After his New Hampshire win, which was a solid win but not quite as big a win as polls projected, Trump’s “victory speech” was mostly a temper tantrum aimed at Nikki Haley. Haley had spoken first and had delivered a pretty good “we really won by coming in second” address, which is practically traditional after New Hampshire primaries. But where a traditional politician who had actually won would have delivered something rousing to his audience, Trump spat venom at Haley. Steve Benen, who also noted the irony —
Reflecting on his reaction to the former ambassador’s remarks, Trump told supporters, “I said, wow, she’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win. She lost. Let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night.
It was quite a speech. During relatively brief remarks, the likely GOP nominee not only slammed Haley for appearing pleased about the primary results, he also referenced unnamed Haley scandals that “she doesn’t want to talk about” and even took aim at her attire.
“You can’t let people get away with bull—-,” Trump added. “And when I watched her in the fancy dress that probably wasn’t so fancy, I said, ‘What’s she doing? We won.’”
The former president concluded, “I don’t get too angry, I get even.”
On his social media platform, he was every bit as agitated, condemning Haley as “DELUSIONAL!!!” for sticking around after losing. He added, “Could somebody please explain to Nikki Haley that she lost — and lost really badly.”
For good measure the former president wrote, “NIKKI CAME IN LAST, NOT SECOND!”
Like the man said — oh, the irony. Note that polls had put him up by 20 points, and instead the margn of victory was about 11 points. Most politicians would have accepted the victory without having an emotional meltdown, though.
Today CNBC is reporting that Trump let it be known he will “blacklist” all Haley campaign donors. He wrote on “Truth Social,”
When I ran for Office and won, I noticed that the losing Candidate’s “Donors” would immediately come to me, and want to “help out.” This is standard in Politics, but no longer with me. Anybody that makes a “Contribution” to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!
Somehow I think he will still take the big checks, but whatever. And then he turned on Kayleigh McEnany because she very mildly and obsequiously suggested that he needs to pay attention to the Republicans and independents who didn’t vote for him before the general election. Huffpost:
McEnany, now a Fox News host, had offered Trump some compliment-laden advice during the network’s primary analysis. She suggested he should think ahead to the general election and recognize that there is a segment of Republican and independent voters that he has not captured.
“President Trump, I would go home tonight, I’d go to my victory party, I would celebrate, I’ve made history yet again. But then I’d go home and I’d look under the hood,” she said.
Trump threw a fit.
“I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform late on Tuesday, using an acronym for “Republican in name only.”
“Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!” he added.
I’m looking at this behavior and seeing an outraged, and terrified, six-year-old. Trump doesn’t seem to know how to hide his feelings. Most people his age — indeed, a third his age — have learned how to smile their way through a rough patch when it’s called for. Trump has always gotten his way by being the biggest asshole in the room, and that’s all he knows. And his behavior tells me he’s scared out of his wits. I’d love to know what his blood pressure has been up to lately.
I’m even reading that Trump’s rallies are getting tired and monotonous. People who waited on line in freezing temperatures to be there are walking out early. His groupies aren’t going to leave him for not updating his act, I don’t think. But he’s not going to bring anybody on board who wasn’t there already. See also Josh Marshall, Swagger and Menace: The Story of Mr. 50%. And see also Chris Hayes —
There’s also a new Biden campaign ad featuring Trump gaffes, which seem to be happening more frequently. More indication of mental/emotional deterioration, I say.
The E. Jean Carroll trial resumed today, and Trump is in the courthouse. Carroll’s lawyers have rested their case, so now it’s the defense turn. There is talk of Trump testifying, but that hasn’t been decided.
Update: Trump took the stand very briefly. This is from the New York Times —
A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Alina Habba, asked the former president whether he stood by his remarks, in which he called Ms. Carroll a liar.
“100 percent, yes,” Mr. Trump said. “She said something I considered a false accusation.”
The judge struck that statement, and Ms. Habba asked Mr. Trump whether he intended to hurt Ms. Carroll. He said no. “I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency,” Mr. Trump added.
The defense quickly rested.
The sole issue facing the nine-member civil jury is how much money, if any, Mr. Trump must pay Ms. Carroll in damages for defaming her in June 2019 after she first publicly accused him, in a book excerpt in New York Magazine, of attacking her. She has already won a civil verdict over her assault claim.
The cross-examination was similarly brief: Ms. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, asked only a couple of questions. She asked if this was the first trial he had attended where Ms. Carroll was the plaintiff. He said yes. She then asked if he listened to the advice of counsel at the last trial, prompting an objection from the defense.
Mr. Trump’s testimony came only after the judge in the case, Lewis A. Kaplan, quizzed Ms. Habba on what he would say — an effort to ensure he did not stray beyond the scope of the case at hand. Mr. Trump appeared upset with the limitations; at one point before the jury entered the courtroom, he raised his hands and said, “I never met the woman. I don’t know who the woman is.”
The former president appeared calm during his brief testimony, but after Judge Kaplan dismissed the jury, he loudly complained, “This is not America.”
Also, too: I guess lots of people beside Nikki Haley are confused about the cause of the Civil War. Some of these people don’t seem to have heard of the Civil War.
"I'd look under the hood… " said faithful loyalist Kayleigh McEnany. Okay, show of hands – how many like me mentally pictured what sort of "hood" she was talking about, maybe something in the manner of tall pointed white cloth with eye-holes?
“You can’t let people get away with bull—-,” Trump added.
Most ironic statement of all time.
”Anybody that makes a “Contribution” to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them”
This strategy did not work for Kari Lake in Arizona. And it too will hurt Trump.
“I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox,”
Seems like Stump hired a whole bunch of "RINO's" in his short stint at the WH!
geunther,
LOL!
Perfect!!!
Thanks gulag!
tRUMP says that "Birdbrain's" donors will not be welcome in MAGAtgrad.
Yeah, right.
C'mon Donnie, you greedy bastard!
Who do you think you're foolin'?!?
You've never turned your back on a red cent for fear it'll roll away from your clutches!
I hope Nikki Haley doesn't fold under pressure. She's getting all sorts of threats from Trump on down.
Read about a New Hampshire exit poll –
80% of those who voted for Trump believe Biden stole the 2020 election
80% of Haley's voters believe Biden won legitimately.
The 80% of Haley voters who think Biden won in 2020 won't all transfer to Trump when Haley runs out of steam though many won't vote for Biden. No Labels fully intends to stab Biden but let's check the exit polls after November. If support for Trump is weak and getting weaker, this could bite the GOP in the end.
"I’d love to know what his blood pressure has been up to lately."
Let's hope for a serious stroke that leaves him unable to speak, but lets him see the entire range of verdicts against him. I call that fitting punishment.
No doubt about it, Trump is starting to delaminate. He knows he going down. Engoron's verdict, which is due to be annouced shortly and the Court of Appeals ruling on his immunity claim that will soon be coming down the pike is going to send shock waves through Trump's system. Two hard blows he can't recover from. He knows it coming and he's getting frantic.
First, I agree with the title. Trump is running scared. He's not running for President as much as he's running from jail. Almost from the moment he declared his candidacy in what, 2022?, Trump tried and failed to declare that running for POTUS makes him immune from prosecution. (Election interference.) The courts aren't buying it. Once Trump secures the nomination, I expect Trump to redouble his efforts to stop all trial proceedings until after the election. I think the public's right to know it Trump is guilty outweighs Trump's inconvenience. Somebody needs to point out that the voting public has a serious decision to make in November and the reliable, unbiased FACTS can only be established in a courtroom.
Trump wanted to run unopposed. That's one reason he was early to declare. Now he wants to sew up the nomination as part of his legal strategy to delay the trials! There's not an ounce of law or precedent to support the argument that being a candidate or the presumed nominee of your party conveys any immunity or automatic delay but in Trump's mind, it should and therefore it does.
The E.Jean Carroll trial wound up today. Trump testified for about three minutes, there was almost no cross-examination. The federal judge set up the ground rules in advance with the jury excluded. When Trump tried to stray, the judge shut Trump up and ordered the jury to disregard. Closing arguments and jury instructions tomorrow, I think. The question, in my mind, is how big the jury will go in punitive damages. I think Trump and Habba did everything wrong in the courtroom to alienate the jury.
The prediction on the other civil case is a decision in February. That will be for hundreds of millions, I predict. The thing is, the judgments are gonna hit like a prizefighter delivering a combination. In March, the criminal trial in NY starts. (Stormy Daniels). IMO, that will aggravate tension between Melania and Donald. Not that I'm worried about their domestic bliss but an acrimonious divorce (pure speculation) will weaken Donald with all but the cultists. I don't think Melania is stupid – I'm not sure how strategic she is. Trump can't have Melania go publicly hostile to him in the next ten months so she's in a position to apply the art of the deal now. After November, regardless of the outcome, she loses her leverage. But Trump is losing his marbles – if/when she says she wants out, Trump will go ballistic, not diplomatic.
Trump is fraying now, and things are only gonna get worse. I am hopeful he will suffer a complete breakdown, physical and mental long before the primaries are over. That's not a nice thing to say but I am not a nice person.
Navaro got the same sentence as Steve Bannon. Both will delay as long as possible. Bannon is facing a trial in NY in May for a swindle involving the Build The Wall private foundation. He was convicted on (federal) charges and pardoned on Trump's last day. The new case is in NY for the same crime(s). I don't know who is keeping score on Trump associates and the various penalties they're paying. I did four months in an "easy" prison in the federal system. I say "easy" because there are much worse places than FDC Miami. But it's not fun and it feels like a lot more than 120 days. There's no way to count who declines to associate with Trump, lawyers who passed on defending Trump, and former members of the Trump administration who feel lucky they didn't get caught and won't tempt fate twice. The bad news is that the crowd Trump is assembling now is truly evil, I fear,
That's not a nice thing to say but I am not a nice person.
It's got nothing to do with being a nice person, it's more to do with the wisdom of Socrates, or one of the old time philosophers… Be true to thine self. The reality is that Trump is a big bag of shit who needs a good heaping dose of his own medicine. I consider myself to be a nice person, I'm all about love, but I have no qualms about wishing misery and heartache on that big vile bag of shit AKA Donald J. Trump.
He's also melting down because as long as Haley's in the race, he can't get his hands on RNC money, which he desperately needs because (as I've been saying since 2017) when you factor in what he owes to Putin, MBS and God knows how many Chinese bankers, he's flat broke. You and I have more net worth than he does.
He's not running so much to stay out of jail as to stay out of the trunk of a car.
Oh, and speaking of Melania, I hate to be so petty but I can’t help it in his case: Did you see the scene at her mother’s funeral? The one he said was the reason he couldn’t go to court (which he didn’t have to go to)(and he went to a rally the night before anyway, because priorities)? She wouldn’t let him into her car. I LOLed.
You bet the tRUMP fears because there are people out to get him and they are getting it done. Nikki did not aide much in forming a circular firing squad when there were many, but when it got to a duel she changed. The NYT reported the Cheney super PAC is backing Haley, and it looks like Liz is going to be her second in a duel. I would not rule out them running as a team. The tRUMP does not like the money drain or the competition. You know they have mailing lists of people who lean conservative and republican who are not MAGA cultists. (These are the ones who do not bend reality as much and accept that the tRUUMP lost the last election)
The tRUMP wants to be a white supremacist dictator with total immunity from the rule of law and to control the republican party with his wing's view. Primary results show almost half of independents and republicans in northern states reject that notion and at the moment have some power to voice opposition from inside the party. The tRUMP thinks he can blackball and intimidate this opposition into submission. He cannot win in a general election without them even with help from Russia. Haley and Cheney have a distinct advantage. If Haley wins the insurrection issue is not a factor. No matter what the SCTUS rules many rational Americans will contend for all time his behavior as an insurrectionist disqualified him and he should have been ruled ineligible. Liz Cheney and her donor list have already come to that conclusion. We already have strong evidence the tRUMP tried in several ways to upend the last valid election results. Haley is really the only legitimate candidate the party has. Only the cult thinks that the tRUMP, even now, has total immunity from everything. They must as they vote that way. Anything he does or has done is legitimate, as he is the leader of the cult. This kind of reminds me of an old tune, a really old tune almost as old as "Yes we have no Bananas". That tune modified to "Yes we have gone Bananas" should be mandatory at tRUMP rallies.
TFG's mantra: OPM (Other Peoples' Money)
This morning, I was wondering why TFG has been behaving the way he has in the NYC Carroll damages proceeding. It's pretty clear that his behavior is unlikely to reduce the amount of the financial judgement against him, so why would he do that? Aside from the lack of self control issues, I think it boils down to this: TFG has decided that his best bet is to not put too much of his effort into trying to do well in court (other than his standard delay tactics), but rather to put most of his eggs in the candidacy basket. That means every time he appears to be "fighting", and further, to be giving the middle finger to the "system", he helps maintain his delusional base. He cannot win the election if his base is eroded. Bottom line, I think he has no intention of paying a single dollar of any judgement. (More on that in a bit.) So anytime he's going to get national TV coverage for his outrageous statements, he'll go for it. To maintain his base. Meanwhile the parts of his campaign that never see the light of day (the election worker intimidation campaign, the potential moderate candidate intimidation campaign, etc…agreements with oligarchs to fund disinformation efforts) those things are kept behind the curtain. He knows he cant win all of the trials, maybe even none, so he has to win the election.
Now, I need to take a side trip into my introductory statement "TFG's mantra = OPM". I'll start with a pattern that I see as the story of his life: There have been very few dollars that he's spent on his lifestyle and his ambitions to be a "mogul", very few dollars that he actually "earned". It's all been swindles. Buy a property up for foreclosure; put it on the market for twice what you paid for it without spending more than a small amount for cosmetic things that enhance it's marketability; hype it outrageously with exaggerations and lies; close the sale & take the money. After a while, you have enough for a down payment on a property with real value. Buy it, spruce it up on the cheap, & hype it. Instead of selling it, apply for a loan and state the value of the property as 2-3 times its real value. You won't get the whole thing, but you'll get more than you should. Now you have some more capital (and debt). But you use the money to make payment on prior loans to help your credit rating, and you find a way to use the capital to provide a down payment to buy another bargain basement property. Rinse and repeat. Keep rolling over the loans so than you never default on a loan. As the scale goes up the margins get bigger and bigger, and pretty soon you can take a lot of money out of the repetitive fraud business to finance all of your living expense, extravagant living expenses. This is what the Tish James case is all about. And whether or not I've done a good job describing it, there a pattern: As long as you can find a way to get your hands on OPM, then you just, over time, roll these things over. Money you scam now can be used to pay the judgements from earlier scams.
If the E. Jean Carroll judgement is small enough to be manageable by a "billionaire" who's worth "x", then that doesn't make as good a fundraising email as the email that wails about how unjust the "corrupt courts system" has handed down. Grievance, grievance, grievance. A bigger judgement helps him raise more money. I think that's why he behaves the way he does, despite the legal advice he gets. I also think he believes his own BS 100%.
Put this together with delay delay delay (which is actually defer), just rinse and repeat. The more indictments the better. Each one is a fundraising opportunity. Spread them out over time and you get enough money from the current fundraiser to pay the judgement from an earlier grievance. Pattern match.
Now I think, and I hope, that our institutions can foresee this and prevent it, or at least make it unmanageable. But the timing part is a real risk on that front. Justice moves slowly, being that we have a good system that doesn't rush to judgement for anyone; that can be exploited. Is it possible that when his life ends, his estate will be a billion dollars in the red? And who would pay that?
That's all a matter of me gaming out possibilities (which I may not be fully qualified for). But the bottom line is this: I'm not counting on financial judgements in civil cases to save us from a 2nd TFG term. I want to see a criminal conviction in DC or Florida before the election. (I don't thing GA can get there in time.)
FWIW: I’m not trying to throw cold water on the positive observations in this thread. They’re all good, and encouraging. But we must not get complacent.
Sounds to me like you are starting to understand the real tRUMP, soon to be extinct one would hope.
I'm afraid Chris Hayes is right, and most of the media are running their usual playbook, which, contrary to popular perception, is not "We have to report everything Trump says" but "We have to report everything Trump says unless it's obvious evidence of his open racism, his hatred of America, his fourth-grade education or his steep mental decline. THAT would be biased."
This is the man who, as asserted by his lawyer, should have (does have) complete immunity and the right to assassinate his political opponents without fear of any legal repercussions barring 2/3rds of both Congress and Senate (Each member also subject to assassination) impeaching him first.
Time to stop the pretense and just call the office: King. Emperor-for-life or Dear-leader would also work.