Trump Trial Opening Arguments & Antisemitism on College Campuses - Top 3 Takeaways – April 23rd, 2024
- That didn’t take long. My top takeaway yesterday was “let the absurdities begin”, which was said in reference to the start of Donald Trump’s hush money trial... The trial which costs more to conduct every three days than what Donald Trump paid to Stormy Daniels to begin with. Anyway, we certainly didn’t have to wait long for the absurdities to begin. It came with the first statement, during the opening arguments, by Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo. He opened with alleging that Donald Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election”. He continued by saying: It was election fraud. Clear and simple. We’ll never know – and it doesn’t matter – whether this conspiracy was the difference-maker in a close election. So yeah, if you’re wondering how paying $130,000 for a non-disclosure agreement, labeled as a legal expense by Trump, is tantamount to an “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election”. You’re not alone. You see the actual authority on these matters, which is the Federal Election Commission, investigated that angle. As noted by the FEC in May of 2021, the commission voted 4-1 to close the investigation having “Failed to find reason to believe that Donald J. Trump knowingly and willfully violated (the law)”. So yeah, the absurdities started immediately in this case, as in literally with the opening words of the opening statement by the prosecution. But then again, as I explain in today’s Q&A, the entire case is based on a false premise. That is that Donald Trump violated federal campaign finance laws, which again, he was not only found to be not guilty of having done, but that there wasn’t even evidence that would have been sufficient to attempt to bring charges against him for an alleged violation. But what the opening argument in this case suggests is that the prosecution has the jury that they want. Given the grandiose approach by the prosecution to effectively state that Donald Trump engaged in election fraud to steal the 2016 election (in the form of the accounting for the NDA in question in this case), that has the potential to cut two ways. It’s likely fair to say that to a Trump supporter, that statement would appear to be absurd on its face (which it is). By opening with something that’s such an absurd overreach, one’s credibility would seemingly be impaired at the onset with someone who’s open minded – let alone preferential towards Trump. However, if you have a jury full of jurors who think that Trump is in fact the “Bad Orangeman”, then MSNBC styled talking points are precisely what they might want to hear in route to convicting the former president which is within their power to do. Trump’s defense team has got a lot of work to do in what might be a deck that’s completely stacked against them, if the apparent read of the room by the prosecution is correct.
- 1938. Years ago I coined a saying which I typically only use conversationally with my wife. It’s “hate doesn’t age well”. Most often she’ll comment on an actor or actress she hasn’t seen in a while and ask, “what happened to them”. Though the question is mostly rhetorical, many years ago I found commonality with the people she was often pondering about. Politically outspoken, leftist, Hollywood types. While an addiction to plastic surgery is a contributing factor, what came to mind was that hate doesn’t age well. There’s science behind it. You’re familiar with the concept of the power of positive thinking. The inverse is also true. The chemicals inside of us with positive vs. negative emotions play an important role in our overall health. Scientifically speaking it's been evidenced that mental patterns impact our cellular DNA over time. Prolonged negativity can lead to more wrinkles and advanced signs of aging externally, in addition to what happens internally. To that end, the anti-Semitic college protestors surely won’t age well unless something within them dramatically changes. It’s remarkable for many reasons that during Passover, elite colleges in this country aren’t conducting classes because it isn’t safe for Jewish students or faculty. As was noted on X by a Jewish Columbia business professor Shai Davidai, yesterday, when he was barred by security from entering campus because he was told that school security couldn’t ensure his safety as a Jewish professor on campus: Earlier today, @Columbia University refused to let me onto campus. Why? Because they cannot protect my safety as a Jewish professor. This is 1938. Nazis didn’t age well. Physically, spiritually or historically. Yet here we are, not even a century later, and support for pure evil, Hamas, is espoused on college campuses across the country. In what’s supposed to be the freest country in the world, it’s not safe for Jews on college campuses due to the anti-Semitic haters. How this is at all tolerated or acceptable is beyond me. It’s also illegal but is not being properly dealt with. We all have a right to freedom of expression; however, we don’t have a right to use that expression to take away the rights of others. Yet, it's allowed to persist on leftist campuses in blue states. What used to be the epicenters of free speech are now commonly the breeding grounds of hatred used to repress the rights of others. But notice...
- It doesn’t happen in Florida. Yesterday, while in West Palm Beach to announce he was signing off on $1.5 billion expansion of the Everglades Restoration Project – which includes the push to end Lake Okeechobee discharges and to improve water quality for all of our waterways - Governor DeSantis was asked by a reporter about the antisemitism running rampant on college campuses and he said...What’s going on up there is disgraceful. It’s a hostile environment and violates the civil rights of those students and these universities. You start expelling people, the behavior will change right now in higher education. Particularly in those schools up there, the inmates run the asylum and so they do, the students do this stuff knowing there’s not going to be any repercussions. The minute there’s repercussions, you will start to see a change in behavior. That’s why it doesn’t happen in Florida. There is accountability here.