The Impact

 I consider myself a fairly engaged consumer of news. It might also come as a surprise to anyone who actually reads this blog that I have made my mind up about Trump. So my lack of engagement with the hush money/campaign finance trial isn't really surprising to me. He's guilty, but like anyone I worry that a hung jury might roil the waters surrounding his guilt. 

It occurs to me that there are three things that complicate my hopes that the law will finally catch this career criminal. The first is the Republicans on the Supreme Court's clear plan to slow walk the January 6th case. The second is Aileen Cannon acting as Trump's only competent defense attorney by basically tabling the secret documents case. The most damning cases will be held off until after the election. We need to come to peace with that. I have no idea what's happening in the Georgia case; hopefully Fani Willis is getting her shit together.

The third thing is actually less about the law and more about the consequences for Trump. There are no cameras in the NY courtroom for the hush money trial. That's...unfortunate.

The reason is linked to Trump's psychology, one that extends to his particular brand of politics. Trump is about dominance (Marshall lays out how this will play out in his Veep pick). His entire "brand" is that "he alone" can vanquish the dark forces of wokeness and socialmalism that Biden is cramming down American's entirely heterosexual throats. His appeal is exactly to those Americans who crave a strong man dictator to punish the enemies and boogeymen that Fox News and AM radio have been cramming into the fetid and dark recesses of their brains since the '90s. 

This trial - regardless of the outcome - is a systematic dismantling of that strong man mythos. Today's testimony was a good example of that. Melania sleeps in a separate bedroom; Trump compared Daniels to his daughter; Trump was needy. Then there is Trump's alleged flatulence and falling asleep. If this was on camera, it would be devastating to him.

As it is, I would expect that today's testimony was so psychically damaging to him that he will violate the gag order in the next 72 hours. He won't be able to help himself. 

It is meaningless, at this point, to note that Trump has been given every latitude in all of his cases that non-ex-presidents would not be given. He will attack Daniels soon. His need for dominance demands it. Hopefully, Merchan will follow up and throw him in jail. Sadly, it might be the only time he sees prison bars before the election.