The Pains of trump's Game

No, You have not. But You HAVE stolen, embezzled, defrauded and swindled without discrimination, Mr. Lipvig. You have ruined businesses and destroyed jobs. When banks fail, it is seldom Bankers who starve. Your actions have taken money from those who had little enough to begin with. In myriad small ways you have hastened the deaths of Many. You do not know them. You did not see them bleed. But you snatched bread from their mouths and tore clothes from their backs. For Sport, Mr. Lipvig. For Sport. For the Joy of the Game.
-- Sir Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Well today was a busy day in the New York dockets regarding donald trump's multiple legal woes.

If trump had good news it was that a New York appellate court reduced the amount of cash trump needed to post a bond in his state-level fraud case from the full $464 million (plus interest) to $175 million, and if the rest of the world had good news it was that his criminal trial in New York starts in three weeks (via Andrea Bernstein and Ximena Bustillo at NPR):

Former President Trump had a mixed day in court Monday: A judge rejected his motion to sanction prosecutors and said jury selection in his hush money trial will start April 15; separately, a New York appeals court reduced the amount Trump must post as bond from nearly half a billion dollars to $175 million — and gave him another 10 days to post it to meet the civil fraud judgment against him.

Last week, Trump argued to an appeals court that a bond to cover $454 million was "a practically impossibility," because he doesn't have the cash to guarantee it right now. Trump had been facing a deadline Monday to post the $454 million bond or else face seizure of his assets...

The logistics of getting bond during the appeal process required trump to have a near-equal amount of that $464 million (plus interest) and from other sources I'd seen not many bonding companies would deal anything over $100 million anyway. Working with a character like trump with his reputation of not paying anybody, those institutions had every reason to balk at that price tag. (trump WAS able to get a bond for the $88 million involved in the Carroll ruling, arguably because it was under that $100 million cap and he apparently convinced that company's board he was good for it) And as I've noted before, for all of trump's bluster about being rich enough to have that kind of money, he really doesn't.

trump is still on the hook for that full $464 million (plus interest) while he appeals, but he only has to put $175 million down. It's still too much a gesture of mercy from a legal system that favors the rich in these circumstances: How many poor people are sitting in jail awaiting trial because they couldn't get a bail bond for $5,000.00 and no judge is willing to waive the fee?

While trump enjoyed the minor victory from that, he faced a harsher reckoning in the criminal trial regarding his hush money payments and false financial reporting:

Separately, a New York judge on Monday set April 15 as the new start date in Trump's hush money case. Jury selection will begin April 15, and all prospective jurors will be informed that court will not convene on any date the jury is unable to attend due to Passover or other religious observances. Jury selection in the trial had been scheduled to start Monday, but in recent weeks federal prosecutors released more than 100,000 documents that could be related to the case. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, called that release malfeasance, though the court finds that District Attorney Alvin Bragg was not at fault for the late documents...

That situation with the documents served as the crux for today's ruling, as the judge expressed a noticeable amount of anger over how trump's lawyers staged that document request as a means of deliberate delay (via Igor Derysh at Salon):

After describing Trump’s filings over the last several weeks, during which a document release by federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York prompted a delay to the trial, (Judge) Merchan said: “This court is of the opinion that there are really not significant questions of fact to be resolved."

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that not only did SDNY turn over new documents but it also notified both sides last night about new documents related to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Merchan told Blanche that he appreciated being informed of the development. “I don’t think it’s related to the hearing, but thank you,” he added.

Merchan questioned why Trump’s lawyers hadn’t asked for more time during a hearing last month even though they likely knew the materials existed last spring.

“Why didn’t you bring any of this to my attention? Why didn’t you tell the court or anyone in the courtroom at that time that you had made this request, that it was taking a little longer than you expected?” Merchan asked. “So how come you didn’t bring them up?”

Blanche appeared to be “caught off guard” by Merchan’s harsh questioning and seemed “frazzled” by the questions, according to NBC News. Trump during the hearing appeared to “relay messages through his lawyers,” according to the report.

Merchan grew “uncharacteristically furious” during the hearing, according to NBC.

“That you don’t have a case right now is really disconcerting,” he told Trump’s lawyers. “You are literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office and the people assigned to this case of prosecutorial misconduct," he added, arguing that Trump’s lawyers did not provide a single example to back up their allegation.

In all respects, trump and his lawyers have no real legal defense to speak of. his lawyers tried to dismiss most of the witnesses but failed. There's enough paper trail to justify DA Bragg's case. Even though legal experts argue Bragg's case is weak, trump dare not risk going to a jury on any of this. Attacking the prosecutors on baseless charges and coming up with new distractions to force the court to delay even further are the only options trump has.

trump's always played con games with the legal system. he's spent decades overpromising and underpaying (if at all). he's used delaying tactics to break those who tried to sue him for money owed. he's committed acts of fraud over and over, convincing himself if not others that no one was ever harmed by his misdeeds. And he benefitted from a legal system - designed to protect "who owns what" - that never took fraud serious as a major crime.

But people were harmed. People lost businesses. People lost life savings. People were tricked into spending too much for rentals and buyouts. And they could never find justice in the legal system because trump and his lawyers kept gaming that system.

We're watching it happen now. The criminal trials he needs to face regarding stolen classified documents and regarding his schemes surrounding the January 6th riots are on hold because a trump-friendly Supreme Court is delaying his accountability. The Fulton County RICO trial overseeing trump's election fraud and fake electors scheme are awaiting an open calendar date depending on all of this, all after trump and his co-defendants spent months delaying it by attacking DA Fani Willis' personal life.

Goddamn all these delays. The legal system may need to protect the rights of defendants but it also needs to serve the rights of the citizenry to see justice done. trump has violated any right to delay any further the justice that is long overdue.

Get him in the courtroom now. NOW, dammit, before he can bluff and steal his way back into a White House that would shield him from the justice he owes us.