"The alternate reality Trump lives in is crumbling" with first criminal trial: ex federal prosecutor [View all]

"The alternate reality Trump lives in is crumbling" with first criminal trial: ex federal prosecutor
"I think that Donald Trump is probably trying to get himself thrown into prison"

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 22, 2024 6:42AM (EDT)


(Salon) With a jury now impaneled, Donald Trump’s hush-money trial can finally begin in earnest. The outcome of the trial will impact not just Trump’s freedom but the outcome of the 2024 election and the future of the country’s democracy.

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In an attempt to better understand what is likely to happen next in Trump’s first criminal trial such as how the prosecution and defense are going to proceed and what the larger strategy may be behind Trump’s acting out in court (Trump is likely attempting to get thrown in prison as a way of rallying his followers as a fake martyr), I recently spoke with Kenneth McCallion. He is a former Justice Department prosecutor who also worked for the New York attorney general's office as a prosecutor on Trump-related racketeering cases.

Trump’s first criminal trial has finally begun. Where are we with the so-called “walls closing in” on Donald Trump?

The alternate reality Trump lives in is crumbling. You can see it in his facial expressions and behavior. Donald Trump has been forced to partially subdue himself, which is not his natural instinct. He is not wired in such a way as to be able to remain quiet as a litany of accusations and evidence against him are presented. For example, the Sandoval hearing, which reviewed the numerous areas where the prosecution will seek to cross-examine Trump if he takes the stand, was very damning. It laid out not only the criminal and ethics charges against him in this case, but also the charges against him over the span of the last decade or two.

How does someone like a mobster or politician or businessman like Donald Trump – who is also of course a former president – react to hearing the charges read against them in court?

.....Donald Trump is in a different psychological space, and a much more tenuous one. Trump is presenting himself to his followers as a victim, someone being persecuted. He obviously wants the world to remember and think of him as strong and resolute, and basically a good guy despite his personal peccadilloes. So, that self-image and definition of himself, which has been the basis for his popularity among many millions of Americans, is now being challenged. Moreover, Trump is in a setting that he cannot control. The judge and the legal process now have control over him. That is extremely frustrating for Trump. He's been stripped of his power. His diehard MAGA followers are still with him. But the optics of Trump in court are not playing well outside that die-hard group. To those people who are not in the MAGA movement, Trump looks like a mighty man who has fallen hard and will continue in a downward spiral. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/04/22/the-alternate-reality-lives-in-is-crumbling-with-first-criminal-trial-ex-prosecutor/