Trump Trial Thoughts

Yes, it's hard to look away. Donald seems to be simultaneously complaining that the trial is going too fast and that it's taking forever. To the extent the latter is the case, a lot of that is because his side is refusing to concede anything, no matter how trivial. If the prosecution wants to show a video of Trump saying something in a speech, the Trump side won't agree to stipulate that the clip is legitimate and that Trump said what he said on the tape.

The prosecution has to bring in a witness to swear under oath that the clip is real. Some of the lawyers analyzing the trial for the media are saying it would shave a week or two off this trial if Trump's team would just concede little undeniable things like that.

Some of those analyst-type attorneys are saying that the prosecution doesn't need to call Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels to testify because everything they could add to the record has been or will be said by other witnesses. But other pundit-lawyers are saying the prosecution should call them because Trump wants his lawyers to savage them on the stand and that will just make the jury think a lot less of Donald.

Or they say it will drive home the point that Trump, in accord with his "never concede anything, just attack, attack, attack" policy is a liar. Does anyone still believe he never knew either, let alone both of those ladies?

"Never concede anything, just attack, attack, attack" probably worked well for Trump in other battles in other venues but it doesn't seem to work when he's a defendant in a court of law. In some kinds of disputes, it enabled him to control the dynamics of the battle and to make others play on his turf according to his rules. That doesn't work so well in a courtroom with rules and a judge.

The New York Times says Trump is furious that his lawyers — Todd Blanche, especially — aren't aggressive enough. Sounds like he wants less legal procedure and more name-calling. The prosecution showed some old clips of Trump calling Michael Cohen a great, trustworthy lawyer. You get the feeling that as Counselor Blanche watched those clips, he was thinking, "Hey, that's what my client was saying about me a few weeks ago"?