(Daily Mail) It’s hard to blame Donald Trump (aka Dozy Don) for apparently nodding off during the first day of his ‘hush money’ trial in New York on Monday.
Yes, it’s the first ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and he’s also the only leading presidential candidate ever to face criminal proceedings. Add to that the chance he could go to jail if he’s found guilty and you might expect Trump to be paying close attention.
But the early stages of the trial have been dominated by arcane legal arguments about procedural points and the interminable process of choosing a jury, now an unavoidable feature of American justice.
That could continue for another week or more. So, despite all the hoopla surrounding this trial and the massive media circus which attends it, Trump and the rest of us should be prepared to be bored for a little longer yet.
But patience will have its just rewards, for this trial is the stuff of tabloid dreams — porn stars, hush money, dodgy lawyers, Playboy bunnies, illicit sex and cover-ups — which means it will find a mass audience far beyond those usually interested in Trump for mundane matters like his politics.
Former US president Donald Trump at the State Supreme Court in New York this week
The circus which has set up its big top on the 15th floor of a rather dingy Manhattan court building will be captivating most of America soon enough — and much of the rest of the world, too.
Whether it will also provide a compelling case against Trump is another matter. Dozy Don faces 88 criminal charges in cases spread across four states.
Many Democrats, who would love to see him go down for one or all the indictments, are dismayed that the first one up is the New York case that they, along with legal experts and political commentators, fear is the weakest — and that, even if Trump is found guilty, voters will struggle to understand that what he did was really criminal.
T his also plays to Trump’s oft-repeated claim that he is the victim of political persecution by Democratic activists, including many in the Biden administration, who are using the law against him because they fear they can’t beat him at the ballot box.
The way he sees it, the proceedings have all the hallmarks of a show trial. Trump will be judged by an overwhelmingly Democratic jury in a trial presided over by a Democratic judge and brought about by a Democratic District Attorney.
Manhattan, from where the jury will be drawn, voted 87 per cent for Joe Biden in 2020. Almost 100 prospective jurors were wheeled out on Monday only for 50 per cent to be dismissed immediately because, on a show of hands, they admitted they could not be fair or impartial.
The selection process will no doubt root out the most egregiously biased against Trump. But, in the end, the jury will still lean overwhelmingly Democrat.
The presiding judge, Juan Merchan, donated to the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020 and to other ‘progressive’ causes. The amounts were a pittance but it illustrates how he leans too.
On his way into court yesterday the defendant said Judge Merchan was ‘Trump hating’ and ‘totally conflicted’.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Left-wing Democrat, campaigned for election pledging to ‘get’ Trump. He wasn’t sure for what, but promised he’d find some charge to drag Trump into court. Since indicting Trump he’s raised $850,000 (£680,000) for his re-election campaign.
U.S. justice has always been too influenced by politics but is now so politicised, by Democrats and Republicans alike for their own ends, it barely qualifies any more as independent and impartial.
Yet, even in what Trump and his followers see as a rigged trial, it is not clear that District Attorney Bragg has a sufficiently compelling case to secure a conviction.
