Trump's Fraud Trial Outburst is a Preview of His Presidency

Incoherence, disrespect for the law, dramatics, retaliation, painting himself as the victim: What we saw in court is what to expect from Trump 2.0.

Photo by Mason Hassoun on Unsplash

The last day of Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York was a doozy. The former president gave a surprise statement in court which went swiftly and predictably off the rails. The fraud case against him, he said, was actually “a fraud on me.” New York attorney general Leticia James, he opined, “should pay me,” and not the other way around (she is seeking $370 million as a penalty for the alleged frauds). He berated the judge — the same man who will decide the outcome of this case, in which there is no jury — saying, “You have your own agenda, I certainly understand that” and declaring that “you can’t listen for more than one minute.”

One of his lawyers, Alina Habba, was similarly unhinged:

In her theatrical presentation, Ms. Habba criticized the attorney general for drinking Starbucks in the courtroom and, she claimed, for having her shoes off during closing arguments.

“They’re not living in the real world,” Ms. Habba said. “They’re living in this crazy world,” she said, prompting Justice Engoron to question the relevance of the attorney general’s footwear situation.

Dramatic, self-aggrandizing, and deeply disrespectful displays from broadly incompetent lunatics who have somehow been elevated to power: That is the Donald Trump story in a nutshell.