By Maggie Haberman and Jonah E. Bromwich
Over the past week, Donald J. Trump rallied alongside two rap artists accused of conspiracy to commit murder. He promised to commute the sentence of a notorious internet drug dealer. And he appeared backstage with another rap artist who has pleaded guilty to assault for punching a female fan.
As Mr. Trump awaits the conclusion of his Manhattan trial — closing arguments are set for Tuesday and a verdict could arrive as soon as this week — he used a weeklong break from court to align himself with defendants and convicted criminals charged by the same system with which he is at war.
The appearances fit neatly into Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign, during which he has said he is likely to pardon those prosecuted for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and lent his voice to a recording of the national anthem by a choir of Jan. 6 inmates.
There was a time when so much confirmed and alleged criminality would be too much to tolerate for supporters of a candidate for president, an office with a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. That might have been especially true in the case of a candidate who has been indicted four times and stands accused of rank disregard for the law.
Yet with less than six months until Election Day, Mr. Trump, who has long pushed messaging about “law and order,”is leaning into an outlaw image, surrounding himself with accused criminals and convicts.
“I don’t think people appreciate the degree to which Trump has embraced the image of lawlessness in this campaign,” said Tim Miller, a former Republican strategist who worked for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign and has been deeply critical of Mr. Trump.
Mr. Miller described Mr. Trump’s recent guest appearances as “a vetting decision that would have been unthinkable in past campaigns.”
Aides to Mr. Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment about what message he intended to send with these appearances.
Mr. Trump’s rally last week in the Bronx wound down with appearances from the two rappers, Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow, whose real names are Michael Williams and Tegan Chambers. Both were charged in a conspiracy that Brooklyn prosecutors say led to 12 shootings. Mr. Williams also faces two counts of attempted murder. Both men pleaded not guilty and are out on bail.
Mr. Trump, from the rally stage, presented the two men to the crowd for a brief comment. Mr. Chambers kept his message short and to the point: “Make America great again.”
Two days later, as Mr. Trump spoke to an unfriendly crowd at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, he promised to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the black-market website Silk Road, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015. At the same event, Mr. Trump took a photograph with the rapper Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Edgar Foreman and who pleaded guilty in 2015 to punching a woman attending one of his concerts.
In the courtroom, Mr. Trump has surrounded himself with allies turned defendants. The week that his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, was set to testify that Mr. Trump had approved a plan to pay off a porn star and cover it up, Mr. Trump marched into court accompanied by his indicted top legal adviser, Boris Epshteyn, who has attended every day of the trial since his own charges arrived in an Arizona election interference case.
Also in Mr. Trump’s entourage during Mr. Cohen’s testimony were Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner who spent time in prison on fraud charges and whom Mr. Trump pardoned, and Chuck Zito, a former actor who spent years in federal prison and was a leader of a Hells Angels chapter in New York.
Mr. Trump has insisted that every investigation into him is political, the work of opponents conspiring against him. He has tarred various representatives of the legal system — political candidates who campaigned aggressively against him and prosecutors appointed to investigate him — with the same brush, while backing his most controversial supporters.
This reflex of Mr. Trump’s — to ignore accusations if the accused is useful to him — is not new. But the scale has changed.
In his 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump put Elliott B. Broidy, a financier who had pleaded guilty seven years earlier to bribing New York officials, on his fund-raising committee. It was a little-noticed move that might have raised more eyebrows had Mr. Trump not been smashing one norm after another as the presumptive Republican nominee.
Shortly after the election, Mr. Trump and his campaign were ensnared in an investigation into whether his political operation had ties to Russians. Several advisers were swept up in that inquiry, including his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn; his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; his longest-serving adviser, Roger J. Stone Jr.; and Mr. Cohen, his fixer and personal lawyer.
[continues]
Do Magas really approve of Plumpty’s public projectile vomiting? The local news channel in Austin read part of the “human scum” issuance on-air yesterday evening. It’s even more disgusting when you hear the sound. He’s getting increasingly desperate and deranged by the day. Is that really want his voters want to see and hear? Role model for their children? Why? It’s so horrible.
“I don’t think people appreciate the degree to which Trump has embraced the image of lawlessness in this campaign,” said Tim Miller, a former Republican strategist…
Obviously not. Dems need to step that message up, not wait for the Bible to catch fire in Melania’s hands.
Top Psychologists John Gartner and Harry Segal are joined by Emily and Mitchell Clionsky, experts in dementia, to outline the specific symptoms of Trump’s mental decline on Really American’s…podcast, “Shrinking Trump.”
WaPo shows a note Dumbass wrote (sharpie of course) on a post-it note for Todd Blanche:
This case should be dismissed by the Judge but he is Totally…[remainder is covered by his hands]
It is on top of a second sticky note and sits on a paper entitled QUOTES with a list of quotes from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board “…After 20 days and a trial transcript of 4000 pages, THE MISSING PIECE IS STILL MISSING.”, Jonathan Turley “… should end in NOT GUILTY.” I’m sure the quotes are supposed t make him feel good going into summations. Good luck with that. 🙄
That’s a great letter the psychologists wrote to the Wash Post. . They read it on the podcast and give the addresses for others to do as well. About how totally SLANTED the coverage of Pumpkin and Biden is, favoring the Pumpkon—with examples.
So Todd Blanche gets his shit jumped good by Judge Merchan for begging the jury not to send his client to jail. Wildly inappropriate comment and as a former prosecutor Blanche knows that. According to NYT coverage, Merchan was PISSED. And from what I can tell from prior coverage of the case, Blache’s summation will be torn to shreds in places, like this bit:
The lawyer, Todd Blanche, called Mr. Cohen “the greatest liar of all time” in a sprawling and sometimes disjointed closing argument. He denied that Mr. Trump had knowledge of the $130,000 payment Mr. Cohen made to the woman, Stormy Daniels, on the eve of the 2016 election to silence her account of a sexual rendezvous and closed by saying the jurors should reach a “very quick and easy not guilty verdict.” Lawyers for the Manhattan district attorney’s office will give their summation after the lunch break.
NYT.
He also argued that Dumbass did nothing wrong by paying her to keep her yap shut. There’s arguing in the alternative, then there’s arguing contradictory statements – this would be a case of the latter. And he also called Cohen the MVP of liars. I’m pretty sure his client holds that title.
To avoid any confusion and to ensure access to the Ohio ballot, DNC officials say the party’s rules and bylaws subcommittee plans to vote next Tuesday to recommend to the full body that the president and vice president be nominated virtually. Officials noted this is similar to what occurred in 2020, when Mr. Biden and Harris had to be nominated virtually after the pandemic severely curtailed the meetings of the party’s quadrennial convention.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.”
A DNC official said that despite the virutal nomination, the Chicago convention “will continue to serve as an important convening event for Democrats across the country.”
too bad they don’t cancel what’s probably gonna be a rerun of the ’68 chicago convention disaster and redirect the millions saved to getting out the vote operations. maybe use some of it to contract with Uber, Lyft, city bus and taxi cos etc to give free rides to the polls on election day.
orgs like league of women voters and other non-partisan good gov groups could also be given the means to help get voters transported.
Blanche prison reference might have backfired. Judge gave curative charge to jury telling them the case does “not necessarily involve” jail time, going further than he might have otherwise.
Our big walk today was being there to see grand-student walk across the stage at her high school graduation in Austin, Texas. Parking was a shambles whoever organized that, but the ceremony was wonderful. This class started their freshman year on zoom. First covid-era class to graduate.
One thing I noticed during the graduation gridlock and parking lot logistics debacle was that it cut off access to a polling place on election day. I wondered if any voters gave up and left. Nobody thought that through, apparently.
or picture, as an Austrian cartoonist did, the up-coming debates:
Attribution: TV Duel by Marian Kamensky, Austria
how one candidate seems to picture himself according to this morning’s NYT article
Trump Leans Into an Outlaw Image as His Criminal Trial Concludes – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Do Magas really approve of Plumpty’s public projectile vomiting? The local news channel in Austin read part of the “human scum” issuance on-air yesterday evening. It’s even more disgusting when you hear the sound. He’s getting increasingly desperate and deranged by the day. Is that really want his voters want to see and hear? Role model for their children? Why? It’s so horrible.
When he calls others “human scum” it’s the ultimate form of projection
Obviously not. Dems need to step that message up, not wait for the Bible to catch fire in Melania’s hands.
An excellent evaluation of Scump’s mental status by some psychologists.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shrinking-trump/id1745797271?i=1000656692342
Top Psychologists John Gartner and Harry Segal are joined by Emily and Mitchell Clionsky, experts in dementia, to outline the specific symptoms of Trump’s mental decline on Really American’s…podcast, “Shrinking Trump.”
Also covered is press coverage or lack of it
WaPo shows a note Dumbass wrote (sharpie of course) on a post-it note for Todd Blanche:
It is on top of a second sticky note and sits on a paper entitled QUOTES with a list of quotes from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board “…After 20 days and a trial transcript of 4000 pages, THE MISSING PIECE IS STILL MISSING.”, Jonathan Turley “… should end in NOT GUILTY.” I’m sure the quotes are supposed t make him feel good going into summations. Good luck with that. 🙄
today’s meme…
That’s a great letter the psychologists wrote to the Wash Post. . They read it on the podcast and give the addresses for others to do as well. About how totally SLANTED the coverage of Pumpkin and Biden is, favoring the Pumpkon—with examples.
So Todd Blanche gets his shit jumped good by Judge Merchan for begging the jury not to send his client to jail. Wildly inappropriate comment and as a former prosecutor Blanche knows that. According to NYT coverage, Merchan was PISSED. And from what I can tell from prior coverage of the case, Blache’s summation will be torn to shreds in places, like this bit:
NYT.
He also argued that Dumbass did nothing wrong by paying her to keep her yap shut. There’s arguing in the alternative, then there’s arguing contradictory statements – this would be a case of the latter. And he also called Cohen the MVP of liars. I’m pretty sure his client holds that title.
So they’re also saying that Pecker rose to the occasion?
DNC plans to nominate Biden and Harris virtually before convention (msn.com)
too bad they don’t cancel what’s probably gonna be a rerun of the ’68 chicago convention disaster and redirect the millions saved to getting out the vote operations. maybe use some of it to contract with Uber, Lyft, city bus and taxi cos etc to give free rides to the polls on election day.
orgs like league of women voters and other non-partisan good gov groups could also be given the means to help get voters transported.
Trump is posting during prosecution closing.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
BORING
——————-
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
FILIBUSTER!
So telling Blanche did not even mention Costello in closing. Pretty bad when your only witness such a fiasco you ignore his testimony
Blanche prison reference might have backfired. Judge gave curative charge to jury telling them the case does “not necessarily involve” jail time, going further than he might have otherwise.
Is he posting? He has phone in the courtroom? Is it the assistant who looks like Hopey Hicks or the blonde one who looks like his daughter.
There’s a paper trail. That doesn’t go away. Pecker gave up the goods, too.
Cohen may be the second-greatest liar. The first is definitely the sleepy orange, farting defendant.
Pumpkin reviews Prosecution closing
Sturg, I’m sure they said that with a twinkle in their eyes and a knowing look on their faces.
he really should have been jailed for contempt, blatant threats and a complete disrespect no one else, not you or me, could ever get away with
…don’t envy Merchan’s position
Our big walk today was being there to see grand-student walk across the stage at her high school graduation in Austin, Texas. Parking was a shambles whoever organized that, but the ceremony was wonderful. This class started their freshman year on zoom. First covid-era class to graduate.
Closing arguments done. Jury instructions in the morning, then deliberation
One thing I noticed during the graduation gridlock and parking lot logistics debacle was that it cut off access to a polling place on election day. I wondered if any voters gave up and left. Nobody thought that through, apparently.
It’s Texas.
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