Today is the day that Donald Trump goes down in flames
As we head into Michael Cohen’s testimony today in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, we still don’t know how much or little prosecutors will use him. Prior witnesses have already built an overwhelming case against Trump. Cohen’s testimony is crucial in certain areas. But at this point prosecutors – who recently decided not to have Karen McDougal testify at all because their case is already so strong – might decide to limit Cohen’s testimony to just the areas where it’s most crucial.
Even if that ends up being the case, I expect that we’ll look back at today as the day that Trump went down in flames in this trial. An increasingly addled Trump doesn’t seem to know much about what most of these witnesses are even doing here (he fist bumped Jeff McConney, who had just given damning testimony against him). But Trump clearly remembered that he hates Stormy Daniels, to the point that he had his attorneys take big stupid swings at her that had no chance of landing. And it’s likely that Trump is going to remember he hates Cohen even more than he remembers hating Daniels.
So even as Michael Cohen is giving his testimony today, Trump is likely going to goad his attorneys into all kinds of stupidity. Objections that have no chance of being sustained. Desperate cries for mistrial. And after Trump spent Daniels’ testimony cursing under his breath to the point that the judge had to intervene, what’s he going to do when Cohen is on the stand? Give him the middle finger or try to throw wads of paper at him?
Remember, this is the same Trump who got on stage at a rally this weekend and praised fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter in a way that gave away that he thinks Lecter is a real person, and then had such a short circuit that he ended up saying “Tarudite biray” before he realized he was short circuiting, and added “sipe” as some kind of attempted curse word. There’s nothing left of this guy’s mind.
It’s impossible to predict how Trump will react to Cohen being on the stand, because Trump’s cognitive behavior is defective in a different way each time we see him these days. But it’s a fair bet that one way or the other, Trump (and/or his attorneys) will desperately swing for the fences to try to combat Cohen’s testimony. It’ll surely backfire. And I think that is what is going to cause us to look back at today as the day that Trump officially lost this trial.
