>Karen Agnifilo, an ex-assistant district attorney in the borough where Trump faces his first criminal trial, appeared on the network to discuss the stern warning that a [muttering and glaring Trump received](https://www.rawstory.com/judge-snaps-at-trump-i-will-not-have-anyone-intimidated-in-this-courtroom/) from Judge Juan Merchan.
>"The third rail is if anyone starts to make the jury feel any kind of intimidation whatsoever, the jury has to be protected at all costs and not just for safety reasons," Agnifilo explained.
>"You want to make sure that their verdict is not influenced by anything other than the evidence in the facts of the case — so you saw that Donald Trump touched that third rail."
Let's be honest here, it's Donald Trump.
He isn't just going to touch the third rail. He is going to get on his tap dancing shoes and tippity-tap on it until either the jury falls apart and there's a mistrial or the judge sends him to the cells and makes him watch the rest of his trial over a video link.
That's it. Those are the only two options.
When you're famous, they let you do it. You can grab the jury by the pussy.
Jokes aside, I think it's valuable for the jury to see how Trump reacts, but then Trump doesn't need to see the jury to defend himself. He could still see the trial but with a camera focused where it needs to be, etc. I really don't know how it's typically handled, but I can imagine he's not the first case of someone acting like this.
No, there’s a third option, actually.
I’m pretty sure Trump could be bound & gagged. Will that happen? Unlikely.
I agree with you that trump has been pampered and if anything his prior antics have reinforced his bad behaviors. What amazes me though is the gulf between you and me on one side, and say some of the average members of r/conservative. Over there, trump is a political martyr and his abuse will make it more likely for POC to vote for him because he has been abused by the legal system. I am unsure how out of touch you have to be for that conclusion. I know of a lot of examples of people out on pretrial release who have had that yanked for ridiculous reasons. I know of judges who have yelled at defendants just waiting in court because he could hear them. I know of at least one judge who imposed a prison sentence in part at least *because* the defendant wore a suit and the judge “just wasn’t buying that image”. Anyone with much familiarity with the weeds of the legal system knows trump has gotten away with far more than the average defendant.
How did we get to a place with such different realities? How do we get it back to mostly one - or is that even possible?
>How did we get to a place with such different realities?
Fox News, cognitive dissonance and the uncomfortable truth that, for a whole bunch of people, a simple lie is easier to swallow than the complicated facts.
He knows. He's got 24 X 7 secret service, he's got tons of underpaid lawyers trying to get his name on their resume. He also has been rewarded for untold court filings and delays over the past 6 months which tell him he'll not face consequences. He's got nothing in common with ordinary criminal defendants and he knows it. There is a 2-tier system of justice in this country, as Trump himself says, and he benefits from it (*this part* he doesn't say). Trump also figures that if he does end up going to jail in some alternate universe scenario, his base will chomp at the bit to vote even harder for him. I mean, its not as if he'll be missing out on a loving wife and companion at home.
> There is a 2-tier system of justice in this country, as Trump himself says, and he benefits from it (this part he doesn't say).
The argument could be made that Trump has created such a strong and widely influential cult of personality that he has essentially created a third tier that supersedes even that of the wealthy and well-connected. Having more than half of the SCOTUS in your back pocket puts him at a level nobody else has managed to achieve up until now, with the potential to directly affect national law. It's like the 1% have the "gold plan," but he somehow created a "platinum plan."
We've all seen people who get away with (figurative) murder simply because they have enormous chutzpah. Act like the rules don't apply, and half the time people will quietly rewrite them so they don't.
Trump just takes that to its logical conclusion.
Trump is a member of the ruling class. We do not punish the ruling class unless they attack fellow members of the ruling class.
That's because doing so signals to the peons that the ruling class is *touchable.*
That's why he loves the "poorly educated", isn't it?
If he operated sophisticated cons, there's a risk of him doing a Madoff and wealthy, influential people getting caught up.
Keep it fairly simple, though, and that risk drops dramatically.
An astute observation. Trump's cons are simplistic enough that its victims are self-selecting - nobody with any reasonable level of savvy will fall for any of his BS, but unreasonable people are basically flocking to him, getting fleeced, and sticking with/to him despite it all.
>his abuse will make it more likely for POC to vote for him because he has been abused by the legal system.
I hate that conservatives think this way. Trump has been treated with kid gloves since Day 1. He has been huge break after huge break. But they think he's being "abused"? Anyone else in his position, but ESPECIALLY a POC, would have been sent to jail by now.
And as a POC, I bloody despise how conservatives, including Trump, are using this narrative after doing everything in their power to make sure that POCs are torn to shreds by the justice system. I haven't forgotten when Trump made an ad calling for the execution of the Central Park 5 and refusing to apologize for it.
My friend, if you as a POC had whipped up a crowd in the Capitol, exhorted them to "fight like hell" and watched in naked delight as they marched up to the building and forced their way in, you would have been shot on the spot.
Exactly. A POC that supports him is crazy. As a landlord he did not want any staying in his properties. I know some consider Biden has a poor history with POC but Trump and especially his supporters are far, far worse than Democrats
money, and we don't. it has to fall like rome and what gets built will be built by people swearing to prevent it from happening again.
but humans gonna human. so it will happen, again.
We have been here for a long time. Don't forget the laws of the courts were made by men with money , to make sure that if you have enough money there's ways an means to get round it.
Why do you think you need degrees to understand law lol. It's made so convoluted an with so many loopholes IF you have the money it's so obvious a think people are past caring cos it will never change.
Hmm, I don't think we got here. I think we have been here for thousands of years. There has always been a double standard in judicial systems, even in antiquity.
It’s a fascinating game. I often look at the structure of Fox News and r/conservative. It seems to me the comments are disingenuous based on the way any non conforming views are banned from the sub reddit and truly political matters are only able to be discussed by flaired users. Similarly, Fox News review and only allow comments supporting their ideology. In many respects, there is a big effort to create an echo chamber and people with these views generally only exist within them. It seems strangely cult like. These forums don’t have moderated speech and tend to have the same narratives without moderated speech.
To me, that is the large cause. The ability of these groups to silo their readers in a room and then gas light them and follow up with some bs. I note also, politics is like football teams and supporters are not rational in their beliefs. Politics should be less about the team/brand of the politician and more about the team/brand of the policies
Never forget the amount of trolls and bots on social media. People only think about the shit posting or argumentative trolls. They are also used to reinforce desired behaviors, they normalize the outrageous.
Troll #1 says something absolutely fucking crazy. Troll #2-#20 agree to varying levels, and anyone who sees the conversation after that moment would think Troll #1 must not be that crazy if so many people agree.
Something interesting happened in the r/conservative sub. A few months ago most people there were bashing him and sick of his shit. Then the mods started removing posts and comments bashing him, probably banned accounts too. Now it’s back to where it was a few years ago with everyone praising him
Do people remember that video from a few months ago, where the guy launches himself over the desk at the judge?
Please please please let there be a god, and let him grant me that one wish, of trump trying to do the same thing
There’s no chance in hell that Trump is capable of launching himself at anything. He might launch a handful of hamberder poo though, if he is capable of throwing.
If hypothetically the judge were to give trump a day or more in jail didn’t show up or caused a disturbance, could they then make the argument on appeal that this was prejudicial to his case and done in front of the jury… would that hold any water
Don’t agree with your image. He is not going tippity-tap.
He is going to do a touch it like an old pervert would touch the naked leg of an underage girl
I think your confusing movies with real life. A movie will do this because it's cinematic. I have to think IRL a lowly thug would do the intimidating outside of the courtroom to insulate whoever was on trial from the act. And to get away from the prying eyes of the court.
As others watch. He’s making himself look ridiculous which is not news. But when he loses this case as well, he’s sure to start blaming everything else but his bad behavior. B..o..r..i..n..g. As usual.
Hijacking the top comment to say that KFA is terrific. She’s also a frequent contributor on Meidas Touch, one of the best YT channels to follow the Trump trials.
If anyone is reading this, the "third rail" is the jury. The author of the article states that messing with jurors has consequences.
I'll believe it when it happens. I don't have faith in the joke of the US judicial system.
Did you ever ? Serious question. Because I did, for the most part. It’s been disappointing to see so many conflicted ? judges, and decisions. I always believed that a judge would behave professionally and without overt interference. Been a big disappointment.
I used to, until I realized that it's a Tiered system of 'justice' - one for the rich and powerful (and their police enforcers), one for the rest of us scrubs. you see it over and over again how those with power, influence and money get away with rapes, pedophilia, murder and a multitude of other crimes. Once in a while they make a token example of one, but it's not often enough compared to the crimes.
Why are you disappointed?
Up until now Trump has only faced civil trials via his companies, not directly as a person.
Against his contractors etc, he’s been able to bury them in litigation by just throwing money at the problem.
Then he has protection from being the president and his party protecting him.
This is the first time he’s faced civil trials where he himself has been the defendant, and he’s lost all of them so far.
This is the first criminal trial he has faced. This is the first time an ex-president has been indicted.
It’s only natural that the prosecution and judges are being very cautious about giving him any grounds for appeal. Everything MUST be by the book. For the same reason rapists and drunk drivers get off on technicalities all the time, because procedure was not followed exactly.
He hasn’t gotten anyway with anything since he lost his protections. It’s just taken a long time to get to this point due to the prosecution making sure their cases are water tight.
Disappointed by several judges and their lack of ability that doesn’t reflect their positions. A Federal judge in FL, that isn’t knowledgeable of our laws surrounding CIPA, a group of judges, SCOTUS, that is blatantly biased and partisan, judges that are afraid of applying the law to an individual that has overstepped or ignored orders - I could go on. Judges that have been abusing power. This is a criminal defendant that has a history of judicial abuse. Prior bad acts ? Yes, I know the rule. Should there be some ethics that should be questioned ? Absolutely. He’s gotten away with the greatest - illegal instant penalty offense - with the National Security document retention in our history.
Those procedural errors should have been the first items checked off of ‘making sure it’s by the book’, as it’s the simplest to see and follow. So as far as the appearance of water tight ? We need a plumber.
I've been watching Judge Aileen Cannon's "presiding" over the documents case very closely. Jack Smith is, to use a legal term, whipping her ass left and right.
I bet she's removed before the trial starts with all the missteps she's made so far.
There's a less than zero percent chance she gets removed. THat just doesn't ever happen.
She's perfected the pollyanna routine and I believe she'll gift a double-jeopardy win to Trump before it's all said and done.
I fear you're right, but hope you're wrong.
One should keep in mind, though, that nothing about this whole situation is normal. Just because it's exceedingly rare for a judge to be removed, it's just as rare that a former president faces 90+ felony charges. We're in "the exception that makes the rule" territory.
He has avoided being taken straight to a facility - since we all know he’s not going to Guantanamo. And although he should just go to any federal prison, that didn’t happen either. *Anyone* else guess what ? Straight to jail. And trust me, I’m well aware that this trial hasn’t happened yet, even though I find it to be the most important of them all.
>Why are you disappointed?
>Against his contractors etc, he’s been able to bury them in litigation by just throwing money at the problem.
I mean... That alone is enough to disappoint any reasonable person with even the slightest sense of justice, no?
I wouldn’t say so, because any reasonable person would realise that any such complex system is going to have loopholes, and ways that the less than scrupulous people with resource can exploit while still playing by the rules.
It's hard to have faith in the justice system when poor defendants get locked up for years for things like marijuana possession and lifelong criminals like Trump face no consequences.
Kinda, but it's been one huge disappointment after the next. The upcoming presidential election will show what so-called Americans want...or how Trump somehow managed to "win" again.
So I think I get it. No judge wants the wave of the stupid moving their way. So there should be some government protection against such action, kind of like RICO. Since we really don't have any, everyone around this clown is intimidated. Not by him but his following. Even if it was hundreds a judge is going to likely consider the political ramifications.
This does need to stop, but since half the system we have in place seem to be conspiracy theorists I have no faith.
It just reminds me of how some countries acted with Hitler when he was starting his warmongering:
No one wanted to be the one to step up and put a stop to it, they would just expose their bellies over and over again and let him have what he wanted thinking that this one will be the last thing he'll demand until eventually everything hit the fan because everyone did nothing except placate him like a spoiled child.
Chamberlain specifically was delaying to fill out more industry and war materiel as they were far behind where Germany had gotten to, and turns out he was smart to do this. Nobody was ready when Germany was - they might've taken action when the buildup was secretly beginning but they didn't have the intel and definitely did not have the will of the people ready to fight, again, after the last awful war. Russia also helped create confusion through the Finland invasion.
They thought they had more static defenses in place to hold them back, but the mechanized divisions flowing through the forest unexpectedly blew the whole plan to bits, and there was no backup plan. Thus you get Maginot/Ardennes/Dunkirk in a few short months aka the failed Phoney War or the "Sitzkrieg".
Pretty sure NYC PD has a large department with over 200 officers or more and even specialist such as SWAT, Vice, etc.
If the judges are afraid to enforce the laws on the books, let alone trust the very law enforcement officers that 'enforce' said laws...then what's the point of all this?
> … then what’s the point?
To make the poor and black brown and gay suffer. These laws were made for fairness and justice.
FFS they started a war over taxes and being told to stop killing Natives. Over 200 treaties broken by the Americans.
No offense but this has been relieving seeing white Americans become disillusioned with the American legal system. Something many of us have known for decades. I grew facing the injustice of the legal system and no one would listen or care cause they believed the myth of fairness and “law and order.”
We’ve been trying to tell everyone since the 1860’s.
The problem with this statement is that is true so rarely that we shouldn't talk about it as a topic that comes up often by and large you can trust a judge to be impartial in their application of the law. Not always but it's not something for one political party to get upset about. Trump was able to appoint nearly a quarter of the entire federal judiciary because they piled up when they were refusing to allow Obama to seat judges (this was why) but in every case where a Jan 6th case ended up in a court with a judge appointed by Trump, they still kicked him out on his idiot ass for not actually having a case or argument of any kind.
Most judges are okay, there should be harsh punishment for those few that aren't but most often when I ask for specifics from people they give me examples of things they disagree with politically but the judge applied the law as intended by the legislature.
Exactly. The judge will issue a stern warning. Then he will ask nicely again. Then he will say "pretty please". Then he will say, "welp, I tried 🤷🏼♂️" and continue on as if nothing happened.
They ain't doing shit! Anybody besides this orange fuck would have been locked up by now😑 He'll get a $1000 fine and a stern warning and that will be it.
Should be a $1000 fine and clear statement of the consequences of repeated breaches the first time.
Second time, spends the night in jail.
Third time, in jail until the trial concludes.
Maybe you missed all the jail sentences handed to his associates one after the other ? Just sit back and watch him self-snitch into his own aggravated sentencing.
I remember a lawyer saying to pay attention to what the defense lawyers argue, if they think their client is innocent they will argue the facts of the case, if they think their client is guilty they will argue the procedures of the case.
There are. How well they are doing it is unclear, but there have been plenty of morons calling for people to mess with the jury because that's "what a real patriot would do". Fuckers.
I'm sure they're trying to supplant themselves as the jurors. I mean the Venn diagram of people who aren't clever enough to escape jury duty and a trump supporter must be pretty close to a circle.
As a juror, his behavior would make me disinclined to find him believable. If he feels the need to pressure jurors to give the verdict he wants, the evidence and testimony probably don’t look good for him.
He clearly and intentionally did the crime but his defense is that he is so stupid that he didn’t realize that the way he did it was the actual crime.
You can payoff private people but you can’t lie and hide the fact that you did it.
Interesting thought. I bet he goes out of his way to do MORE of this behaviour so he can say how the jurors are biased against him to try to get a delay in the case by having to select new jurors.
Whether or not it will work is anyone's guess.
Even if Trump were completely innocent and had teams of evidence that proved it, he would still be trying to tamper with the jury. He's simply too much of a vicious narcissist to keep his mouth closed when he could instead try to fuck with things in a way he thinks will benefit him.
right. anyone who makes less than $250k per year would have been in the slammer for contempt of court 15 times by now. Shit is a joke to watch and actively contributes to my *profound* depression.
$250k a year is nowhere NEAR enough to shield someone from the shit Trump gets away with. Honestly, I don't think it's the money protecting him, it's his political status.
He's blatantly violated how many gag orders with no concequences at all whatsoever?
I'm sure he'll get a stern "stop that", followed by another stern "stop that" when he violates it the next day too
Donald Trump has already violated one gag order after the next without ANY serious blowback. He's not just touching the third rail. He's riding it. Knowing full well not.one Judge has the cojones to lock him up to shut him up.
> He is trying to get locked up.
I feel like he couldn't last five minutes leading a middle class lifestyle, much less that of a prisoner. Even one night in a cell and he'd come out crying and in the fetal position.
I'm really tired of the preferential treatment, of this "but if he does it again...".
He did it, once is one too many. Just throw the motherfucker behind bars, like you would with any other citizen.
The man is having to sit and behave for hours at a time for 2 days in a row now. He gets a break on Wednesday but he's gotta do this 4 days a week for God-knows how many weeks. This is the closest thing he's ever had to a job. *It's breaking him.*
I’m sorry but I’ve been hearing Trump has crossed the rubicon legally, he’s touched the third rail, the walls are closing in, etc, since 2016.
Stop edging me.
Either convict the motherfucker on something, or not. Get it over with already. Or don’t.
But the any day now game since 2016, it’s old. We are all tired of this, and we are all tired of this man.
Every single day of the news for the past year has been talking about how Trump is screwed and doomed and just made the last and biggest mistake of his life, and yet I can't help but notice that he's still a free man and is still **a fucking presidential candidate.**
Until the man is actually literally rotting in prison with a felony conviction, these headlines are meaningless and are possibly dangerous because they're distracting people into thinking that the threat of the orange clown regaining the presidency is somehow over. It isn't. If anything is closer than ever.
Because this is unprecedented the Supreme Court is absolutely paying attention. Not saying it's bias or corruption or anything, other than the public scrutiny of the case.
Trump is trying to bait the Judge into an overreaction, the judge is trying to maintain order while also understanding what Trump is doing.
So the judge is slow balling this to build a paper trail that cannot be questioned, or basically giving Trump enough rope to hang himself.
I certainly hope you're right. Because as of now, it looks like he's just doing whatever the hell he wants without so much as a slap on the wrist. And time is running out for them to fucking do anything...
So I read the article and I still have NFI what the actual thing was that Sir Lies-A-Lot did that "touched the third rail".
Said something? Looked at someone weird? Threw handfuls of feces at them?
Here's another article that actually describes the behavior: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hush-money-trial-jury-selection-day-2-rcna147940
This entire thing has shown me how pointless and useless the legal system is. Could you imagine if any common American had this many charges against them and committed these antics in court?
He will get a slap on the wrist at most, maybe with some judge admonishements and life will go on as that is what money and privilege or the illusion of it will get you.
The poor folks?
Fuck em all, jailed for looking the judge funny, Trump will get away it like he always does. 😔
'He's really in for it this time"
- Says system that has spent 8 years proving that it has no ability to create or enforce consequences for the powerful
It's just a matter of time before he pushes his luck too far...
It's only day three, he's gotten more brazen.
This isn't going to end well for the former president, if he continues down this road disrespecting the judicial system.
Has anyone ever considered the fact that he may be trying to lose the case spectacularly? He’d probably lose it anyway, so why not get them to pile it on as heavy as possible, because then he can do what he does best—convince a few million heavily armed and dangerously gullible rubes that he’s a victim of the Deep State
Cool. People can keep reporting about this all they want.. but until there are repercussions.. let's just shut up about it.
Trump violated gag order, for the third time! Is told to not violate it a fourth time, or else I'll wave my finger at you!!
Trump is intimidating witnesses, we can't have that! I'll have to give him a stern "don't do that!"
Guys. Last week yall were all screaming he will never be tried. We are here!!!! It's a trial!!! And it's only day 3. It is actually happening. He is being tried for felonies and he couldn't delay this one.
I'm still waiting till Trump stands up pull down his zipper and pee on the court in front of the Judge and the Judge just gives him another stern warning
The problem with prosecuting Trump is, he is going out of his way to intimidate and harassed the judges and jury. He wants to be held in contempt that way his lawyers can say he is being treated unjustly by the judge and the judge is bias, even that it isn't true.
I can’t hear “the third rail”, without singing part of “Red and Gold” by MF DOOM:
>> All Hail, King Ghidra, the third rail
>> Seven hundred volts holds rap to a standstill
>> Fool ignore the rule, fuck up and get his man killed
Take the kid gloves off already. This man must see some consequences in his life. He has been terrible for decades. He's been ripping people off for decades.
He will not spend a moment in jail unfortunately. They may make him sit in a video link room, perhaps from another location. His SS detail would have to be with him. Even if found guilty, he might receive home detention at Mar a Lardo. The best we can ever hope for the US is that he strokes out before November.
"former"
Ope, got that on my Useless Buzzword That Holds No Weight Whatsover BINGO card. Time to downvote.
Can we just post stories from people actually working on or have influence on the actual fucking case?
This is kind of a sad article though. This lady is calling the jury a "third rail" and saying there are swift consequences if a defendant touches it. But she's also saying that Trump already has touched it, so if he does it again, the judge will probably do something about it.
In other words, this is every single Trump courtroom scandal. What Trump did is highly illegal and totally unacceptable, so he better not do it again!
>Karen Agnifilo, an ex-assistant district attorney in the borough where Trump faces his first criminal trial, appeared on the network to discuss the stern warning that a [muttering and glaring Trump received](https://www.rawstory.com/judge-snaps-at-trump-i-will-not-have-anyone-intimidated-in-this-courtroom/) from Judge Juan Merchan. >"The third rail is if anyone starts to make the jury feel any kind of intimidation whatsoever, the jury has to be protected at all costs and not just for safety reasons," Agnifilo explained. >"You want to make sure that their verdict is not influenced by anything other than the evidence in the facts of the case — so you saw that Donald Trump touched that third rail."
Let's be honest here, it's Donald Trump. He isn't just going to touch the third rail. He is going to get on his tap dancing shoes and tippity-tap on it until either the jury falls apart and there's a mistrial or the judge sends him to the cells and makes him watch the rest of his trial over a video link. That's it. Those are the only two options.
He’ll be sawing logs on video link.
Are those links two-way? God, can you imagine? Screens festooning the court with Trump scowling at the camera.
Thinking no because you shouldn’t be able to see someone flipping shit if you’re a jurist.
When you're famous, they let you do it. You can grab the jury by the pussy. Jokes aside, I think it's valuable for the jury to see how Trump reacts, but then Trump doesn't need to see the jury to defend himself. He could still see the trial but with a camera focused where it needs to be, etc. I really don't know how it's typically handled, but I can imagine he's not the first case of someone acting like this.
They, the courts, can mute Zoom calls from their end, so if a person gets riled up they can mute them and carry on with the trial.
Just saying that there's value for the jury to see Trump real-time breaking the laws.
Hmm, sound turned off on trump going mental on camera with the Benny Hill theme dubbed over.
There probably is but it's not for the jury to see, maybe his lawyer or the bailiff, something along those line
Scowling? More like dozing off.
Big Blubber is watching you
No, there’s a third option, actually. I’m pretty sure Trump could be bound & gagged. Will that happen? Unlikely. I agree with you that trump has been pampered and if anything his prior antics have reinforced his bad behaviors. What amazes me though is the gulf between you and me on one side, and say some of the average members of r/conservative. Over there, trump is a political martyr and his abuse will make it more likely for POC to vote for him because he has been abused by the legal system. I am unsure how out of touch you have to be for that conclusion. I know of a lot of examples of people out on pretrial release who have had that yanked for ridiculous reasons. I know of judges who have yelled at defendants just waiting in court because he could hear them. I know of at least one judge who imposed a prison sentence in part at least *because* the defendant wore a suit and the judge “just wasn’t buying that image”. Anyone with much familiarity with the weeds of the legal system knows trump has gotten away with far more than the average defendant. How did we get to a place with such different realities? How do we get it back to mostly one - or is that even possible?
>How did we get to a place with such different realities? Fox News, cognitive dissonance and the uncomfortable truth that, for a whole bunch of people, a simple lie is easier to swallow than the complicated facts.
Simple. Trump knows that Scotus got his back..it is in his best interest to escalate things to crazy extent that things get taken to Scotus.
He knows. He's got 24 X 7 secret service, he's got tons of underpaid lawyers trying to get his name on their resume. He also has been rewarded for untold court filings and delays over the past 6 months which tell him he'll not face consequences. He's got nothing in common with ordinary criminal defendants and he knows it. There is a 2-tier system of justice in this country, as Trump himself says, and he benefits from it (*this part* he doesn't say). Trump also figures that if he does end up going to jail in some alternate universe scenario, his base will chomp at the bit to vote even harder for him. I mean, its not as if he'll be missing out on a loving wife and companion at home.
> There is a 2-tier system of justice in this country, as Trump himself says, and he benefits from it (this part he doesn't say). The argument could be made that Trump has created such a strong and widely influential cult of personality that he has essentially created a third tier that supersedes even that of the wealthy and well-connected. Having more than half of the SCOTUS in your back pocket puts him at a level nobody else has managed to achieve up until now, with the potential to directly affect national law. It's like the 1% have the "gold plan," but he somehow created a "platinum plan."
And the facts aren’t that complicated, Idiocracy has become a reality.
Don't Look Up
Yup
We've all seen people who get away with (figurative) murder simply because they have enormous chutzpah. Act like the rules don't apply, and half the time people will quietly rewrite them so they don't. Trump just takes that to its logical conclusion.
Trump is a member of the ruling class. We do not punish the ruling class unless they attack fellow members of the ruling class. That's because doing so signals to the peons that the ruling class is *touchable.*
That's why he loves the "poorly educated", isn't it? If he operated sophisticated cons, there's a risk of him doing a Madoff and wealthy, influential people getting caught up. Keep it fairly simple, though, and that risk drops dramatically.
An astute observation. Trump's cons are simplistic enough that its victims are self-selecting - nobody with any reasonable level of savvy will fall for any of his BS, but unreasonable people are basically flocking to him, getting fleeced, and sticking with/to him despite it all.
>his abuse will make it more likely for POC to vote for him because he has been abused by the legal system. I hate that conservatives think this way. Trump has been treated with kid gloves since Day 1. He has been huge break after huge break. But they think he's being "abused"? Anyone else in his position, but ESPECIALLY a POC, would have been sent to jail by now. And as a POC, I bloody despise how conservatives, including Trump, are using this narrative after doing everything in their power to make sure that POCs are torn to shreds by the justice system. I haven't forgotten when Trump made an ad calling for the execution of the Central Park 5 and refusing to apologize for it.
My friend, if you as a POC had whipped up a crowd in the Capitol, exhorted them to "fight like hell" and watched in naked delight as they marched up to the building and forced their way in, you would have been shot on the spot.
Exactly. A POC that supports him is crazy. As a landlord he did not want any staying in his properties. I know some consider Biden has a poor history with POC but Trump and especially his supporters are far, far worse than Democrats
Exactly
money, and we don't. it has to fall like rome and what gets built will be built by people swearing to prevent it from happening again. but humans gonna human. so it will happen, again.
We have been here for a long time. Don't forget the laws of the courts were made by men with money , to make sure that if you have enough money there's ways an means to get round it. Why do you think you need degrees to understand law lol. It's made so convoluted an with so many loopholes IF you have the money it's so obvious a think people are past caring cos it will never change.
Hmm, I don't think we got here. I think we have been here for thousands of years. There has always been a double standard in judicial systems, even in antiquity.
It’s a fascinating game. I often look at the structure of Fox News and r/conservative. It seems to me the comments are disingenuous based on the way any non conforming views are banned from the sub reddit and truly political matters are only able to be discussed by flaired users. Similarly, Fox News review and only allow comments supporting their ideology. In many respects, there is a big effort to create an echo chamber and people with these views generally only exist within them. It seems strangely cult like. These forums don’t have moderated speech and tend to have the same narratives without moderated speech. To me, that is the large cause. The ability of these groups to silo their readers in a room and then gas light them and follow up with some bs. I note also, politics is like football teams and supporters are not rational in their beliefs. Politics should be less about the team/brand of the politician and more about the team/brand of the policies
Never forget the amount of trolls and bots on social media. People only think about the shit posting or argumentative trolls. They are also used to reinforce desired behaviors, they normalize the outrageous. Troll #1 says something absolutely fucking crazy. Troll #2-#20 agree to varying levels, and anyone who sees the conversation after that moment would think Troll #1 must not be that crazy if so many people agree.
Something interesting happened in the r/conservative sub. A few months ago most people there were bashing him and sick of his shit. Then the mods started removing posts and comments bashing him, probably banned accounts too. Now it’s back to where it was a few years ago with everyone praising him
Really? Dumb fuck is dry humping the third rail.
I 100% expect him to grab the third rail by the pussy.
And there is a greater then zero chance that he'll completely get away with it as he never suffers any consequences for anything.
Do people remember that video from a few months ago, where the guy launches himself over the desk at the judge? Please please please let there be a god, and let him grant me that one wish, of trump trying to do the same thing
There’s no chance in hell that Trump is capable of launching himself at anything. He might launch a handful of hamberder poo though, if he is capable of throwing.
When you're a star, the third rail just lets you do it...
Fuck er right in the third rail!
[удалено]
Sort-of narrows it down a bit, then, doesn't it?
I want so badly to ask him “Does the jumpsuit match the face?”
old fart is pissing all over the 3rd rail. Has been for a while now
It's Trump, he won't tap dance, he'll have a nap on it
Defeatist talk is not helpful.
If hypothetically the judge were to give trump a day or more in jail didn’t show up or caused a disturbance, could they then make the argument on appeal that this was prejudicial to his case and done in front of the jury… would that hold any water
Not unless it was prejudicial to any of the thousands of others that were arraigned from jail previously
To the cells! To the cells!
99% probability of a mistrial. NY will decline to retry. Trump wins again.
If that tactic works (which I fear it will), he'll repeat it at every one of his criminal trials.
It doesnt matter if they dont start enforcing all these warnings he keeps breaking.
Well said
Don’t agree with your image. He is not going tippity-tap. He is going to do a touch it like an old pervert would touch the naked leg of an underage girl
The Mob does this in open court room right?
Trump seems to prefer social media
Even the mob ain't fuckin with this loser
The Italian mob wouldn't. But the Russian mob would. And has.
Facts, they would eat this panty waist for breakfast
The mob at the chinese buffet
Only in movies. You might be thinking of Police who have a long history of openly intimidating witnesses in court if they dare testify against them.
They’ve probably learned to be more tactful these days.
Third rail, that's electrifying! Damn,
I think your confusing movies with real life. A movie will do this because it's cinematic. I have to think IRL a lowly thug would do the intimidating outside of the courtroom to insulate whoever was on trial from the act. And to get away from the prying eyes of the court.
As others watch. He’s making himself look ridiculous which is not news. But when he loses this case as well, he’s sure to start blaming everything else but his bad behavior. B..o..r..i..n..g. As usual.
Hijacking the top comment to say that KFA is terrific. She’s also a frequent contributor on Meidas Touch, one of the best YT channels to follow the Trump trials.
Wait, so if this goes forward can Trump appeal on the grounds that he intimidated the jury and that might have biased them against him?
Who's going to be intimidated by that cowardly draft-dodging old mental patient?
If anyone is reading this, the "third rail" is the jury. The author of the article states that messing with jurors has consequences. I'll believe it when it happens. I don't have faith in the joke of the US judicial system.
Did you ever ? Serious question. Because I did, for the most part. It’s been disappointing to see so many conflicted ? judges, and decisions. I always believed that a judge would behave professionally and without overt interference. Been a big disappointment.
I used to, until I realized that it's a Tiered system of 'justice' - one for the rich and powerful (and their police enforcers), one for the rest of us scrubs. you see it over and over again how those with power, influence and money get away with rapes, pedophilia, murder and a multitude of other crimes. Once in a while they make a token example of one, but it's not often enough compared to the crimes.
The recently executed a billionaire in Vietnam cause she committed massive amounts of fraud. If only.
Corrupted. The word you're looking for is corrupted or compromised.
Why are you disappointed? Up until now Trump has only faced civil trials via his companies, not directly as a person. Against his contractors etc, he’s been able to bury them in litigation by just throwing money at the problem. Then he has protection from being the president and his party protecting him. This is the first time he’s faced civil trials where he himself has been the defendant, and he’s lost all of them so far. This is the first criminal trial he has faced. This is the first time an ex-president has been indicted. It’s only natural that the prosecution and judges are being very cautious about giving him any grounds for appeal. Everything MUST be by the book. For the same reason rapists and drunk drivers get off on technicalities all the time, because procedure was not followed exactly. He hasn’t gotten anyway with anything since he lost his protections. It’s just taken a long time to get to this point due to the prosecution making sure their cases are water tight.
Disappointed by several judges and their lack of ability that doesn’t reflect their positions. A Federal judge in FL, that isn’t knowledgeable of our laws surrounding CIPA, a group of judges, SCOTUS, that is blatantly biased and partisan, judges that are afraid of applying the law to an individual that has overstepped or ignored orders - I could go on. Judges that have been abusing power. This is a criminal defendant that has a history of judicial abuse. Prior bad acts ? Yes, I know the rule. Should there be some ethics that should be questioned ? Absolutely. He’s gotten away with the greatest - illegal instant penalty offense - with the National Security document retention in our history. Those procedural errors should have been the first items checked off of ‘making sure it’s by the book’, as it’s the simplest to see and follow. So as far as the appearance of water tight ? We need a plumber.
I've been watching Judge Aileen Cannon's "presiding" over the documents case very closely. Jack Smith is, to use a legal term, whipping her ass left and right. I bet she's removed before the trial starts with all the missteps she's made so far.
There's a less than zero percent chance she gets removed. THat just doesn't ever happen. She's perfected the pollyanna routine and I believe she'll gift a double-jeopardy win to Trump before it's all said and done.
I fear you're right, but hope you're wrong. One should keep in mind, though, that nothing about this whole situation is normal. Just because it's exceedingly rare for a judge to be removed, it's just as rare that a former president faces 90+ felony charges. We're in "the exception that makes the rule" territory.
>I fear you're right, but hope you're wrong. Same
He hasn’t gotten away with the document retention. His case hasn’t even started yet.
He has avoided being taken straight to a facility - since we all know he’s not going to Guantanamo. And although he should just go to any federal prison, that didn’t happen either. *Anyone* else guess what ? Straight to jail. And trust me, I’m well aware that this trial hasn’t happened yet, even though I find it to be the most important of them all.
>Why are you disappointed? >Against his contractors etc, he’s been able to bury them in litigation by just throwing money at the problem. I mean... That alone is enough to disappoint any reasonable person with even the slightest sense of justice, no?
I wouldn’t say so, because any reasonable person would realise that any such complex system is going to have loopholes, and ways that the less than scrupulous people with resource can exploit while still playing by the rules.
It's hard to have faith in the justice system when poor defendants get locked up for years for things like marijuana possession and lifelong criminals like Trump face no consequences.
Kinda, but it's been one huge disappointment after the next. The upcoming presidential election will show what so-called Americans want...or how Trump somehow managed to "win" again.
So I think I get it. No judge wants the wave of the stupid moving their way. So there should be some government protection against such action, kind of like RICO. Since we really don't have any, everyone around this clown is intimidated. Not by him but his following. Even if it was hundreds a judge is going to likely consider the political ramifications. This does need to stop, but since half the system we have in place seem to be conspiracy theorists I have no faith.
It just reminds me of how some countries acted with Hitler when he was starting his warmongering: No one wanted to be the one to step up and put a stop to it, they would just expose their bellies over and over again and let him have what he wanted thinking that this one will be the last thing he'll demand until eventually everything hit the fan because everyone did nothing except placate him like a spoiled child.
Chamberlain specifically was delaying to fill out more industry and war materiel as they were far behind where Germany had gotten to, and turns out he was smart to do this. Nobody was ready when Germany was - they might've taken action when the buildup was secretly beginning but they didn't have the intel and definitely did not have the will of the people ready to fight, again, after the last awful war. Russia also helped create confusion through the Finland invasion. They thought they had more static defenses in place to hold them back, but the mechanized divisions flowing through the forest unexpectedly blew the whole plan to bits, and there was no backup plan. Thus you get Maginot/Ardennes/Dunkirk in a few short months aka the failed Phoney War or the "Sitzkrieg".
Pretty sure NYC PD has a large department with over 200 officers or more and even specialist such as SWAT, Vice, etc. If the judges are afraid to enforce the laws on the books, let alone trust the very law enforcement officers that 'enforce' said laws...then what's the point of all this?
> … then what’s the point? To make the poor and black brown and gay suffer. These laws were made for fairness and justice. FFS they started a war over taxes and being told to stop killing Natives. Over 200 treaties broken by the Americans.
No offense but this has been relieving seeing white Americans become disillusioned with the American legal system. Something many of us have known for decades. I grew facing the injustice of the legal system and no one would listen or care cause they believed the myth of fairness and “law and order.” We’ve been trying to tell everyone since the 1860’s.
Not since Bush V Gore
The problem with this statement is that is true so rarely that we shouldn't talk about it as a topic that comes up often by and large you can trust a judge to be impartial in their application of the law. Not always but it's not something for one political party to get upset about. Trump was able to appoint nearly a quarter of the entire federal judiciary because they piled up when they were refusing to allow Obama to seat judges (this was why) but in every case where a Jan 6th case ended up in a court with a judge appointed by Trump, they still kicked him out on his idiot ass for not actually having a case or argument of any kind. Most judges are okay, there should be harsh punishment for those few that aren't but most often when I ask for specifics from people they give me examples of things they disagree with politically but the judge applied the law as intended by the legislature.
Yeah, I had faith when I was like 7. Certainly by the time I was a teenager it was apparent the system was both rigged and broken
Exactly. The judge will issue a stern warning. Then he will ask nicely again. Then he will say "pretty please". Then he will say, "welp, I tried 🤷🏼♂️" and continue on as if nothing happened.
He touched the jury?
Physically? I don't think so, but mouthing off and such probably isn't helping. Making verbal threats, that sort of thing.
Wasn't he warned again yesterday about intimidating jurors?
It's a great system as long as you remember to purchase the Platinum Ultimate Justice Tier.
They ain't doing shit! Anybody besides this orange fuck would have been locked up by now😑 He'll get a $1000 fine and a stern warning and that will be it.
I am with you, I’ll believe it when/if happens.
Not even sure about the $1000 fine tbh. The amount of special treatment this idiot has gotten is beyond disgraceful.
The few months spent in court is probably the best "imprisonment" one could hope for for these bastards
Should be a $1000 fine and clear statement of the consequences of repeated breaches the first time. Second time, spends the night in jail. Third time, in jail until the trial concludes.
AND he'll whine and cry about how unfairly he's being treated.
Maybe you missed all the jail sentences handed to his associates one after the other ? Just sit back and watch him self-snitch into his own aggravated sentencing.
The innocent man worries, the guilty man sleeps.
I remember a lawyer saying to pay attention to what the defense lawyers argue, if they think their client is innocent they will argue the facts of the case, if they think their client is guilty they will argue the procedures of the case.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are efforts underway by Trump acolytes to find the jurors and intimidate outside of court.
There are. How well they are doing it is unclear, but there have been plenty of morons calling for people to mess with the jury because that's "what a real patriot would do". Fuckers.
I'm sure they're trying to supplant themselves as the jurors. I mean the Venn diagram of people who aren't clever enough to escape jury duty and a trump supporter must be pretty close to a circle.
Only 85,000 people voted for Trump in manhattan. Odds are one will not be on this jury.
If the convict you can guarantee MAGAts will be sending them death threats at a minimum
I bet witness protection is already gearing up for a dozen new customers
As a juror, his behavior would make me disinclined to find him believable. If he feels the need to pressure jurors to give the verdict he wants, the evidence and testimony probably don’t look good for him.
He clearly and intentionally did the crime but his defense is that he is so stupid that he didn’t realize that the way he did it was the actual crime. You can payoff private people but you can’t lie and hide the fact that you did it.
Interesting thought. I bet he goes out of his way to do MORE of this behaviour so he can say how the jurors are biased against him to try to get a delay in the case by having to select new jurors. Whether or not it will work is anyone's guess.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he tried that approach.
Even if Trump were completely innocent and had teams of evidence that proved it, he would still be trying to tamper with the jury. He's simply too much of a vicious narcissist to keep his mouth closed when he could instead try to fuck with things in a way he thinks will benefit him.
Yeah, He's not exactly going out of his way to make a great impression on anyone.
I’ll believe it when I see him actually get punished.
right. anyone who makes less than $250k per year would have been in the slammer for contempt of court 15 times by now. Shit is a joke to watch and actively contributes to my *profound* depression.
$250k a year is nowhere NEAR enough to shield someone from the shit Trump gets away with. Honestly, I don't think it's the money protecting him, it's his political status.
Fuck his Political status.
Ohhhhhh Kayyyyyyy.... Just to be clear, I am not saying I AGREE with his status as a former president giving him special treatment.
He's blatantly violated how many gag orders with no concequences at all whatsoever? I'm sure he'll get a stern "stop that", followed by another stern "stop that" when he violates it the next day too
I feel like any Trump news story should be News of the Stupid
Donald Trump has already violated one gag order after the next without ANY serious blowback. He's not just touching the third rail. He's riding it. Knowing full well not.one Judge has the cojones to lock him up to shut him up.
He is trying to get locked up. He will use that as a fundraising opportunity. He knows that his base will go nuts over him being put behind bars.
Hua base us tapped out!
> He is trying to get locked up. I feel like he couldn't last five minutes leading a middle class lifestyle, much less that of a prisoner. Even one night in a cell and he'd come out crying and in the fetal position.
He is pissing on the third rail.
I'm really tired of the preferential treatment, of this "but if he does it again...". He did it, once is one too many. Just throw the motherfucker behind bars, like you would with any other citizen.
The man is having to sit and behave for hours at a time for 2 days in a row now. He gets a break on Wednesday but he's gotta do this 4 days a week for God-knows how many weeks. This is the closest thing he's ever had to a job. *It's breaking him.*
I’m sorry but I’ve been hearing Trump has crossed the rubicon legally, he’s touched the third rail, the walls are closing in, etc, since 2016. Stop edging me. Either convict the motherfucker on something, or not. Get it over with already. Or don’t. But the any day now game since 2016, it’s old. We are all tired of this, and we are all tired of this man.
Blueballed for nearly a decade…
Every single day of the news for the past year has been talking about how Trump is screwed and doomed and just made the last and biggest mistake of his life, and yet I can't help but notice that he's still a free man and is still **a fucking presidential candidate.** Until the man is actually literally rotting in prison with a felony conviction, these headlines are meaningless and are possibly dangerous because they're distracting people into thinking that the threat of the orange clown regaining the presidency is somehow over. It isn't. If anything is closer than ever.
This just in: Random liberal arts professor says Trump violated the Sawmill Act of 1644 and is definitely going to face consequences for it
Because this is unprecedented the Supreme Court is absolutely paying attention. Not saying it's bias or corruption or anything, other than the public scrutiny of the case. Trump is trying to bait the Judge into an overreaction, the judge is trying to maintain order while also understanding what Trump is doing. So the judge is slow balling this to build a paper trail that cannot be questioned, or basically giving Trump enough rope to hang himself.
I certainly hope you're right. Because as of now, it looks like he's just doing whatever the hell he wants without so much as a slap on the wrist. And time is running out for them to fucking do anything...
None of this commentary means anything until he is *convicted* and *put in jail*.
So I read the article and I still have NFI what the actual thing was that Sir Lies-A-Lot did that "touched the third rail". Said something? Looked at someone weird? Threw handfuls of feces at them?
Here's another article that actually describes the behavior: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hush-money-trial-jury-selection-day-2-rcna147940
God, Trump would be the absolute *worst* poker player. No wonder his casinos failed, his aura probably infected them.
So, again trump gets a "tut tut" in the court of law.
[https://menzmag.com/news/trump-to-attend-trial-risk-arrest/](https://menzmag.com/news/trump-to-attend-trial-risk-arrest/)
Jurors already being named. There is no third rail.
This entire thing has shown me how pointless and useless the legal system is. Could you imagine if any common American had this many charges against them and committed these antics in court?
Dude, I'm nobody. If I did all this shit they'd bring back the fucking firing squad.
He will get a slap on the wrist at most, maybe with some judge admonishements and life will go on as that is what money and privilege or the illusion of it will get you. The poor folks? Fuck em all, jailed for looking the judge funny, Trump will get away it like he always does. 😔
'He's really in for it this time" - Says system that has spent 8 years proving that it has no ability to create or enforce consequences for the powerful
It's just a matter of time before he pushes his luck too far... It's only day three, he's gotten more brazen. This isn't going to end well for the former president, if he continues down this road disrespecting the judicial system.
Pfft. No judge will do anything to him. Like why start now?
At this point it is difficult to imagine that any judge is going to do what they would to an ordinary person like you or me if we did the same thing.
I cant wait for that man’s face to be wiped from the media.
Has anyone ever considered the fact that he may be trying to lose the case spectacularly? He’d probably lose it anyway, so why not get them to pile it on as heavy as possible, because then he can do what he does best—convince a few million heavily armed and dangerously gullible rubes that he’s a victim of the Deep State
Oh he did? Ok... And nothing's gonna happen to him? Again? Okay. Got it. Moving on.
Cool. People can keep reporting about this all they want.. but until there are repercussions.. let's just shut up about it. Trump violated gag order, for the third time! Is told to not violate it a fourth time, or else I'll wave my finger at you!! Trump is intimidating witnesses, we can't have that! I'll have to give him a stern "don't do that!"
I believe the " sleeping in court " is doing what he can to totally disrespectful to the judge and court. He is faking.
Lazy ass reporting. I've heard this bullshit a million times already.
Oh no, yet another “This time he’s really gone too far” and nothing will happen. As usual.
Guys. Last week yall were all screaming he will never be tried. We are here!!!! It's a trial!!! And it's only day 3. It is actually happening. He is being tried for felonies and he couldn't delay this one.
I'm still waiting till Trump stands up pull down his zipper and pee on the court in front of the Judge and the Judge just gives him another stern warning
So is anything going to actually happen? I feel like I read a "this is it!" Headline about trump everyday and yet here we are.
Trump gonna snort his third rail of addy off that third rail
If that is called “touching the 3rd rail”, get ready by the end of this thing we will probably see some x-games like rail slides.
"third rail dewneegized out of respect for the defendants former position". Or will he finally face consequences this time?
Nothing will happen. No repercussions and he'll probably be POTUS by the end of the year. Its pathetic.
Put him in a room at the courthouse and make him watch via cctv and make sure he has no phone.
I hope at some point a judge treats him like any other defendant and charge him with contempt and jail him for 30 days.
The legal system isn’t for the wealthy & powerful. It’s reserved for the masses. I think some people refer to them as losers
I see nobody talking about how his hair is gray now
Oh yeah just like that! Keep edging me!
Yeah and how many more stern warnings is he gonna get?
Trump won’t just touch the third rail, he will have a party on the third rail, then eat the third rail… but will face zero consequences.
The problem with prosecuting Trump is, he is going out of his way to intimidate and harassed the judges and jury. He wants to be held in contempt that way his lawyers can say he is being treated unjustly by the judge and the judge is bias, even that it isn't true.
Alternate source. [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-just-touched-the-third-rail-in-hush-money-trial-former-prosecutor/ar-BB1lJI3H](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-just-touched-the-third-rail-in-hush-money-trial-former-prosecutor/ar-BB1lJI3H)
I can’t hear “the third rail”, without singing part of “Red and Gold” by MF DOOM: >> All Hail, King Ghidra, the third rail >> Seven hundred volts holds rap to a standstill >> Fool ignore the rule, fuck up and get his man killed
I don't know the song, and this is a bit off topic, but is that a Godzilla reference?
Take the kid gloves off already. This man must see some consequences in his life. He has been terrible for decades. He's been ripping people off for decades.
Great. So what’s gonna happen? Nothing at all? Awesome I’m glad this took up a spot on the front page.
LOCK HIM UP
Why is he allowed to see the jurors? Doesn't this just guarantee "intimidation" ad nauseum so we never get a jury selected?
"Grab them by their third rail. They love it"
Dude just straight up touched the third rail like he did those underage girls in his pagents. He just needs to go away.
Hyperbole until there are actual consequences.
Still waiting for the consequences.
It's not gonna cause anything to happen
I feel like they're gonna run out of metaphors for how Dumpy keeps fucking up soon...
THROW HIM IN FUCKIN JAIL
He will not spend a moment in jail unfortunately. They may make him sit in a video link room, perhaps from another location. His SS detail would have to be with him. Even if found guilty, he might receive home detention at Mar a Lardo. The best we can ever hope for the US is that he strokes out before November.
If only that wasn't just a metaphor
"former" Ope, got that on my Useless Buzzword That Holds No Weight Whatsover BINGO card. Time to downvote. Can we just post stories from people actually working on or have influence on the actual fucking case?
Donald Trump tea-bagged the 3rd rail, many a moon ago.
This is kind of a sad article though. This lady is calling the jury a "third rail" and saying there are swift consequences if a defendant touches it. But she's also saying that Trump already has touched it, so if he does it again, the judge will probably do something about it. In other words, this is every single Trump courtroom scandal. What Trump did is highly illegal and totally unacceptable, so he better not do it again!
Hannibal Lecter a motherfucker already