last several weeks. Why didn’t he testify? Doesn’t he have the best attorneys? Doesn’t he hold the truth? Afterall, the defense said that the Prosecution did not meet their burden of proof – which is really a legal tactic – and it would be dumb not to say that. But they know the truth, the prosecution was very well prepared.
Trump will continue speaking to the court of public opinion, but the fact is that people who are paying attention – even those who wanted to “prove never-Trumpers” wrong – ended up discovering that the reason why people don’t like Trump, is the same reason why many Ultra-MAGAS are running for the exit. They realized that there was a lot more to Trump than what met the eye, and the more they dug, the more they found – and that caused them to wake up and run for the exit. HLC