"The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life."
Marine General John Kelly, former Trump Chief of Staff
Trump is crazy.
That is his defense in the criminal indictments.
The newest indictment contains a premise that Donald Trump knew he was asserting false claims of a fraudulent election. It argues that he and co-conspirators organized a plot to convince local election officials, state legislatures, governors, Congress, and the Vice President to award the electoral votes to him from states Trump knew he lost.
We have a heads up about Trump's defense as a criminal defendant. His lead lawyer, John Lauro, was on Fox News on Tuesday:
I would like them to try to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Trump believed that these allegations were false.
GOP Representatives and Senators are already joining in to assert this defense. They say this is a free speech and free thought issue. Trump had every right to have his doubts about the election and every right to pursue legal avenues to correct the presumed election error. It is not criminal to be wrong, they say. It is not criminal to lie or to assert an implausible and contradicted claim. It isn't criminal to believe fantastical rumors. He chose to believe people who gave questionable information about election fraud and he chose to believe lawyers who asserted novel theories of Constitutional remedies.
Vice President Pence said Trump chose to believe "crackpots."
I'm not convinced that the president acting on bad advice of a group of crank lawyers that came into the White House in the days before January 6 is actually criminal.
After the indictment he told reporters:
Anyone who asks someone else to put themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again. . . . The president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers. . . .It will be up to the government now to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this actually represented criminal activity.
That is the defense. It isn't a crime to be a fool.
Trump is a profoundly flawed person, both a con man and delusional. He is dangerous and crazy. Imagine yourself on a jury. Can you imagine having a smidgin of doubt that, for narcissist Trump, the idea that he could actually lose by seven million votes to Joe Biden was so very repellent and humiliating that he could not internalize that reality? It simply must have been a stolen election and therefore he wasn't in a criminal conspiracy to defraud anyone with lies. Maybe Trump really thinks he is a patriot attempting to rescue America. The crazier Trump is, the more plausible that defense.
Trump can sell. He appears to believe what he says, at least while he is saying it. About 40% of Americans believe Trump. They represent near-majorities in states with over 300 electoral votes. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm of MSNBC hosts and panelists, this is not an ironclad case. It only takes one out of 12 people on a jury to have reasonable doubt. One can have that doubt two ways. Either Trump is a good, honest patriot being persecuted by Democrats, or Trump is, as his former Chief of Staff put it, a deeply flawed person.
I predict a Biden/Trump rematch would settle into a choice between elderly-but-stable versus crazy-change-agent. Crazy is a disadvantage in a political contest, but it is a defense in a criminal trial.
The indictment attempts partially to sidestep the intent issue by looking at criminal actions, not just belief. Even if Trump was deluded, he still did not have the right to orchestrate fake electors who filed false certifications of election any more than did the deluded-but-sincere person who went to the D.C. pizza parlor and shot it up looking for a non-existent basement with Hillary Clinton's pedophile captives. It may be criminal without exactly being intentional fraud. Prosecutors may succeed in making that distinction between deluded thought and criminal behavior. Trump's lawyers are already trying to conflate the two. This may be a close call, and it only takes one person with reasonable doubt.
[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog to your email go to: https://petersage.substack.com and subscribe. The blog is free and always will be.]
18 comments:
As we learned in the Jan. 6 hearings, Trump admitted to people that he lost the election. Of course, it just their word against that of a pathological liar.
We know Trump is crazy, as are those who support him. He and his co-conspirators are a danger to others and a threat to the nation. It doesn't really matter whether they go to a jail or a mental hospital, as long as they're locked away.
Anyway, he isn't being charged for promulgating stupid lies, but for his organized, premeditated coup attempt. I'd like to hear them claim that wasn't intentional.
The problem is that even if convicted, he will appeal it and that could take years to resolve. The playbook is delay, delay, delay. It works and he will use it.
“ About 40% of Americans believe Trump.” If this number holds for 15 months, trump will lose the nomination. Right? Right?
“ It only takes one out of 12 people on a jury to have reasonable doubt.“ trump will lose most his court cases. Right?
Never finished college, much less Law School, but it seems to me that in order that being delusional (bat-shut crazy?) as a defense would require a Plea of "Not Guilty because I'm insane;" or am I missing something obvious ?
You’re probably being too rational. A reasonable juror could also decide “are his crazy beliefs reasonable?” A DC jury? Nah…
"Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man" is a biography (unauthorized) written by his own niece, Mary Trump, who has a PhD in psychology. She also has a podcast.
Many mentally ill people are convicted of crimes and there are many mentally ill people in jail and prison. The Former Occupant (crook, traitor and sexual predator) may have one or more personality disorders, but that does not mean that he is not responsible for his words and deeds. His own people told him the truth but he did not want to hear it.
Addiction is a mental illness according to government and medical experts. Is anyone concerned about Hunter Biden's mental health? Not the author of this blog.
The author of this blog wants Hunter Biden, a first time and non-violent offender who was addicted to meth, to be locked up and probably lose his law license. Yet the the author of this blog is concerned that the failed violent coup leader and wanna-be dictator is "delusional."
Like all actual and aspiring dictators throughout history, the Former Occupant is addicted to power, privilege and attention. His main problem is his total lack of character. He has zero integrity and will do and say anything to get what he wants.
At no time during his term in office were we, the American people, informed by his personal physician, his wife or adult children, the vice president or other top Republican officials that he was mentally unfit to be president. As I recall, he described himself as a "stable genius" and no one in his inner circle disagreed with him publicly. In fact, anyone who criticized his state of mind or ability to serve was viciously attacked.
Approximately half of Americans knew that he was mentally unfit to be president, including top Democratic leaders, but that is beside the point. They can't have it both ways.
Yes, lots of mentally ill people reside in jail as that’s how America likes to take care of them. As far as personality disorders being in jail, it stands out when one runs into an inmate who is not. Trump would stand out for his extreme narcissistic personality and would not last long in jail if he was an unknown inmate. Trump is not delusional and knows the truth, but truth for him has no significance. What is significant is what he perceives as best for him. That can change when what is best for him changes. Someone can go from being terrific to terrible instantly. Does he know when he is lies? Yeah, he just doesn’t care, it has no relevance.
Remember when TFG said "leave it to the next guy"? That shows he knew he lost fair and square.
Lock him up.
Some say the U.S. is polarized, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it. Republicans watched this same ignoranus try to overthrow the government and saw a patriotic hero trying to save America. He isn’t the only one that’s crazy – he couldn’t have done it without them.
Trump is treasonous, his supporters are traitorous and those who make lame excuses for them are the same. There’s no better way to make such anti-democratic violence crawl back under its rock than by putting its perpetrators behind bars.
In a country that produced the OJ trial, attempting to predict the outcome of the the Trump proceedings is a fool’s errand.
It's almost as if Trump is the only lying political leaders or elected official.
Kimberly Strassel today in the WSJ does a fine job of reminding people what President Obama, President Biden, and Rep Schiff have recently, and knowingly lied about while in office or not in office.
We may need to open a few more prisons.
The old Q & A:
Q: How do we know when a politician is lying?
A: Their lips are moving...
There's a huge difference between lying (as you correctly point out that politicians from both sides regularly do) and conspiring to overturn a free and fair election.
The former is protected by the First Amendment, the latter is a treasonous crime. Yes there are Lies spouted by politicians from both sides regularly, but when they are used as part of a plot to overthrow our government that's when there's a problem.
I continue to be baffled by why this is so hard for people to wrap their minds around. We're not talking about rocket science here.
M2inFLA -
The only flaw in your argument is that Trump isn't being prosecuted for his lies.
“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,”
— Barack Obama, lying about ObamaCare
“Mend it, don’t end it.”
— Bill Clinton, lying about affirmative action
Just two of many examples.
Politics
Poli (many) Tics (blood sucking parasites)=a bunch of blood sucking parasite. From Latin politicus
When it comes to the difference between lying/being delusional versus conspiring to overthrow an election, the ultimate decision is going to rest with a jury. Whatever you may think about the relative merits doesn’t matter; a jury will decide.
OJ did not commit murder; so said the jury.
Lies are just words. They too can cause a lot of harm - the lies about the COVID vaccines killed thousands - but Trump is not being indicted for lying, all the right-wing bullshit to the contrary notwithstanding. Those who swallow the bullshit should get a clue and try reading the indictment.
Post a Comment