Saturday 1 June 2024

Trump Guilty as charged

The guilty verdict in Trump's hush money trial in New York was a bit of a surprise. Not because I thought he was innocent but because I thought it would be hard to find a jury without at least one MAGA supporter in it. His conviction on all 34 counts came after a lot of expert comment on social media that the whole thing was a slam dunk because the evidence was overwhelming. But then, a lot of Trump supporters thought he was going to be acquitted. The judge in his instructions to the jury was clear. They had to be unanimous to find him guilty. Just one MAGA sticking out for him and it could have been declared a mistrial.

On Thursday afternoon I thought that was the most likely outcome so when we learned the 12 jurors (all vetted at the outset by both sets of lawyers) had reached a verdict, it was a surprise.

Not only that, they found him guilty on all 34 counts. He’s the first president or former president to be found guilty of a felony (a serious crime). Trump is due to be sentenced on 11 July, days before the Republicans are set to choose him as their official candidate for November’s presidential election.

And unsurprisingly, they intend to do just that.

Trump has already announced an appeal, as he has on the recent fraud trial, also in New York where he has been fined $175 million.  If you're interested, an article in The Atlantic magazine sets out the state of play in all of his ongoing legal cases. Trump has spent almost his entire adult life involved in lawsuits of various kinds so none of this is unusual for him.

I should say that nobody thinks he's going to jail before the election

But the really amazing thing is that well over 60 million American voters still think he’s the victim, totally innocent and they intend to vote for him in November!  A poll carried out by YouGov America indicates the verdict makes 26% of Americans MORE likely to support him!!!

Quite apart from his criminal and possibly treasonous activities, he is a total moron anyway. What do they see in him?  His stunning popularity calls into question the US education system. How can half the adult population think an idiot is a genius? Or does it help to explain how companies in America grow massive by conning a gullible public?  Who knows.

A producer of the show that catapulted Trump to national prominence in the early 2000s, The Apprentice, has written a lengthy piece in The Slate (HERE). He was a moron even then. 

Listen to this:

"While on location, [Trump] could barely put a sentence together regarding how a task would work. Listen now, and he speaks directly to what needs to happen while the camera conveniently cuts away to the contestants, who are listening and nodding. He sounds articulate and concise through some editing sleight of hand."

This editing "sleight of hand" is in fact Trump speaking words from a script in sequences filmed afterward in his flat at Trump Tower: 

"There is a convenient solution. At the top of the second act, right after the task has been assigned but right before the teams embark on their assignment, we insert a sequence with Trump, seated inside his gilded apartment, dispensing a carefully crafted bit of wisdom. He speaks to whatever the theme of each episode is—why someone gets fired or what would lead to a win. The net effect is not only that Trump appears once more in each episode but that he also now seems prophetic in how he just knows the way things will go right or wrong with each individual task. He comes off as all-seeing and all-knowing. We are led to believe that Donald Trump is a natural-born leader."

The producer Bill Pruitt admits:

“So, we scammed. We swindled. Nobody heard the racist and misogynistic comments or saw the alleged cheating, the bluffing, or his hair taking off in the wind. Those tapes, I’ve come to believe, will never be found."

The reference to racism comes from Trump's use of the "n" word which is apparently recorded somewhere. Trump was manufactured to look as though he was clever, prescient, and a natural leader when in fact he was just a narcissistic moron. Mr Pruitt did America no favours.

Boris Johnson has added his stupid voice to the issue and written a piece in The Daily Mail, defending Trump and claiming there was "zero evidence" against him. There was a mountain of it, as the twelve jurors and anyone following the trial has concluded.

He suggests the whole thing was "nakedly political" and the Democrats were "tripping Trump up over this technicality – like collaring Al Capone for tax evasion."

Johnson says:

"Whatever his detractors may say, I believe that Donald Trump – at his best – could offer the world the strong, confident leadership that it needs.

"On the most important geo-strategic issue of our time, the freedom of Ukraine, he has the energy and coherence to ensure we get the right answer: the defeat of Putin, and a clear message to the world, especially China, that aggression does not pay.

"If you look dispassionately at his time in office, both on the domestic and international front, it was far more successful than his Left-wing critics allow. They should not be using legal tricks like this to prevent him from receiving the judgment that really matters – the verdict of the people."

If Johnson thinks Trump would help defeat Russia in Ukraine, God help us all.

Finally, on the home front, take a look at this recent polling of 10,000 voters:

The poll predicts the Tories will end up just 7 seats ahead of the LibDems! If that doesn't give the party cause for serious reflection about the direction its been going in for twenty years, nothing will.

Note the polling was done for The Mail and is probably intended to fire up its readers to go out on 4 July and support the Tories. But we can hope.

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