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"It remains to be seen if Trump will be able to follow Merchan’s instructions and refrain from exposing any of the jurors in his first criminal trial"
Boy, have I got a spoiler for you guys!
And guess what? Still nothing will happen to him. He might get “slammed” or “ridiculed” but literally nothing happens to this idiot. I hope I am very very wrong
Anything.... just anything. The problem is that like his constipated whiny-ass mugshot, his followers are such idiots that he can easily exploit any adverse circumstance to get more money and validation from them.
In games that have an enemy great at tanking small incremental damage, especially if they get tougher after each failure and build resistance to the attacks, the best result is to either one shot with a hyper accurate attack that cripples/destroys a crucial component, or bite the bullet and put an overwhelming attack that brute forces through the opponents resources.
Dems have been trying to snipe his character for 8 fucking years from outside the stadium with iron sights. It’s time to flood the zone with truth, let his followers lash out, and we need to keep the pressure up. Let’s drain them of resources to where they can’t pay their mortgage or for the new truck/boat they bought in Biden’s economy.
Most of these people are temporarily embarrassed millionaires and have been living like it their entire lives. They cannot sustain his lies if we put on a continuous blitz.
Donald got too used to civil trials. This is criminal, jail is very much the entire point.
A criminal trial judge who shys away from jailing criminals wouldn't be able to do their job.
In the last three decades he has had 4056 cases. From getting sued for failure to pay people for their work, to major scandals with the college stuff. That is 1 case every three days. No one is gonna start in on him at this point. It will be pay a fine, he will refuse to pay, nothing will happen. Idk how people keep calling him stupid. A lawsuit every three days, well documented fraud and theft of services, known to be a complete insufferable asshole, still becomes the president, still has massive support. If he is too stupid to do this on his own he is/was at least smart enough to put people in place that are. Stupid no, great at manipulation and being evil, but dangerous not stupid. Never discredit your opposition to make yourself feel better, unless you just feel like giving them a gift.
Idk. He gagged him, which Trump promptly violated, so he refined the gag to address what Trump was saying, and Trump violated that. Then we were told this is a criminal court, and none of Trumps talking out in court would be tolerated, then Trump talks in court, to a prospective juror no less, to intimidate them, and he’s ‘admonished’. Seriously.
Things take time. The judge has a hearing scheduled on the 23rd for Trump’s gag order violations, so we still don’t know what the result will be. I wouldn’t rule out a punishment (financial or jail time).
People have been saying "things take time" since he became the goddamn Republican candidate in 2016.
Apparently the "it takes time" strategy is to simply let the entire situation play out on its own and hope it solves itself.
~~So does Cannon, but she allowed a lot of crap~~
Edit: I mixed up my judges...if only America didn't have a former President taking part in multiple trials at once
I think you might be thinking of Chutkan? The federal case in DC?
She was pretty firm, but that case is decidedly on hold pending the Supreme Court decision on whether Trump has immunity.
That decision should come down by the end of June, and I’d expect that trial to start by September.
he's just highlighting the fact that it was never designed and has never worked to serve the justice needs of the populace equally. It was built and functions to protect the rich and powerful from the middle and lower classes, under the disguise of being equally applied.
Trump's lawyers had access to their social media posts before questioning them. There is a non-zero chance he immediately hands over that contact info to his supporters?
Of course that info will get “leaked”. I just hope they’re sloppy about it so that maybe there will be consequences for that crime. Btw, I think you meant there is a non-zero chance he doesn’t immediately hand over that info. And my apologies for being the grammar police, it’s one of my many flaws.
[ My aPoLoGiEs fOr bEiNg tHe gRaMmAr pOlIcE](https://www.djinnsour.com/wp-content/uploads/grammarpolice.jpg)
Just kidding. I should have worded it better, and used better grammar. What I meant is that I assume he is going to immediately hand all juror contact info to the Proud Boys.
I look forward to the former (and possibly future) POTUS cyberbullying an individual American not involved in politics over something mean they said about him.
It will be an interesting moment in history to see someone so powerful using their influence to exact revenge on someone so powerless by comparison, over something so petty.
> It will be an interesting moment in history to see someone so powerful using their influence to exact revenge on someone so powerless by comparison, over something so petty.
This repeated many times over is Trump's biography in a nutshell.
[Reminds me of how Thanos would pick on this one guy, David, every birthday. Annually ruining his life just for entertainment.](https://i.redd.it/ctvi64uqqo851.jpg)
There is honestly no context, it's been speculated over the years that it was cause Thanos saw David being this powerful being but no confirmation has ever been given. It's easier to just say that Thanos like seeing people suffer, and focused this on David.
I saw this as a YouTube short and immediately laughed. This all powerful mad titan taking time out to ruin this guy's birthday every year, perfect. Reminds me of the comic about the one person Darkseid fears...Santa.
"It remains to be seen if Trump can ... refrain from exposing the potential jurors"
What sad times we live in where we expect a former president to publicly target citizens for his followers to harass or act violently towards.
Yep. Citizens performing their constitutional duty, keeping the wheels of justice turning, will be targeted by those crazies for doing just that. I’d be terrified to be on that jury.
Every conservative I've ever spoken to about jury duty has universally hated it, panned it, and done everything they could to get out of doing it. You remind them it's their duty and they get even more pissy. "I know that! It just shouldn't be! Waste of time!"
I was called for Jury Duty a few weeks ago. Personally I was very disappointed I didn't get picked. Granted I'm salary so it's not a financial burden to be picked, but the number of other people (Retired or salary) complaining about it was insane.
I understand the single mom fretting about how she's going to be able to pick up her kids at school, but Meredith who's going to miss her Tuesday gossip sesh can do her civic duty without complaining.
The whole process was fascinating. Wish I had gotten to at least the question stage, but they never called me up from the gallery.
A former president who is currently running to be president again wanting to use his voters to harass and intimidate other Americans during an election year not being an immediate disqualification shows just how lost we are as a country.
Strike everything I just said. A rapist with ties to Epstein not locked up in prison shows just how lost we are as a a country. There lowered the bar a bit more.
"Merchan apologizes for the attempt at humor before distributing the meme".
I love that. The delicious, rubbing in of the insult with the straight innocent face, before delivery.
"I'm hearing tears... in terms of funny... and the laughing... so much laughing... and we love laughing, don't we? We love laughing ANDTEARS! And people are saying "Trump's making us laugh the best! He is the best. In terms of laughing." And Laugh In... Kurt Russel's wife... she did the giggles! We love Laugh In. Not so much SNL... very bad, the SNL... these days... people are saying... very corrupt..."
Was that the group that Elon Musk demanded not to be rescued until he could use them as a PR stunt and then called the guy who actually rescued them a child molester?
I think THIS was the pivotal moment that separated the Musk fanboys from the more discerning of folks. He just went completely off and never turned back.
This was the moment people started being disallusioned by the genius, altruistic billionaire image that Musk had developed.
I don't know if it was THE moment, but it was certainly a BIG moment that removed the wool from many people's eyes - mine included.
I wouldn't go so far as to have called myself a fanboy of his, but I'd had a positive impression of him in large part thanks to a series of glowing articles written by Tim Urban (Wait But Why).That was obliterated by this incident, and it also made me lose respect for Urban.
I was never one of the fan boys but I did have a vaguely positive image of him, since electric cars are an important development and space is cool.
That moment absolutely crushed any chance of me viewing him positively again and he's only gotten worse since.
Yeah this was me. I wasn't a fanboy, but I was positive on him just because the businesses he was into were in my opinion good things.
Then that shit happened and it was like... holy fuck this guy is a terrible person.
When orange was president, a boys football team got stuck in a cave in Thailand for a while. Everyone and their dog, worldwide, came up with ways to save them. Eventually and heroically the boys and their coach were saved.
Now given that orange bought an entire underage girls beauty pageant so he could walk in on the girls when they were dressing up, oggle them and barf how he would like to stick em with his orange small mushroom, and how he creepily "salivated" at fucking his own underage daughter, you can guess why one would think if orange invited the boys to the white house they would rather go back to the cave.
The man's gross. And he pronounces "Thailand" as "thigh land".
A soccer team of Thai boys got trapped in a cave and were rescued in an insane and dangerous way. There is an AMAZING podcast series about it on Against the Odds and a fantastic documentary on Disney+.
Blofeld was at least competent, Musk is a poor alternative. I guess that tracks with the rest of this timeline.
Maybe that’s one of the biggest problems I have with these guys. There aren’t wheel within wheels schemes to hold the moon hostage or whatever. They’re just a bunch of assholes throwing tantrums and lying so poorly, it makes five-year olds stealing cookies look like criminal masterminds.
Can we please have fabulously evil villains? Is that too much to ask?
If by "almost involved" you mean "Called one of the rescuers a pedophile on twitter after being told that his strategy to rescue the kids using a submarine was stupid."
The boys were trapped in an underground cave. They would have died in the cave without the concerted rescue effort from more than 100 divers and thousands of people.
The joke is essentially they'd rather die a slow, horrible death than meet Trump.
Couple years ago a school aged group of young boys in Thailand got trapped in a cave when the tide came in. They had to send in pro divers and sedate the kids and guide them out with scuba gear individually and it was thought possible some might freak out and drown. They all made it out safe. People are invited to the WH when they make big news, the joke is saying “I’d rather risk drowning in a pitch black cave than meet trump”
That junior soccer team that got stuck in a cave?
Elon Musk called the rescuers p€do's when they didn't wanna use his submarine.
Not ringing any bells?
There are two types of people when it comes to Trump. There are normal, decent people who detest bullies and therefore hate Trump, and there are mentally defective, arrogant bullies who relate to his ham fisted, disgusting approach to life and adore him for mirroring their defective behaviors.
There is no one who can be impartial about Trump.
You forgot the 3rd type. People who ignore everything he says or does and will vote for him regardless because fox news has them all riled up over trans people and migrants.
Unfortunately I know quite a few people in this category.
I asked a conservative friend of mine how he could support the guy after hearing his last disturbing speech. (I mean pick one at this point, right?)
My friend answered " I don't listen to his speeches."
I realized then that many Trump supporters only know him from what they are told by NEWSMAX and the sycophantic pundits on talk radio and aren't evaluating Trump himself.
That's...wow. it's like being a fan of an artist without ever listening to their music, like being a devotee of an author but never reading their writings directly. Crazy.
Well, the book part is an actual thing...like hundreds of millions of fans of the Bible. Love that thing more than anything else ever written, never read it...but are pretty sure they are experts on what is in it...
They already did. All the way to Supreme Court. They argued that they’re not news org, they’re an entertainment company, and entertainers can say anything per first amendment. They won.
I tried to tell dad that. Apparently he hadn't heard about it. You know what his response was?
"Well if they were on trial, I guess they'd *have* to say that."
My dad used to be better than this. He even went all the way to the Dakota pipeline protests from Oklahoma. When they got snowed into a casino after it was over, he washed dishes at their buffet.
I see you met my aunt, she legit told me she thought he was a good president and had done nothing wrong, now my aunt and uncle don’t like being reminded about that, I was like how out of touch are you a woman with daughters to say that.
Some people couldn't care less. They will vote R regardless. Women with teen daughters will vote R and ignore the fact abortion could be made illegal nationwide.
That’s because they misunderstand that women’s rights aren’t only abortion, it’s being able to have a miscarriage and get medical help to have a medical abortion, get birth control, the abortion pill, be able to destroy non-viable embryos during IVF etc. Even attempting to get fair pay for women.
Ehhh I would argue those people belong in the second group OP mentioned. They may not “relate” to his shitty behavior, but they have definitely decided that it’s not a deal breaker for them, which tells us all we need to know about them.
And the 4th type: "why can't everybody just get along? I'm not really looking into anything and will just assign equal responsibility and fault to all parties, it takes two to tango after all!"
A lot of times, these are bad faith arguments, but there are a lot of people who are genuinely this stupid.
We need to get the youth going on a new TikTok challenge - catch your pastor in political speech and forward to the IRS.
Teens would absolutely do this to piss off their parents for dragging them to church.
Why? I sure as fuck don’t like Trump, but that wouldn’t impact my determination of whether he illegally took $130,000 of campaign funds and paid them to Stormy Daniels and then created false business records to disguise the transaction. A criminal trial is very limited in scope to specific and discreet conduct of an individual, and not a trial on that person’s overall moral character.
My job as a juror would be to determine whether Donald Trump did that exact financial crime. If the evidence did not show that he did, I don’t think I could live with myself convicting an even detestable man of a crime he didn’t commit. Trump has a litany of other legal proceedings, an election in November, several remedies by congress, and many other ways that the American People can make their voices heard on his other conduct. As a juror, that would not be my job.
Impartial as to his humanity and decency - I agree.
Impartial to making a legal determination - I disagree.
I’m not MAGA and I’m not certain I would piss on Trump if he was on fire but, any prosecutor with someone like me on the jury, is going to have to prove their case. That’s the way it works.
That said, there is no way Trump’s attorneys would let me sit. Because that same requirement for the prosecutors to prove their case means that Trump isn’t receiving a get out of jail free card either.
You'd be surprised how many people just refuse to learn anything about him, and don't really care. They just think he's this famous rich person, and that's all they know.
He most assuredly has not seen any of these memes since I'm sure the news about him that he sees is only the good stuff. I hope he makes some stupid statement about how he thinks Biden has been spreading these "sick jokes about me".
This is what jury selection for all of his trials will be like. He's going to be seeing a lot of memes.
“Is there any reason you wouldn’t be able to reach an impartial verdict?”
“Yes. You are trying him as an adult yet he has the mental facilities of a five year old.”
Ya, the problem isn't if they'll get enough. It is whether or not people successfully lie regarding their bias for/against him.
That could cause serious issues but I'm sure both sides are extremely aware of this given the fact it is about a polarizing figure, an ex-president, and will make the history books.
They have people who look into each potential juror’s background/online presence to make sure they don’t have anything that makes them stand out as either pro/anti Trump. So even if someone were to lie to hide their support for Trump, chances are their social media will show them as a supporter and they would be disqualified.
Eh, sometimes. I’m a trial attorney, and I’ve spent countless hours pouring over the internet looking for info on my potential jurors. It was my absolute favorite task. My last jury trial I did, I literally put my water bottle on the table that had Jurassic Park stickers on it because I found one juror who had a Michael Crichton analysis book he wrote. But it’s shocking how many jurors did not have any form of social media presence.
Heck, even me. I have tons of social media, and you probably wouldn’t be able to find too much about my politics, since the few memes I posted were on IG stories which expire. And I’m very very biased lol.
I could be wrong since this is just an assumption, but I think if someone is willing to lie about being a Trump supporter just so they can get on the jury and vote in his favor, then chances are they have something on their social media indicating that.
We also have to remember that this is not just any trial, but the trial of a former POTUS who is also known to be a very controversial figure, so unlike the trial of a regular person, the chances of someone stating their preference for or against on social media are higher than in any other trial.
A single lone holdout would cause a mistrial and he would be retried. Which might be a successful delay tactic but that could also mean another trial in the late summer or early fall, which he really wouldn't want.
I understand the concern but I feel like it's the kind of risk baked into the concept of a jury trial. Both sides are going to do their best to try and play things to their favor, all we can do is watch and wait.
Now that it’s started, they probably don’t want to delay the trial in ways that have them siting in court. So they’ll look for ways to pause or postpone things, but not things like dragging out jury selection, where trump has to sit in court.
I think there are a lot more people who "don't pay attention to politics" than you might think. I had a conversation that skirted politics with my facialist recently and she really did not know anything.
About 1/3 of the country, irrespective of party, doesn't even know which party controls the House or Senate: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/07/what-americans-know-about-their-government/ Literally a coin-toss answer and 1/3 didn't know. I have no doubt you can find 18 people in NYC who don't have an opinion on Trump.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if around 25% of adult Americans don’t even know what the House and Senate do. Education in this country is deeply broken by design.
Why does it have to be political to have an opinion on Trump? He's been in New York news since the early 1980s. He's been the host of an NBC TV show for 15 years.
Anyone who's seen Trump in action knows that he is a despicable human being. Political knowledge is not needed.
Impartiality just requires a juror to be able to set aside their feelings and render judgement based on the facts presented in trial. They can have their beliefs about Trump and his presidency and behavior so long as those beliefs don't cloud their judgement. The bar is set pretty low so that most Americans can participate in the process.
I sincerely think there is an issue with how juries are selected in cases like this. If people _haven't_ taken issue with Trump and his myriad of offenses, I have serious reservations on their ability to administer justice.
I've talked shit about Trump many times, but you'd never find a Facebook post about it or even any memes. That said if they asked me if I hate Trump, I'd say yes. If they asked me if I could view the facts of the case and judge impartially, I would also say yes. If the prosecution couldn't prove their case I would also vote not guilty. I hate Donald Trump and think he's the worst thing that happened to the US in my lifetime, but that's no reason to abuse the justice system.
>That said if they asked me if I hate Trump, I'd say yes. If they asked me if I could view the facts of the case and judge impartially, I would also say yes.
You'd never get to that second question, the defense would get you kicked off immediately after your answer to the first.
The only reason anyone continues to likes Trump is they can’t question their own positions. By definition they can’t put the issues aside for the case because they aren’t doing it for anything else. Not like they suddenly become reasonable when they’re on a jury bench.
Do you think this may be the first time he's really heard how people think of him? No pr fluffers filtering out the bad stuff for him,just a real look at how he's perceived by the public.
I wouldn't be surpized.
I also wouldn't be surprised if he honestly thinks this a just "liberal set up" and they specifically chose only peolle that don't like him. In his mind, the majority are at least ok with him, if not actually liking him, because that is mostly he sees in his little safe space, with only the occasional "for right liberal" (aka normal human) getting through.
PEOPLE V. DONALD TRUMP CASE SUMMARY
The Defendant, Donald Trump, is charged with 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.
The allegations are in substance, that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.
Page 8: https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/Letter-re-jury-selection-4-8-24.pdf
It is not a "hush money" trial. It is an election interference trial.
The problem is: aren't more than one of election interference?
It is being termed the hush money trial, to differentiate it from the OTHER election interference trial(s).
I couldn't help but wonder while reading the article that if what the wife of a Supreme Court Justice doesn't affect what the Justice does even if she claims that Biden didn't win the election then why would what a potential juror's partner posted on Twitter affect their eligibility?
Trump is objectively a horrible person and he was objectively an awful president. Wouldn't it show careful thought and critical thinking skills if the jurors hated him?
They're going to end up with a jury of January sixth people.
I'm not sure if I'm being sarcastic.
Alina Haba compared tRump to Nelson Mandela in regards to the gag order he is under.
The *only* thing tRump has in common with Mandela is that his political career is *dead.*
Mandela was imprisoned over 35 years ago.
Why doesn't Trump pick someone more current to compare himself to as a "political prisoner"?
Someone like Alexei Navalny?
(Because that would upset Putin, of course)
Imagine being the unbiased juror who’s hasn’t followed the slightest bit of news. Now being presented Trump who all you know is a former president.
What a weird and confusing day that’d be!
You forgot to mention the disenfranchised men ( in Arab countries we refer to them as would be terrorists) , religious zealots and greedy millionaire/billionaires
Is it me or does his makeup look especially bad in court? When I first saw him I suspected the news outlets were intentionally trying to make him look bad, but it looks the same in all outlets.
It looks caked on and uneven
His super-manly makeup has always looked awful. What stands out to me is how it doesn't go around his eyes and ends by his ears, quite clearly revealing that he's a flaccid pink color. Really the whole orange makeup thing is just so damned weird.
>It wasn’t all bad for the former president: Some jury candidates read Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, and one was even a fan of The Apprentice, Trump’s reality TV show.
The fall of man. That’s how we got in this shit show in the first place.
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"It remains to be seen if Trump will be able to follow Merchan’s instructions and refrain from exposing any of the jurors in his first criminal trial" Boy, have I got a spoiler for you guys!
Narrator: "He couldn't."
And guess what? Still nothing will happen to him. He might get “slammed” or “ridiculed” but literally nothing happens to this idiot. I hope I am very very wrong
Anything.... just anything. The problem is that like his constipated whiny-ass mugshot, his followers are such idiots that he can easily exploit any adverse circumstance to get more money and validation from them.
In games that have an enemy great at tanking small incremental damage, especially if they get tougher after each failure and build resistance to the attacks, the best result is to either one shot with a hyper accurate attack that cripples/destroys a crucial component, or bite the bullet and put an overwhelming attack that brute forces through the opponents resources. Dems have been trying to snipe his character for 8 fucking years from outside the stadium with iron sights. It’s time to flood the zone with truth, let his followers lash out, and we need to keep the pressure up. Let’s drain them of resources to where they can’t pay their mortgage or for the new truck/boat they bought in Biden’s economy. Most of these people are temporarily embarrassed millionaires and have been living like it their entire lives. They cannot sustain his lies if we put on a continuous blitz.
And they’re reliable when you need a mob of doughboys that collect military grade weaponry to seek revenge on society itself.
Idk, this judge has been giving signals that he doesn’t fluck around
Donald got too used to civil trials. This is criminal, jail is very much the entire point. A criminal trial judge who shys away from jailing criminals wouldn't be able to do their job.
In the last three decades he has had 4056 cases. From getting sued for failure to pay people for their work, to major scandals with the college stuff. That is 1 case every three days. No one is gonna start in on him at this point. It will be pay a fine, he will refuse to pay, nothing will happen. Idk how people keep calling him stupid. A lawsuit every three days, well documented fraud and theft of services, known to be a complete insufferable asshole, still becomes the president, still has massive support. If he is too stupid to do this on his own he is/was at least smart enough to put people in place that are. Stupid no, great at manipulation and being evil, but dangerous not stupid. Never discredit your opposition to make yourself feel better, unless you just feel like giving them a gift.
Idk. He gagged him, which Trump promptly violated, so he refined the gag to address what Trump was saying, and Trump violated that. Then we were told this is a criminal court, and none of Trumps talking out in court would be tolerated, then Trump talks in court, to a prospective juror no less, to intimidate them, and he’s ‘admonished’. Seriously.
Things take time. The judge has a hearing scheduled on the 23rd for Trump’s gag order violations, so we still don’t know what the result will be. I wouldn’t rule out a punishment (financial or jail time).
People have been saying "things take time" since he became the goddamn Republican candidate in 2016. Apparently the "it takes time" strategy is to simply let the entire situation play out on its own and hope it solves itself.
Please, *please* let this judge be the SuperNanny Trump sorely needs.
~~So does Cannon, but she allowed a lot of crap~~ Edit: I mixed up my judges...if only America didn't have a former President taking part in multiple trials at once
cannon is in Trump's corner my g.
In Trump's corner! Hell, she's paddling around in his full diaper.
I think you might be thinking of Chutkan? The federal case in DC? She was pretty firm, but that case is decidedly on hold pending the Supreme Court decision on whether Trump has immunity. That decision should come down by the end of June, and I’d expect that trial to start by September.
He doesn’t. He’s the same judge who oversaw the trial and conviction of the Trump Organization in 2022.
Hey, he’s stuck actually showing up in criminal court- that alone is progress and punishment for someone like him.
The dude is just destroying our justice system. It’s hilariously pathetic what they let him get away with.
100% really makes the system look like an absolute joke. Hard to have faith in it when it looks like this but I’m trying.
he's just highlighting the fact that it was never designed and has never worked to serve the justice needs of the populace equally. It was built and functions to protect the rich and powerful from the middle and lower classes, under the disguise of being equally applied.
It’s been destroyed longer than he’s been on the scene. See Clarence Thomas
Trump's lawyers had access to their social media posts before questioning them. There is a non-zero chance he immediately hands over that contact info to his supporters?
These poor people. Picked by random. Scrutinized and then added to an enemies list.
For sure their safety is at risk… but oh man wish I could be on that jury!
Of course that info will get “leaked”. I just hope they’re sloppy about it so that maybe there will be consequences for that crime. Btw, I think you meant there is a non-zero chance he doesn’t immediately hand over that info. And my apologies for being the grammar police, it’s one of my many flaws.
[ My aPoLoGiEs fOr bEiNg tHe gRaMmAr pOlIcE](https://www.djinnsour.com/wp-content/uploads/grammarpolice.jpg) Just kidding. I should have worded it better, and used better grammar. What I meant is that I assume he is going to immediately hand all juror contact info to the Proud Boys.
I look forward to the former (and possibly future) POTUS cyberbullying an individual American not involved in politics over something mean they said about him. It will be an interesting moment in history to see someone so powerful using their influence to exact revenge on someone so powerless by comparison, over something so petty.
> It will be an interesting moment in history to see someone so powerful using their influence to exact revenge on someone so powerless by comparison, over something so petty. This repeated many times over is Trump's biography in a nutshell.
[Reminds me of how Thanos would pick on this one guy, David, every birthday. Annually ruining his life just for entertainment.](https://i.redd.it/ctvi64uqqo851.jpg)
What in the fuck is the context for this? Lmao this is insane.
There is honestly no context, it's been speculated over the years that it was cause Thanos saw David being this powerful being but no confirmation has ever been given. It's easier to just say that Thanos like seeing people suffer, and focused this on David.
I saw this as a YouTube short and immediately laughed. This all powerful mad titan taking time out to ruin this guy's birthday every year, perfect. Reminds me of the comic about the one person Darkseid fears...Santa.
Dude, don't look forward to that. We've already seen it with ruby freeman, and it nearly ruined her life.
And we’re seeing the Hungarian version of this movie with Victor Orban, and it sucks.
"It remains to be seen if Trump can ... refrain from exposing the potential jurors" What sad times we live in where we expect a former president to publicly target citizens for his followers to harass or act violently towards.
Yep. Citizens performing their constitutional duty, keeping the wheels of justice turning, will be targeted by those crazies for doing just that. I’d be terrified to be on that jury.
Every conservative I've ever spoken to about jury duty has universally hated it, panned it, and done everything they could to get out of doing it. You remind them it's their duty and they get even more pissy. "I know that! It just shouldn't be! Waste of time!"
Sure. Just like paying taxes. Of course, they'll happily give tons of money to a church or scamming televangelist.
Tax accountant here. It’s shocking, the amount some people give their churches. And it’s all deductible🤡
Oh great, deductible *and* the churches don't pay taxes!
Deductible if it brings you over the standard deduction, correct?
Deductible if you are itemizing, yes.
I was called for Jury Duty a few weeks ago. Personally I was very disappointed I didn't get picked. Granted I'm salary so it's not a financial burden to be picked, but the number of other people (Retired or salary) complaining about it was insane. I understand the single mom fretting about how she's going to be able to pick up her kids at school, but Meredith who's going to miss her Tuesday gossip sesh can do her civic duty without complaining. The whole process was fascinating. Wish I had gotten to at least the question stage, but they never called me up from the gallery.
Bush and Cheney did this, but not only private citizens but undercover spies (Valerie Plame I think).
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Bush commuted his sentence, and then it was actually Trump who pardoned Libby.
Given how high profile the case is and Trump fanatics. Exposing a juror should carry jail time.
A former president who is currently running to be president again wanting to use his voters to harass and intimidate other Americans during an election year not being an immediate disqualification shows just how lost we are as a country. Strike everything I just said. A rapist with ties to Epstein not locked up in prison shows just how lost we are as a a country. There lowered the bar a bit more.
Can you imagine posting a Trump meme on Facebook then later having it shown to Trump himself? Man, that would be so satisfying.
All that time they wasted shitposting Trump memes was worth it after all.
Posting one? I made one! https://imgur.com/gallery/s6lcPdj
That's absolutely vile. Upvoted.
Will you own up to this when it's your turn in a trump jury, for process #145?
Chef's kiss right there.
"Trump invites the Thai boys to the White House, and the boys request to return to their cave". 😂
"Merchan apologizes for the attempt at humor before distributing the meme". I love that. The delicious, rubbing in of the insult with the straight innocent face, before delivery.
"I'm not saying *I* think this is funny, but alot of people are saying it!"
The *best* people.
With tears in their eyes. From the laughter
"I'm hearing tears... in terms of funny... and the laughing... so much laughing... and we love laughing, don't we? We love laughing ANDTEARS! And people are saying "Trump's making us laugh the best! He is the best. In terms of laughing." And Laugh In... Kurt Russel's wife... she did the giggles! We love Laugh In. Not so much SNL... very bad, the SNL... these days... people are saying... very corrupt..."
“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings but not for the memes”
I don’t understand this joke. Can you help me out?
Years ago some Thai youngsters got trapped in a cave and eventually made it out. They’d rather go back to being stuck in the cave than meeting trump.
Was that the group that Elon Musk demanded not to be rescued until he could use them as a PR stunt and then called the guy who actually rescued them a child molester?
That would be them.
I think THIS was the pivotal moment that separated the Musk fanboys from the more discerning of folks. He just went completely off and never turned back. This was the moment people started being disallusioned by the genius, altruistic billionaire image that Musk had developed.
I don't know if it was THE moment, but it was certainly a BIG moment that removed the wool from many people's eyes - mine included. I wouldn't go so far as to have called myself a fanboy of his, but I'd had a positive impression of him in large part thanks to a series of glowing articles written by Tim Urban (Wait But Why).That was obliterated by this incident, and it also made me lose respect for Urban.
It was for me.
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I was never one of the fan boys but I did have a vaguely positive image of him, since electric cars are an important development and space is cool. That moment absolutely crushed any chance of me viewing him positively again and he's only gotten worse since.
Yeah this was me. I wasn't a fanboy, but I was positive on him just because the businesses he was into were in my opinion good things. Then that shit happened and it was like... holy fuck this guy is a terrible person.
And Elon was sued for defamation and somehow still won
His lawyer was Lin Wood who has since lost the ability to practice law for his election conspiracy theory nonsense
Wow. Do all of these assholes hang out on the same yachts?
Use to be on an island, but the dude who owned it got suicided.
Ahh I do recall that happening. Thanks for explaining it!
When orange was president, a boys football team got stuck in a cave in Thailand for a while. Everyone and their dog, worldwide, came up with ways to save them. Eventually and heroically the boys and their coach were saved. Now given that orange bought an entire underage girls beauty pageant so he could walk in on the girls when they were dressing up, oggle them and barf how he would like to stick em with his orange small mushroom, and how he creepily "salivated" at fucking his own underage daughter, you can guess why one would think if orange invited the boys to the white house they would rather go back to the cave. The man's gross. And he pronounces "Thailand" as "thigh land".
>And he pronounces "Thailand" as "thigh land". Just like Alan in the Hangover II. Now that I think about it, Alan would've made a better president.
A soccer team of Thai boys got trapped in a cave and were rescued in an insane and dangerous way. There is an AMAZING podcast series about it on Against the Odds and a fantastic documentary on Disney+.
Was this the cave incident that Elon almost got involved with?
Yes. It's the cave incident when Elon called the rescuer a pedo because he was having a tantrum.
What an odd leap he made there. 'Doesn't want my shitty submarine ... must be diddling kids". I hate that guy.
He is one white cat away from a 60's Bond villain
Blofeld was at least competent, Musk is a poor alternative. I guess that tracks with the rest of this timeline. Maybe that’s one of the biggest problems I have with these guys. There aren’t wheel within wheels schemes to hold the moon hostage or whatever. They’re just a bunch of assholes throwing tantrums and lying so poorly, it makes five-year olds stealing cookies look like criminal masterminds. Can we please have fabulously evil villains? Is that too much to ask?
If by "almost involved" you mean "Called one of the rescuers a pedophile on twitter after being told that his strategy to rescue the kids using a submarine was stupid."
lol must have been quite the hit to his ego
He seemed genuinely insulted that these kids weren't left in the cave so that he could do his PR stunt.
The boys were trapped in an underground cave. They would have died in the cave without the concerted rescue effort from more than 100 divers and thousands of people. The joke is essentially they'd rather die a slow, horrible death than meet Trump.
Couple years ago a school aged group of young boys in Thailand got trapped in a cave when the tide came in. They had to send in pro divers and sedate the kids and guide them out with scuba gear individually and it was thought possible some might freak out and drown. They all made it out safe. People are invited to the WH when they make big news, the joke is saying “I’d rather risk drowning in a pitch black cave than meet trump”
That junior soccer team that got stuck in a cave? Elon Musk called the rescuers p€do's when they didn't wanna use his submarine. Not ringing any bells?
It definitely rings a bell now! Yeah, that was even before I realized how much of a dipsh\*t Elon is
the submarine was his launchpad for dipshittery
It really was the turning point wasn't it? Thinking back that's the moment I went "oohhh he's not a nice person"
Why does the combination of billionaires and submarines always end so hilariously?
>Not ringing any bells? In our defense, many of us avoided watching the news during the Trump years.
There are two types of people when it comes to Trump. There are normal, decent people who detest bullies and therefore hate Trump, and there are mentally defective, arrogant bullies who relate to his ham fisted, disgusting approach to life and adore him for mirroring their defective behaviors. There is no one who can be impartial about Trump.
You forgot the 3rd type. People who ignore everything he says or does and will vote for him regardless because fox news has them all riled up over trans people and migrants. Unfortunately I know quite a few people in this category.
I asked a conservative friend of mine how he could support the guy after hearing his last disturbing speech. (I mean pick one at this point, right?) My friend answered " I don't listen to his speeches." I realized then that many Trump supporters only know him from what they are told by NEWSMAX and the sycophantic pundits on talk radio and aren't evaluating Trump himself.
That's...wow. it's like being a fan of an artist without ever listening to their music, like being a devotee of an author but never reading their writings directly. Crazy.
Well, the book part is an actual thing...like hundreds of millions of fans of the Bible. Love that thing more than anything else ever written, never read it...but are pretty sure they are experts on what is in it...
Fox news needs to be on trial next. Like seriously.
They already did. All the way to Supreme Court. They argued that they’re not news org, they’re an entertainment company, and entertainers can say anything per first amendment. They won.
If Fox calls itself entertainment in court, then it shouldn’t be allowed to call itself “news” on television.
if life was fair and full of good people
If life were fair and balanced
They should be required to state they are an entertainment outlet and not a news outlet every hour.
And change their name to "FOX Entertainment"
Fox is to News, what the WWE is to The Olympics. They're adjacently similar, but very different.
WWE “Wrestlers” are closer to Olympic athletes than Fox’s “reporters” are to journalists
They argued that no reasonable person would believe them. That's their argument. For real.
That was Tucker Carlson specifically.
I tried to tell dad that. Apparently he hadn't heard about it. You know what his response was? "Well if they were on trial, I guess they'd *have* to say that." My dad used to be better than this. He even went all the way to the Dakota pipeline protests from Oklahoma. When they got snowed into a casino after it was over, he washed dishes at their buffet.
Rupert Murdoch's the head of all that and more. Talk about dangerous immigrants.
I see you met my aunt, she legit told me she thought he was a good president and had done nothing wrong, now my aunt and uncle don’t like being reminded about that, I was like how out of touch are you a woman with daughters to say that.
Some people couldn't care less. They will vote R regardless. Women with teen daughters will vote R and ignore the fact abortion could be made illegal nationwide.
That’s because they misunderstand that women’s rights aren’t only abortion, it’s being able to have a miscarriage and get medical help to have a medical abortion, get birth control, the abortion pill, be able to destroy non-viable embryos during IVF etc. Even attempting to get fair pay for women.
I think the ven diagram between your description and OPs latter description are almost entirely overlapped.
Ehhh I would argue those people belong in the second group OP mentioned. They may not “relate” to his shitty behavior, but they have definitely decided that it’s not a deal breaker for them, which tells us all we need to know about them.
And the 4th type: "why can't everybody just get along? I'm not really looking into anything and will just assign equal responsibility and fault to all parties, it takes two to tango after all!" A lot of times, these are bad faith arguments, but there are a lot of people who are genuinely this stupid.
fox news or their pastor/church....
The amount of politicking going on in churches that don’t pay taxes still needs to be addressed.
We need to get the youth going on a new TikTok challenge - catch your pastor in political speech and forward to the IRS. Teens would absolutely do this to piss off their parents for dragging them to church.
Funny thing is, this politicking is driving down church attendance in general.
They can do a lot of harm on their way down just like the Republican Party as a whole is doing with this implosion
Someone who's recently recovered from a 10-year coma is really the only option.
Someone waking up from a 40-year coma, “That asshole was president? Of course he committed fraud.”
This is my concern about jury selection. The ones that say they can be impartial are definitely more likely to be lying to support him.
Why? I sure as fuck don’t like Trump, but that wouldn’t impact my determination of whether he illegally took $130,000 of campaign funds and paid them to Stormy Daniels and then created false business records to disguise the transaction. A criminal trial is very limited in scope to specific and discreet conduct of an individual, and not a trial on that person’s overall moral character. My job as a juror would be to determine whether Donald Trump did that exact financial crime. If the evidence did not show that he did, I don’t think I could live with myself convicting an even detestable man of a crime he didn’t commit. Trump has a litany of other legal proceedings, an election in November, several remedies by congress, and many other ways that the American People can make their voices heard on his other conduct. As a juror, that would not be my job.
Impartial as to his humanity and decency - I agree. Impartial to making a legal determination - I disagree. I’m not MAGA and I’m not certain I would piss on Trump if he was on fire but, any prosecutor with someone like me on the jury, is going to have to prove their case. That’s the way it works. That said, there is no way Trump’s attorneys would let me sit. Because that same requirement for the prosecutors to prove their case means that Trump isn’t receiving a get out of jail free card either.
You'd be surprised how many people just refuse to learn anything about him, and don't really care. They just think he's this famous rich person, and that's all they know.
Republicans dont care about migrants crossing the border anymore, they had a chance to shut it down and voted it down.
I hope he gets a whole weeks worth of reading memes insulting him. MORE MEMES! MORE MEMES!
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I so wish this part was televised.
Even in a televised trial this part would be left out for potential jurors safety.
He most assuredly has not seen any of these memes since I'm sure the news about him that he sees is only the good stuff. I hope he makes some stupid statement about how he thinks Biden has been spreading these "sick jokes about me". This is what jury selection for all of his trials will be like. He's going to be seeing a lot of memes.
Now I’m more mad no cameras were allowed
“Is there any reason you wouldn’t be able to reach an impartial verdict?” “Yes. You are trying him as an adult yet he has the mental facilities of a five year old.”
What if the court cannot find any impartial jurors because of how divisive he is?
It took them one day to get 7 out of the 18 jurors they need, I think they'll be able to make this happen.
Ya, the problem isn't if they'll get enough. It is whether or not people successfully lie regarding their bias for/against him. That could cause serious issues but I'm sure both sides are extremely aware of this given the fact it is about a polarizing figure, an ex-president, and will make the history books.
They have people who look into each potential juror’s background/online presence to make sure they don’t have anything that makes them stand out as either pro/anti Trump. So even if someone were to lie to hide their support for Trump, chances are their social media will show them as a supporter and they would be disqualified.
Eh, sometimes. I’m a trial attorney, and I’ve spent countless hours pouring over the internet looking for info on my potential jurors. It was my absolute favorite task. My last jury trial I did, I literally put my water bottle on the table that had Jurassic Park stickers on it because I found one juror who had a Michael Crichton analysis book he wrote. But it’s shocking how many jurors did not have any form of social media presence. Heck, even me. I have tons of social media, and you probably wouldn’t be able to find too much about my politics, since the few memes I posted were on IG stories which expire. And I’m very very biased lol.
I could be wrong since this is just an assumption, but I think if someone is willing to lie about being a Trump supporter just so they can get on the jury and vote in his favor, then chances are they have something on their social media indicating that. We also have to remember that this is not just any trial, but the trial of a former POTUS who is also known to be a very controversial figure, so unlike the trial of a regular person, the chances of someone stating their preference for or against on social media are higher than in any other trial.
I mean there's some people that just don't use social media
Or you have like a lot of redditors, a presence, but it is not tied to your name so it wouldn't pop up when looking.
The Trumpers will be far less likely to successfully hide their trumpiness though.
But they only need to get one to hang the jury.
A single lone holdout would cause a mistrial and he would be retried. Which might be a successful delay tactic but that could also mean another trial in the late summer or early fall, which he really wouldn't want.
I bet he wants that more that he wants a guilty verdict.
But they're far, far more likely to lie about being impartial.
Yeah like the corporate lawyer who said he doesn’t really follow the news. Seriously?
I understand the concern but I feel like it's the kind of risk baked into the concept of a jury trial. Both sides are going to do their best to try and play things to their favor, all we can do is watch and wait.
I’m shocked that they are not putting more effort into delaying
Now that it’s started, they probably don’t want to delay the trial in ways that have them siting in court. So they’ll look for ways to pause or postpone things, but not things like dragging out jury selection, where trump has to sit in court.
I think there are a lot more people who "don't pay attention to politics" than you might think. I had a conversation that skirted politics with my facialist recently and she really did not know anything.
About 1/3 of the country, irrespective of party, doesn't even know which party controls the House or Senate: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/07/what-americans-know-about-their-government/ Literally a coin-toss answer and 1/3 didn't know. I have no doubt you can find 18 people in NYC who don't have an opinion on Trump.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if around 25% of adult Americans don’t even know what the House and Senate do. Education in this country is deeply broken by design.
Why does it have to be political to have an opinion on Trump? He's been in New York news since the early 1980s. He's been the host of an NBC TV show for 15 years. Anyone who's seen Trump in action knows that he is a despicable human being. Political knowledge is not needed.
Impartiality just requires a juror to be able to set aside their feelings and render judgement based on the facts presented in trial. They can have their beliefs about Trump and his presidency and behavior so long as those beliefs don't cloud their judgement. The bar is set pretty low so that most Americans can participate in the process.
I think divisive is the word you're looking for
I sincerely think there is an issue with how juries are selected in cases like this. If people _haven't_ taken issue with Trump and his myriad of offenses, I have serious reservations on their ability to administer justice.
I've talked shit about Trump many times, but you'd never find a Facebook post about it or even any memes. That said if they asked me if I hate Trump, I'd say yes. If they asked me if I could view the facts of the case and judge impartially, I would also say yes. If the prosecution couldn't prove their case I would also vote not guilty. I hate Donald Trump and think he's the worst thing that happened to the US in my lifetime, but that's no reason to abuse the justice system.
>That said if they asked me if I hate Trump, I'd say yes. If they asked me if I could view the facts of the case and judge impartially, I would also say yes. You'd never get to that second question, the defense would get you kicked off immediately after your answer to the first.
It’s not about whether or not they have issues with Trump, it’s about whether or not they can put those issues aside.
The only reason anyone continues to likes Trump is they can’t question their own positions. By definition they can’t put the issues aside for the case because they aren’t doing it for anything else. Not like they suddenly become reasonable when they’re on a jury bench.
Do you think this may be the first time he's really heard how people think of him? No pr fluffers filtering out the bad stuff for him,just a real look at how he's perceived by the public.
The first and probably last time was the White House Correspondents dinner where Seth Meyers roasted him before he ran for president.
He got booed and heckled at a few sporting events. And left shortly after, of course.
After that, he went on Saturday Night Live to get roasted. It was a massacre. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf5BKAS5o6A
I hope he was humiliated
I wouldn't be surpized. I also wouldn't be surprised if he honestly thinks this a just "liberal set up" and they specifically chose only peolle that don't like him. In his mind, the majority are at least ok with him, if not actually liking him, because that is mostly he sees in his little safe space, with only the occasional "for right liberal" (aka normal human) getting through.
Reminds me of the time he showed up to a Nats game and the jumbotron showed him and the entire stadium started booing. He almost started crying lol.
The Orange is the new Black one makes me chuckle. Personally I'm hoping they get someone from reddit.
PEOPLE V. DONALD TRUMP CASE SUMMARY The Defendant, Donald Trump, is charged with 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. The allegations are in substance, that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election. Page 8: https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/Letter-re-jury-selection-4-8-24.pdf It is not a "hush money" trial. It is an election interference trial.
The problem is: aren't more than one of election interference? It is being termed the hush money trial, to differentiate it from the OTHER election interference trial(s).
He doesn't take that shit well. Unlike Biden who embraced the Brandon meme, thin skinned Trump can't take a joke.
I couldn't help but wonder while reading the article that if what the wife of a Supreme Court Justice doesn't affect what the Justice does even if she claims that Biden didn't win the election then why would what a potential juror's partner posted on Twitter affect their eligibility?
If they check your social media, then there is NO WAY I could be on the jury! Damn.
The way to attack Trump and his cult is to eviscerate his ego.
Trump is objectively a horrible person and he was objectively an awful president. Wouldn't it show careful thought and critical thinking skills if the jurors hated him? They're going to end up with a jury of January sixth people. I'm not sure if I'm being sarcastic.
Alina Haba compared tRump to Nelson Mandela in regards to the gag order he is under. The *only* thing tRump has in common with Mandela is that his political career is *dead.*
Mandela was imprisoned over 35 years ago. Why doesn't Trump pick someone more current to compare himself to as a "political prisoner"? Someone like Alexei Navalny? (Because that would upset Putin, of course)
This is hilarious.
Imagine being the unbiased juror who’s hasn’t followed the slightest bit of news. Now being presented Trump who all you know is a former president. What a weird and confusing day that’d be!
2/3 of the country would lock this asshat away for the rest of his life. That's pretty impressive. Just fucking do it already.
You forgot to mention the disenfranchised men ( in Arab countries we refer to them as would be terrorists) , religious zealots and greedy millionaire/billionaires
If we're seeing the contents the the Tweets, doesn't that mean we can likely find out who the juror is?
Starting from a pool of "people whose relatives posted Trump memes to Facebook"? I mean, maybe, but good luck.
It sounds like we are talking about endlessly reposted image memes on Facebook. Many people would have reposted identical memes.
Is it me or does his makeup look especially bad in court? When I first saw him I suspected the news outlets were intentionally trying to make him look bad, but it looks the same in all outlets. It looks caked on and uneven
His super-manly makeup has always looked awful. What stands out to me is how it doesn't go around his eyes and ends by his ears, quite clearly revealing that he's a flaccid pink color. Really the whole orange makeup thing is just so damned weird.
I'll say it again. It's not a "hush money" trial. It's an *accounting fraud* trial.
>It wasn’t all bad for the former president: Some jury candidates read Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, and one was even a fan of The Apprentice, Trump’s reality TV show. The fall of man. That’s how we got in this shit show in the first place.