Game over
After we were subjected to a weekend of doomsday hype about how Michael Cohen was an uncontrollable witness who was going to melt down on the stand, Cohen spent Monday doing what he’s done every time he’s testified against Trump. He gave the kind of straightforward, clinical testimony that prosecutors love.
Of course now we’re being subjected to hype about how Cohen is going to fall apart upon cross examination. But I don’t buy that either. If Cohen were looking for a fight, looking for visceral revenge instead of legal revenge, we’d have seen that today during his direct examination. But there’s nothing of the sort.
Keep in mind that Michael Cohen has spent several years operating by the notion that living well is the best revenge. He’s a popular media figure now. He’s a bestselling author. He’s succeeding in life, even as a broken Donald Trump is forced to sit there on criminal trial. Cohen knows that all he has to do is play by the rules of testimony in this trial, and his revenge against Trump will be complete.
Moreover, all you really need to know about Trump is that he was reportedly fast asleep during portions of Cohen’s testimony. This is Trump’s former fixer and avowed enemy Michael Cohen testifying in a criminal trial that could send Trump to prison, and Trump is sleeping through it? Come on, this guy is toast.
So it’s fair at this point to say that it’s game over in this trial. Realistically it’s been game over since Hope Hicks confirmed that Trump was in on the payoff. Trump’s only remaining faint hope was if he and his team could somehow get Cohen to fall to pieces on the stand. Instead Cohen is nailing it, and Trump snoozing through it. Game over.
