WTF 4/17/2024

And so it begins… the NY Trump trial… 

As the Donald Trump trial in New York has begun with the selection of 121 jury members and a slate of  alternatives Trump himself is already setting the stage for his appeal strategy should he be convicted of any or all of the felony charges that he is facing.

He is in full Trumpian bullshit mode voicing inappropriate interjections along with his typical sarcastic smirks, snickers and chuckles as well as making audile snide comments to his attorneys whenever  presiding Judge New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan makes ruling or comments to the people being vetted to be on the jury for the trial.  

So far the most notable instances occurred when first Merchan noted that he would be in charge of sentencing should Trump be convicted and then again when Merchan said he would conduct a fair trial and both times Trump made very audible sarcastic snickers. A third occurrence came about where Merchan actually warned his attorneys and verbally reprimanded Trump for directing a threatening stare while “audibly uttering something” at one of the prospective jurors.

Merchan quickly addressed Trump attorney Todd Blanche and said, “He was audibly gesturing, speaking in the direction of the juror.  I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear.”

Blanche responded, “Yes, your honor,” and spoke to Trump as instructed by the judge.

The dilemma for the courts in these outbursts is apparent.

Merchan told Trump as proceedings were beginning Monday, “If you disrupt the proceedings in any way, the law permits the court to exclude you from the courtroom and commit you to jail and continue the trial in your absence.”

However this is Trump the court is dealing with as high a profile… for good or for bad… that currently is any courtroom in the United States. So if Merchan were to follow through with his threat it first would give Trump the podium to say “See how this rigged court is persecuting me,” and second it would be just legally set the basis for an appeal where simply because defendants have a constitutional right to be present during rials. Yes, that right can be forfeited if defendants act out, but convictions can be overturned if it’s found that the defendants were deprived of their rights.

However if Trump is adamant in continuing with his outburst and antics… especially if he ups the ante and becomes more and more outspoken and proceeds to violate his court ordered directive… gag order…  to stop with derisive comments… either veiled or outright… about potential witnesses or members of the court an or their family members and I were the judge presiding over the case I would take the chance and call his bluff.

There is a precedent although that did turn out very badly for the judge who set that precedent.

In 1969 during the Chicago Eight trial that involved charges against protesters arrested during the 1968 Democratic Convention Judge Julius Hoffman refused to allow Bobby Seale to represent himself after Seale’s original attorney became ill.

This decision by Hoffman prompted Seale to be verbally outspoken and he often interrupted Hoffman’s rulings or comments with various shouts and objections that included saying “That’s a lie!” and calling Hoffman at one “a blatant racist.”

Sound familiar?

Though on a decidedly different scale… still… sound similar to someone else currently on trial who says he is being persecuted and railroaded by a biased attorney general and Joe Biden and the Democrats?   

At one point during the trial Hoffman presided over Hoffman said the Black Panther’s courtroom activities were a “deliberate and willful attack upon the administration of justice in an attempt to sabotage the functioning of the federal judicial system.”

Seale shouted out… “That’s a lie.”

Hoffman said., “You’re making it very difficult for me, Mr. Seale,”

Seale replied, “You’re making it difficult for me, Judge Hoffman.”

At another point Seale called the trial “a complete, overt, fascist operation.”

Again, sound like a defendant we currently have been hearing about in various current high profile court cases?  

In my opinion Seale and the other Chicago defendants were being prosecuted unfairly by an extremely prejudiced system for their left wing political views and anti-war activities.

Trump on the other hand is being prosecuted for various criminal activities that include perjury, attempting to fix an election, inciting an insurrection and in the New York trial for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to a porn star.

Still…

How did Judge Hoffman ultimately react to Seale’s outbursts?

Hoffman said, “While a defendant in a criminal case has an absolute right to be present during his trial, he does not have the right to brazenly make a shambles of the criminal judicial process and attempt to force a mistrial.”

He then ordered the court room guards to forcibly gag and then Seale to his chair.  

Sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander in my opinion.

If Trump keeps it up with his bullshit… gag him and handcuff his ass to his chair.

It will never happen simply because Trump is a wealthy white man who has enjoyed a free pass for reprehensible behavior throughout his entire life and just so happens to be an ex-president who is the presumptive Republican candidate in the next presidential election.

Once again proving that in America there are two tiers of justice in this country… in this instance… one for left wing  political activists and in certain Black activists and another for conservative white people and in particular one very wealthy white person who makes it a habit to use his status and influence to manipulate the system to his own accord and devices.

Governors of six Southern states warn workers against joining UAW union…

The governors of six Southern states warned their various state populations that joining the United Auto Workers would threaten jobs and “the values we live by.”

The joint statement came from six Republican governors just a day prior to a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee was set to vote on joining the UAW. That factory was the first of more than a dozen factories the UAW i targeting throughout the South.

The governors of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas issued their unprecedented and shocking statement saying, “The reality is companies have choices when it comes to where to invest and bring jobs and opportunity. Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy.”

the joint statement by the governors also said, “We have serious reservations that the UAW leadership can represent our values. They proudly call themselves democratic socialists and seem more focused on helping President Biden get reelected than on the autoworker jobs being cut at plants they already represent.”

Stephen Silvia, a professor at American University and an economist who has closely studied unionization in the South said that the statement by the governors, “… implies that the governors fear that the UAW will prevail in the upcoming union recognition election and that UAW success could upend their economic models built on relatively low pay and minimal worker voice.” 

The values they live by?

Do these Republican governors mean the values that include fewer civil rights, decidedly low wages, underfunded education, dirty air and water, exceedingly poor to no health care as well as distinctively poor health and welfare in general for their citizens overall.

And just for the hell of it… these automakers establishing factories throughout the South?

They happen to be foreign corporations that include BMW, Mercedes Benz, VW, Honda, Toyota and soon to join the party will be the Vietnamese company Vinfast.  

Makes you think that these governors who are supposed to protect the interests and rights of the state’s people are instead in the market of enriching their pockets through the influence of some very rich foreigners.

In a weird sort of way it makes Trump’s rant that foreigners are invading the country to the detriment of us all kinda, sorta viable.

Only if there is a bunch of foreigners “invading” America, it’s not moms and dads risking everything and arriving by any means they can to escape intolerable circumstances to secure a better life for themselves and their families, especially their children’s in the land of opportunity and freedom, instead it’s an invasion force arriving in private jets from Germany, Japan and Vietnam that is in the suites of rich corporate boardrooms and not in the streets of American neighborhoods.

Simply put this is what the Republicans vis-à-vis the working class is really all about… keeping the people uncomfortable, distraught, and angry. Because when people are in that state of mind it makes them all that much more malleable and a hell of lot more easier to manipulate.

Ask Trump. It’s a page right out of his playbook.

The real truth is that the Republican Party doesn’t want us working class heroes getting all uppity and thinking we can demand decent working conditions, wages and benefits.

Another thousand words…