Before and after the verdict

[Note that some of today’s blog deals with what was going on prior to Donald Trump’s conviction (BTW, YAY!)]

The day after the verdict, Trump had what was listed as a new conference but was more like a staged rally. Lasting 35 minutes, he rambling on without a teleprompter [which was removed before the rally began] about all of the usuals. Journalists were on hand but he took no questions. He came close to breaking the gag order [which is still valid].

Not surprising, there was reactions by the MAGA lovers including those who are sucking up to be Trump’s potential vice president. Tim Scott was one of them. Even troubled George Santos was behind Trump. [I wonder what Trump’s reaction would be for that!] And of course there are some who were pleased or even very pleased of the verdicts. And a few who were more diplomatic.

Jurors in Trump’s hush money trial are expected to begin deliberations after receiving instructions from the judge on the law and the factors they may consider as they strive to reach a verdict in the first criminal case against a former American president. The deliberations follow a marathon day of closing arguments that went into the evening.

[Even with breaks and lunch, if I had to sit there for hours listening to a couple of lawyers to ramble on, I would of learned how to take a nap with my eyes open.]

If they deadlock after several days [although more likely quite a few days] of deliberations and are unable to reach a unanimous verdict, Judge Juan M. Merchan may declare a mistrial.

Defence lawyer, Todd Blanche, labelled Michael Cohen the “GLOAT” — greatest liar of all time.

[Ummm. Isn’t that’s what Trump is?]

Seems most of the Trump family members appeared at one point at the trial except Melania Trump [I wonder why] plus Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner. Not surprising Barron Trump wasn’t there.

[I think Ivanka had decided to stay away completely from politics and anything related to it. Or maybe just her father!]

After Robert De Niro made a comments about Trump outside the courthouse, Donald Trump Jr. also took aim at De Niro saying De Niro “needs attention because it’s been a while since he’s cranked out a good movie.” And then “We understand that this is a political persecution…. by the Biden campaign themselves holding a rally here.”

[Killers of the Flower Moon was bad? He received an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for it. It wasn’t a rally but a news conference. I wonder if Donnie was actually around or taking a nap.]

[De Niro’s speech was a bit too much personally.]

Republican JD Vance says Merchan shouldn’t of been the judge because of a $15 donation and his daughter worked for the Democrats. Excluding the daughter part, how many judges wouldn’t be allow to judge in this trial if they donated to either party? Vance also added that “Trump supporters are not violent” and “only a few supporters on January 6 ere violent”.

[There were a few hundred (non) violent supporters arrested after January 6 with some serving lengthy sentences.]

Trump was loudly and consistently booed throughout his speech recently at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Brooklyn, particularly when he asked attendees to “nominate me or at least vote for me.” The heckling began the moment the former president took the stage, and the few supporters in the room tried to drown out the boos with chants of “We want Trump.” “Because the Libertarians want to vote for me … and it’s very important because we have to get rid of the worst president in history,” he said. ““If I wasn’t one before I sure as hell am a Libertarian now..”

[Consider that Libertarians are generally left wing, unsure how he could attract them. It is a sign of desperation. Those who decided to invite him to their convention may have to answer for it.]

At 36 minutes, he cut short. He had to stay within the New York City area while waiting for the jury in the Hush Money trial. Trump’s stop at the Libertarian convention marked an unconventional one for him, but it is illustrative of his campaign’s intensifying concern over third-party candidates. The outreach to Libertarians follows weeks of stepped-up attacks by Trump aimed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy could pull more voters away from Trump than from Biden. He suggested on social media that a vote for Kennedy would be a “wasted protest vote” and that he would “even take Biden over Junior.”

Also ahead of the speech, Secret Service agents confiscated rubber chickens that the super PAC aligned with Kennedy’s presidential campaign had passed out to attendees. “No lighters, no water bottles, no noisy chickens,” one agent yelled to attendees waiting to go through the security checkpoint.

Trump said would commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of a website, which let users anonymously buy and sell anything from drugs to hacking tutorials. Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 following his conviction on seven counts ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking. The Libertarians wanted this done.

Trump also received cheers when he said he would put a Libertarian in his Cabinet and appoint Libertarians to senior positions in his administration in a potential second term.

[If you think this will happen, I have a large plot of land on Pluto to sell you. Seriously, why would they believe him?]

Later, for Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination, Trump was a write in for 6 delegate. Stormy Daniels was a write-in for one delegate.

At a recent event, Trump suggested that he would have bombed Moscow and Beijing if Russia invaded Ukraine or China invaded Taiwan, surprising some of the donors.

[Interesting since when Russia did invade Ukraine, Trump’s way of settling the war was for Ukraine to just give up.]

Not really new but Trump is claiming to big donors that if he was not put back in office, taxes would go up for them under President Biden, who vows to let Trump-era tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations expire at the end of 2025.

By frequently tying the fundraising requests within seconds of promises of tax cuts, oil project infrastructure approvals and other favorable policies and asking for sums more than his campaign and the GOP can legally accept from an individual, Trump is also testing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws, according to legal experts.

Trump is technically allowed to ask only for contributions of $3,300 or less for his campaign, according to federal laws. But he can appear at events for his super PAC where the price of admission is far higher — as long as he doesn’t ask for the money directly.

Trump is badly looking for money. Trump recently asked oil industry executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign and said raising such a sum would be a “deal” given how much money they would save if he were re-elected as president. In addition, while previously tried to stay away from photo ops, he is not participating. He also wouldn’t call big donors. Only recently did Trump’s campaign pull in more money for the month – but stall behind in overall totals.

At a fundraiser, for oil executives with a $250,000 donation to be there, he promised to cut taxes on corporations and give oil executives an array of policies they wanted and said he was being outraised by the Democrats and the unions, asking the crowd to “be generous, please.”

At another event, Trump told the group that if they wanted a picture with him and did not have one, then they needed to give more.

Trump has regularly joked with donors and advisers that he doesn’t spend more than 10 minutes with someone if the person doesn’t give $10 million. He also has complained about some of his billionaire friends not giving enough.

In recent meetings with donors, he has repeatedly suggested they should give millions of dollars without saying where it should go.

A businessman offered $1 million for lunch with him [hopefully not at McDonald’s]. “I’m not having lunch,” Trump said he responded, according to those who heard him. “You’ve got to make it $25 million.” Another businessman, he said, had traditionally given $2 million to $3 million to Republicans. Instead, he said Trump told the donor that he wanted a $25 million or $50 million contribution or he would not be “very happy.”

In Florida earlier this month, Trump offered the stage to anyone who would cut a $1 million check. He kept asking people to come forward, according to audio of the event. Then two people took him up on the offer.