Trump, The World's Most Horrible Person—Or Are Putin, Netanyahu, Xi, Musk & Joseph Kony Even Worse?

And What Can You Say About People Eager To Vote For Him!!!

Yesterday, billionaire and boring old fart Donald Trump was railing against how unfair life is and how horrible another judge in another of his cases is to him. This time the judge he’s sliming is New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan in the porn star hush money coverup case. Merchan gave him more to whine about by imposing a partial gag order on the asshole to prevent him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors.

Unbelievable that these judges put up with him and his bullshit! Amanda Marcotte: “As anyone who listens to him can attest, Donald Trump may be the most self-pitying person on planet Earth. Pretty much all the man does is whine and cry about how he's the victim of an imaginary ‘witch hunt.’ In reality, his list of transgressions is staggering. If he were any other person, he would have been sentenced to prison many times over with no real hope of release: sexual assault, decades of fraud, attempted extortion of a foreign leader, stealing classified documents, flagrant acceptance of what very much looks like bribes, attempting to overthrow democracy, inciting a violent riot that got people killed… It's absolutely bananas that Trump isn't in prison yet.”

The concept of "privilege" is treated with great skepticism in conservative circles, and regarded by MAGA types like a made-up hoax. But no one alive proves the truth of the concept more than Donald Trump. He's proudly ignorant. The only talent he bothered to learn is cheating the system so that you "win" without ever having to be good at stuff. The only real skill he's developed in his 77 years is utter shamelessness, and frankly, it seems that might be more of a genetic defect than anything he's worked at. The man can't even bother to get good at golf, a sport he does seem to like, because he prefers to lie about it instead. 

And yet, simply because he was born a white guy with inherited wealth, the world conspires to endlessly provide Trump with all the breaks. Not only is this spoiled brat shielded from the consequences of his actions, but his privilege continues to catapult him into a world of luxury and flattery, even as all he does is leave a trail of ruin in his wake. 

…Trump's entire life has been defined by the willingness of other people to coddle the rich white boy. Right now, that's manifesting in legal leniency, as most prosecutors and judges have hesitated to show Trump even 1/100th of the justice that would face anyone else who acts like him. This is most obvious, of course, when looking at the attempted coup and the Capitol riot. Over 1,200 people have faced federal charges for Jan. 6, but Attorney General Merrick Garland dragged his feet for years on charging Trump. Yes, Garland eventually hired special prosecutor Jack Smith, and he brought charges, but it's looking like it's way too late to get the trial done by the election. 

Even before Trump enjoyed first-class treatment from the justice system, he enjoyed a series of benefactors who wanted to keep him in a rich man's lifestyle, for no reason that makes sense to normal human beings. First, of course, was his own father, who fed his worthless offspring about half a billion dollars over the years, even as Donald Trump wasted it all on bad business deals. After his father died, Trump got a new sugar daddy, in the form of NBC producer Mark Burnett. Even though Trump was a failed businessman with multiple bankruptcies under his belt, Burnett tapped him to host "The Apprentice," a reality show built on the deeply false premise that Trump has business acumen. Through the show, Burnett funneled another half-billion to Trump, which Trump promptly lost on more bad investments. Soon, Trump's debts dramatically mounted, estimated to be up to a billion dollars. Bankers, like the elder Trump and Burnett, just love giving this guy money so he can keep pretending he's a "success" without ever having to be one. 

…One of the great mysteries of our time, and likely to history, is why the MAGA masses fall for Trump's claims to be a victim when he is the most coddled person alive. Yes, most of them have their share of unearned privilege, being mostly white people, and share Trump's enthusiasm for self-pity every time those privileges are questioned. But ultimately, most of them only have a taste of what Trump enjoys. Most are well aware, for instance, that if they don't pay their bills, they could lose their house or their car or their job. Most don't have an endless series of fairy godfathers ready to bail them out of every bad decision they make.  Most know that if they get fined by a court, they can't get out of it simply by whining a lot. 

And yet, MAGA people pity a man with a private jet because he might have to give up a golf course or two. Indeed, the MAGA masses are yet another group of people rescuing Trump from himself. Whether or not he can pay his legal bills out of pocket, he doesn't have to. The little guys are paying it for him, emptying out their retirement accounts to donate money to Trump's "campaign," which is largely devoted to funding his legal defense. He's somehow managed to convince them he's the victim, even though no one else could ever get away with so much without having to pay so little for it. 

So with this in mind, here was Trump boasting that a criminal conviction would make him more popular; click to listen:

The new Bloomberg-Morning Consult poll shows that around 43% of voters would still be willing to elect him president even if he’s a convicted criminal— while 48% would be unwilling to see a felon in the Oval Office.

Dan Pfeiffer wrote yesterday that criminal convictions will cost Trump the election and that what he said in the video above “are the rantings of a weak, deeply insecure man hoping to mask his fears of spending his remaining days behind bars. But it’s also how a lot of the political world works. The fact that Trump gained strength in the Republican primary with every subsequent indictment leads some to think that Trump’s victimization schtick is infallible… Trump getting convicted will not make him more popular. A felony conviction is not a net positive. I don’t care what Trump or any clout-chasing wannabe pundit says... The polls have been all over the map this cycle, but they are consistent on one thing— a conviction is very bad news for Trump. Gallup recently asked poll respondents about their willingness to vote for certain types of presidential candidates. Only 29% said they would vote for a candidate charged with a felony and only 23% said they would vote for someone convicted of a felony.

“Now,” he continued, “it is hard to square those findings with the 40-something percent of Americans who keep telling pollsters that they will vote for Trump. But these findings do speak to the political peril that Trump’s trials present. There is a group of voters who seem okay with voting for an indicted candidate, but a conviction would be the breaking point.”

NPR reported yesterday that Trump celebrating the January 6 insurrection might be a big mistake. Michael Hanmer, professor of government and politics and the director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland told them that “It seems to me that he's got a base that is going to be there almost no matter what. But as a strategy to win over new voters or even Republicans who might be uncomfortable with either Trump's temperament or some of his policies, to me, doesn't seem like a strategy that's going to convince people who are reluctant to vote for him… I think the more Trump talks about Jan. 6 in a way that embraces it, he's putting at risk having Republicans stay home.”

While Trump's embrace of that day may not square with conventional political strategy, some worry that it may resonate in troubling ways with those among his base who increasingly see violence as form of legitimate expression. Concern that his messaging was perhaps tailored to those constituents heightened with the very launch his 2024 campaign, almost exactly one year ago, because of the location where he rallied: Waco, Texas.

Since the rally in Waco, Trump's invocation of Jan. 6 has become such a consistent feature of his campaign that news media may often filter it out. But some observers say that the regularity of the messaging itself may indicate that Trump has, in some ways, boxed himself into a corner on this issue.

“I think it's the only strategy has,” said Jennifer Mercieca, professor of communication and journalism at Texas A&M University.

Mercieca said that a key element of Trump's appeal to his base is that he portrays himself as always the winner, in a world populated by winners and losers. And so to keep that coalition voting for him in 2024, he must continue to claim that he won in 2020.

“The only hope he has of keeping his coalition together and motivating his voters, his voting base, is if he presents himself as a strong man. He cannot be a loser.”

During primary season, Mercieca said this strategy worked.

“It allowed him to box out all of the competitors who also wanted to be president or run for the nomination in 2024,” said Mercieca. “And so he was able to do a lot of things internally with his party. But I don't see it as a strategy for winning the election in 2024.”