Take My Kids! Just Leave My Poor Money Alone!

(By American Zen's Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)

It's going to take New York City sanitation authorities weeks to get Trump's fecal matter off the walls and murals of Judge Engoron's courtroom.

    To the surprise of absolutely no one, Trump's testimony this morning in his fraud trial brought visions to the minds of those who've paid even cursory attention to Trump these past eight years of frustrated chimps at the Bronx Zoo flinging their feces at gawkers. It's a typical reaction, really, of the well-moneyed when their fortunes are threatened or even questioned. It brings out their atavistic animality. But for Trump, it's a good deal more than that.

    Through summary judgment, Judge Arthur Engoron had already decided last month to find the Trump Organization liable for fraud, at overestimating the valuation of his many properties such as Seven Springs in Westchester County and that gilded den of thieves, aka 40 Wall Street (right next door to Letitia James' office, coincidentally) in order to gain more favorable terms from banks. He's also been accused of underestimating the worth of those same properties in order to lower his taxes.

    We're not talking about mere settlements or penalties but full disgorgement. On top of his summary judgment, Judge Engoron had effectively put the Trump Org into receivership when it became obvious that the company's executives couldn't be trusted to make ethical decisions.

    So, after seeing one accountant or another getting thrown under the bus by the Trump boys last week, it was time for Daddy Warbucks to take his place on the stand today. And, as stated, it turned out to be more incendiary than even the experts predicted. Last night, CNN legal analyst Shan Wu thought that Trump would start out measured then devolve into the predicted shit show. But that's not how it started and nor shook out. Ever.

    Instead, what court watchers reported was Donald Trump doing a creditable impression of the Hindenburg as it crashed in Lakehurst, NJ. After weeks at scowling at the cameras like some orange version of Mr. Bill's Sluggo or looking like the greatest victim the world had ever known, Trump was in reality psyching himself up to do the Shaolin monk thing and figuratively douse himself in gasoline before torching himself. Let's review some of

The Lowlights

Apparently, Trump's already tired shtick of playing the air accordion before peeling bicycle racks outside courtroom #300 was just a warmup. Likewise, his glaring at juries that didn't exist, a judge who's not easily intimidated and an Attorney General who was literally laughing at him to his face.

      

"You called me a fraud!"

     Yes, Trump actually said this to Judge Engoron, who struggled to keep his composure. For good measure, Trump pointed his finger at him. In point of fact, Judge Engoron never did any such thing. Letitia James called him a fraud and Judge Engoron agreed with her in last month's summary judgment. Later, he pouted to the BBC, “I'm sure the judge will rule against me."

 

"I'm richer and guiltier than you think!"

      On the stand this morning, Trump essentially confessed to the kind of behavior that got him in this mess in the first place then doubled down and said the comically inflated assets were actually undervalued and that he thought they were worth more than he'd originally stated. He also claimed that he had a lot more money than everybody knows (that actually prompted laughter in the courtroom). One wonders if he was counting his campaign contributions that are entirely paying his legal team.

"Yes, I lied to get better terms."

     One of the biggest victories that James' office had scored today was in getting Trump to admit that the terms of financial conditions were geared to getting him better terms on loans from banks. Basically, Trump was that weak-kneed defendant seen on every other episode of Perry Mason who breaks down on the stand and confesses to the crime.

"Take my sons, please!"

     Missed by the MSM was the part where Trump (of course) denied any knowledge of what was going on while he was illegitimately squatting in the WH despite the Trump Org's actions benefiting him to the tune of tens of millions per year and it continuing a pattern of behavior that he'd well-established long before the 2016 election. Essentially, he was saying, "Blame my sons."

"Yeah, I lost."

     "And just to refresh your recollection, you were not president in 2021?" he asked.

     "No I wasn't," Trump admitted.

 

     At this point, we have to look at Arthur Engoron not as a New York Superior Court judge but as the world's most well-compensated babysitter.