Donald Trump on Wednesday launched fresh vitriol against the judge and prosecuting attorney in his New York business fraud trial, carefully skirting a gag order imposed on him just a day prior.
Trump tried Tuesday to bully a court clerk, sharing false conspiracies about her as well as her personal information. Presiding Judge Arthur Engoron issued a gag order later that day prohibiting all parties involved in the case from publicly discussing court staff.
While Trump avoided mentioning court staff on Wednesday, he went all out with attacks against Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“This is election interference. They made up a fake case, these fraudulent people,” Trump told reporters. “And the judge already knows what he’s gonna do. He’s a Democrat judge. In all fairness to him, he has no choice.… He’s run by the Democrats.”
And my point is that the appropriate weight to give to the comfort of the obviously guilty and blatantly manipulative Trump’s wish to threaten and defame without consequences is none.
As for discontent later on, that’s a given, since his cult will believe his claims no matter how obviously false ni matter what anyone does or says, so trying to please them is a lost cause.
The only significant effect of imposing a general gag order is on the safety of those he’ll vilify to his unhinged and frequently violent cult following.
That and the news will be less saturated with his nonsense, but that’s just a very pleasant bonus.