Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

"have there ever been this many cowards in power?" For June Thread Title

It's unfortunate that a sombre snare drummer wasn't present to accompany his walk out of the courthouse

https://mapsaboutnothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/pines-of-mar-gables1.png

Shoulda just been a bunch of instant rimshots

listening to biden right now is such a contrast to dim bulb trump but i can't help but cringe when i hear his old man slurring thing. i just wish he would take his time more and enunciate. it makes him sound drunk sometimes.

oh man when biden was walking away they asked him about trump and he stopped and gave this weird smile and then kept walking. you should have seen that face he made.

Biden's been slurring his words since 1977

i took a picture...

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/447188444_10161890369382137_1716809769511646200_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=MLEyGAc0sUEQ7kNvgH6tUDL&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AYDeJrWAgoKMM8jSF9NaxWV9wuFMIVk3cloO5zsISiWaQw&oe=665FD878

lol

Couldn't help it - had to make it a Biden reaction GIF pic.twitter.com/c629zQZpS1

— Chris Strider (@stridinstrider) May 31, 2024

lol pretty good

haha

I love it, he looks like the proverbial cat w/canary

Man, that's end-of-The-Omen good!

sad.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/business/media/cnn-nbc-trump-speech.html

Several major networks cut away from former President Donald J. Trump on Friday during an appearance that had been promoted as a news conference at Trump Tower devolved into a rambling and misleading speech.

Biden made the face of a man who knows he's going to be memed and gifed for the next week

an appearance that had been promoted as a news conference at Trump Tower devolved into a rambling and misleading speech.

This is like huffily walking out of a GG Allin show

chaits still got it

― Ned Raggett, Friday, May 31, 2024 4:52 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

"A lot depends on what happens next."

amazing spin from the GOP lately, "this is only going to help Donald Trump". like yeah there were a whole lotta people on the fence until they saw him falling asleep at the felony trial which he lost, big time. they're sitting there going well now I have no choice to vote for this man. how dare they go after this man? even the "if they can do this to him they can do this to anyone!" thing, as though there's a single voter on the planet in position to commit these specific crimes (obviously Trump still could, but he's no longer allowed to vote). and then going "ooh they're doing this to fuck with the election", ignoring the fact that Trump's team did everything possible to delay this trial for years, almost as if the entire goal was to delay it until after he won the nomination. they did all this shit to themselves.

"if they can do this to him they can do this to anyone!"

they did it to John Edwards lol

I mean we can only speculate how this will ultimately affect things but I think this at least changes the way everything is framed. you don't have to use terms like "allegedly" or "accused" anymore, you can come right out and say it, he's a convicted felon. he went through the same justice system as everyone else and they found him to be guilty as hell. the evidence was all there. a jury unanimously found him guilty of everything. he's got 3 more criminal trials in the hopper and guess what he's almost certainly guilty on all those too.

again, the GOP is spinning around going "no no no this is all actually good" but idk, if your winning message in 2016 was "vote for me because my opponent is a criminal" and now it's "look at all these criminals crossing the border!" it's probably not great to be a convicted felon yourself

imo the law whats legal and whats not whos a criminal is a huge mostly unexamined psychological foundation of the status quo, obviously its a material foundation in a very real way too, in america at least everyone considers themselves a wily maverick but i think actually the law is super influential in peoples general judgement of whats socially acceptable, weed legalization is a good example of this smoking weed talking about "cannabis" became totally socially acceptable overnight where before its not like it was murder or theft but it wasnt something most people just talked about with anyone at any time it was somewhat taboo, anyway i dont think this conviction is good for trump

competent counsel is out of reach now as well.. nobody wants to work for him but hack ambulance chasers, I can't imagine the appeal going anywhere

I only saw about two minutes' worth of the 33-minute(!) self-pity-a-thon from this morning, but all I could think of was Lenny Bruce in the final year or so of his career, when he'd show up for supposed stand-up comedy gigs and start literally reading from the transcripts of his obscenity trials. Like, I never found Trump entertaining or funny, but clearly millions of people did. But this is what his rallies and public appearances are going to be from now until November — him standing up there whining about how unfairly he was treated, like a loser. And he's not gonna be able to help himself. The wound to his psyche has got to have been overwhelming.

also I'm curious what this means for his biggest fans, like I am pretty sure that what I'm seeing today in terms of Trump flags/lawn signs/MAGA hats already is far less than it was in 2020 around this time, and now that he's a felon I can't imagine they're rushing to put the signs back up. which is not to say they won't vote for him anyway, but as it stands if declaring your support of Trump turns into this embarrassing thing where the immediate response is "WHY ARE YOU SUPPORTING THIS PATHETIC CRIMINAL" it's probably a real bad sign for the swing states he has to win

xpost That's what I was thinking, too. As soon as I heard his voice, I wanted desperately (as always) for someone in attendance to just cut his tongue out for the sake of humanity, but hey, if he just wants to ramble incoherently for the next five months about mundane minutia that only has an impact on him and that is just going to bore and confuse literally every other human on earth, shit, have at it.

It was like the thing where I occasionally find myself getting way too in the weeds about some work thing with someone who has no idea what I'm talking about and probably couldn't care less and I stop myself before their eyes start to glaze over except without the part where I stop myself.

all I could think of was Lenny Bruce in the final year

was thinking the same thing... the red meat for his followers is build the wall, lock her up (!), deport everyone... if he just becomes a sad Dangerfieldesque 'no respect' loser parody, they'll be pretty disappointed

(some of Jello Biafra's spoken word has this indignant self-pity as well)

http://x.com/Acyn/status/1796625872541372659

The above is a video clip of Paul Begala on CNN saying in part, "In a way, I feel some pity for him. He’s an obese, flatulent old man with bad makeup and weird hair who had to sit in a courtroom and listen to a porn star testify about how bad he is in bed."

lol, that's like feeling pity for someone who slowly and deliberately sawed their left arm off for no reason.

I gotta say, I don't think his pity, as expressed, is 100% sincere.

Paul Begala came up from the catacombs?

Has this person always been deranged? I thought people viewed her as a reliable source on trump legal stuff and now she’s melting down over another left-liberal blogger criticizing Merrick Garland - https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3ktqlnhtx242x

She's a mix of interesting insight and an absolutely fragile shell.

also I'm curious what this means for his biggest fans

The people whose hearts beat with MAGA Kool-Aid are just ratcheting up their attacks and tired conspiracy theories about Biden.

I was surprised at how upset some GOPers got about this, then someone pointed out that psychologically for them, it's important to control what type of person gets labeled a criminal, so this matters to them in a way to Carroll case didn't.

how upset some GOPers got about this

theatrics are required with that bunch

that emptywheel person is a nightmare

this seems like a winning message

https://i.imgur.com/JZF0Ah8.png

2coups once again accordion waves away rules for the poors. lock her up!

I guess one of the smoking guns that really swayed the jury was Cohen's 'invoice' with an accountant's handwritten note instructing to round up the payment because he would be taxed on legal services provide (income tax) while he was just seeking reimbursement for the Stormy payment

Trump's team never even attempted to question its veracity

theatrics are required with that bunch

sure but they're making a much bigger deal about this than prior verdicts

Well it IS a criminal case rather than a civil one, so.

that emptywheel person is a nightmare

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, May 31, 2024 5:33 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

saw her melting down last night and my god its still ongoing

https://i.imgur.com/CDbmwLL.png

many replies later

https://i.imgur.com/3xCV1hH.png

yeesh

We don't need another asshole

my god

https://i.imgur.com/AQo7QVm.png

Haha