Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

Eternal return

Judge Kaplan: Move onto another topic
Habba: Under the First Amendment you have a right to speak -
Roberta Kaplan: Objection!
Judge Kaplan: Sustained
Habba: You've heard the objections, you've heard me being told to sit down
Robert Kaplan: Objection
Judge: Move on

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 26, 2024

"Roberta and the Judge," Tuesdays this fall on NBC!

“President Trump has no more control over the thoughts and feelings of social media users than he does the weather,” Habba says.

xpost Throw in an orangutan and I'd totally wat... oh, wait.

I like this one, the timing is impeccable:

Judge Kaplan: She showed you only five tweets-
Habba: Objection!
Judge Kaplan: Only one lawyer. Who is it?
Habba: Michael.
Michael Madaio: Objection.
Judge Kaplan: Overruled.

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 26, 2024

Carroll lawyer Shawn Crowley: "One of the questions you have to decide is whether he acted with malice. What could be more on-brand for Donald Trump than malice?"

— erica orden (@eorden) January 26, 2024

“President Trump has no more control over the thoughts and feelings of social media users than he does the weather,” Habba says.

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2020-02/1/17/asset/ff90b1278a8b/sub-buzz-346-1580578270-8.png?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto

I know of one way he could make around half of social media users feel very happy

"Deliberations have begun in Carroll v. Trump, starting at 1:40 p.m. EST. "

Over and over this week, Trump’s lawyers argued that E. Jean Carroll was not sexually assaulted or defamed by their client, when in fact Trump was found liable for both offenses in court already. Why no one on the defense team — including Trump himself — has not been found in direct criminal contempt of court is indicative of our judicial system and its different rules for the rich and powerful.

Kaplan pretty much shut that down every time, strictly limited the questions his lawyers could ask Trump, etc. I've seen a couple of posts from lawyers who've worked these contexts basically saying Kaplan would be primarily interested in getting the trial done first (especially since Trump etc would love there to be an obvious mistrial happening -- it's what they kept trying with Engoron), then if he felt it warranted could happily sanction the hell out of his lawyers after.

I'm on the case
Can't be fooled
Any objection
Is overruled

Yes, I'm the Arbiter
And I know best

He's impartial
Don't push him
He's unimpressed

the clip from the deposition where he's shown the photo of Jean Carroll, a woman he said he couldn't have assaulted because she's "not his type", and then proceeds to misindentify her as his second wife, while also being unable to recognize his first wife in the photo, is still I think one of the most truly insane Trump moments ever. the man's brain does not work

Sounds like we have a verdict.

at what point does one run out of appeals and have to cough up?

beginning the countdown to when Trump gets in front of a dozen news cameras and defames Carroll yet again because he knows no other way to react

Andy (clerk): 7.1 million... 11 million... punitives: $65 million

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 26, 2024

Verdict in Carroll v. Trump

Jury says Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll:

COMPENSATORY:
Other than reputation repair program: $7.3M
Reputation repair program: $11M

PUNITIVE: $65M

TOTAL: $83.3M

— erica orden (@eorden) January 26, 2024

pay up, Fucker

It's OK, his company is sitting on $400 million in cash and is worth $10 billion.

She should offer to accept the deed to Trump Tower in lieu of cash, like that woman who won the Klan's headquarters in court some years ago.

I think Trump would rather have his dick cut off than give up Trump Tower.

Well, it's like LBJ's line about calling his opponent a pigfucker: "Let's make the son of a bitch deny it."

is that more or less than what was expected? seems like an awful lot to me

Yeah, that's a shitload of money lol

It's less than the Rudy decision, and less than the Alex Jones, fwiw, but it's still a lot!

difference being that Trump is far more likely to actually have that kind of money

Context/comparison:

The more than $83 million in combined damages far exceeds the amount Donald Trump was ordered to pay last year when a jury found for E. Jean Carroll. In that case, the jury found that he sexually assaulted her and defamed her, and they awarded her a combined $5 million.

think of how many NFTs he's gonna have to sell to recoup that

Whip-round from the adherents ought to cover it, or at least some of it. A little of it anyway.

File under understatement:

Judge Kaplan said to the anonymous jury that while they are now free to speak publicly, he didn’t advise it. “My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury and I wont say anything more about it.”

The sad/tragic/funny thing is, it seems impossible that Trump will be able to avoid defaming her *again*. He probably barely makes it a day.

I dunno, Judge Kaplan, putting oneself in a position where Donald Trump might (and most likely will) defame you is starting to seem like a pretty sweet deal.

Can a judge sue for defamation?

He rails against deep state RINOs, which is exactly what I am - I plan to sue as well

in fairness (?????????) to the rudy verdict there were two plaintiffs

difference being that Trump is far more likely to actually have that kind of money

Or more likely he hung himself on his own rope there. Someone asked Ken White/Popehat about the possibility of an appeal and reduction on the punitive damages and his understated snark response:

Low. That’s a reasonable multiplier of actual to punitive and consistent with his stated wealth.

The kicker is 'stated wealth' because Carroll's legal team played a clip of a formal deposition where he claimed he was worth $10 billion. So if he suddenly pleads poverty as a reduce to reduce, people get to go 'wow so about this perjury you committed' and then things get even more fun for him. (Trump's team very much saw this possibility coming and tried to work against it today, to no avail.)

REASON to reduce, etc.

All I know is he should double the pay of this legal team and bring them in for every single trial. If not to actually defend him then at least to entertain us all. But they should probably defend him, too.

he's probably not going to pay his lawyer bills since they lost

I hope they got yuge retainers up front.

Actually, I don't. Any lawyer who represents Trump gets whatever s/he deserves, which is nothing good.

Sometimes covid.

So has he posted to Truth Social yet?

yes

or perhaps not. there's a mailer going around

https://bsky.app/profile/matthewkeys.net/post/3kjw4b4g6yw2o

Not one direct mention of Carroll or his usual denials. I suspect he/whoever runs the account has clocked -- for now, let's see how long that lasts -- that if he goes down that road again she and her team can easily go 'hey, another defamation trial? don't mind if we do' and then he has to deal with two verdicts already assessed.

Even good ol' Andy McCarthy on Fox knows this much per WaPo:

Today’s ruling may not be the end of the story, according to Andy McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District.

“In theory, if (Donald Trump) continues to repeat what he said, she can continue to sue him, and seek more millions (in) damages,” McCarthy said on Fox News.

Couple of separate posts on Bsky to further illustrate the current fun for him:

Surety bonds on appeal in the 2nd Circuit are at the district court's discretion. I'm guessing Judge Kaplan will require a bond for 100% of the verdict. Justice Engoron is likely to issue a ~$400 million fine next week; in state court appeal bonds MUST be for 100% plus statutory 9% interest.

Appeal bonds are generally 100% collateralized; it's conceivable some bank could offer Trump an irrevocable letter of credit, but a half- billion dollars is a lot.