I’ll tell you this right up front: I don’t like Donny. You may have noticed. I don’t make much (okay, any) effort to hide it. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I don’t like the guy. He strikes me as a terrible human being. I think he’s guilty based on all I’ve seen in the media. BUT… I honestly believe if I had been called to jury duty for his case, I could set aside my personal feelings for the guy and make a judgment based on the evidence. I really do.

For one thing, I think justice is more important that my feelings about the defendant and I would NOT want to participate in punishing an innocent person – even a person I don’t like. The other thing? News outlets get things wrong sometimes. I understand, clearly, that what I hear in the media and what comes out of a courtroom might be different things and I believe the courtroom has the higher standard.

I should acknowledge that maybe I’m just kidding myself, safe in the knowledge that I’m not going to be called for his trial but I don’t think so. Justice is important to me. As an example, like many people, I strongly suspect OJ killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, even though he was acquitted. But had I sat on his jury? I would have voted for acquittal, myself, because of the cop caught carrying around a vial of blood in his pocket for hours at OJ’s house, coupled with testimony that blood spots had not been noted, for example in the entryway, and then were suddenly, clearly present.

I never thought the cops were trying to frame an innocent man, there. I thought they were trying to secure the conviction of a well-connected rich man they had had more than enough trouble with through the years, only to watch him avoid legal consequences over and over. But mishandling evidence could mean anything from simple and honest oversight to outright framing the wrong guy. It would have kept me from voting to convict. I could do it with Donny, too, and if I could do it, others can do it…

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This is a day I didn’t think was going to happen. No, I know Mondays happen. I’m talking about Donny’s trial. The ‘cooking-the-books-to-pay-off-the-porn-star’ trial. It’s starting. Back in March, I wrote “At this point, I’ll believe Donny faces justice when he actually meets justice – and not one second sooner.” Yeah, I was having a rough day but I stand by the statement. A trial and a conviction are two different things and an upheld conviction is something else again. There’s STILL a long way to go, folks.

But the fact that he’s even in a courtroom represents some of that justice I was on about earlier and I’m pleased it’s finally happening. According to the media, Trump didn’t just pay off Stormy Daniels, the porn star. He ALSO paid off a woman named Karen McDougal, a Playboy model he also slept with and paid hush money to. He paid Daniels $130,000 through Michael Cohen. He paid McDougal $150,000 through the ‘National Enquirer.’

They “bought” the story as an exclusive with the intent of never publishing it. It’s a trick called ‘Catch and Kill.’ As an “exclusive,” she couldn’t talk about it. Then, they locked the story away and that was that. Donny allegedly reimbursed his friend David Pecker, the owner of the Enquirer, using the same bookkeeping manipulation he used to pay back Cohen.

When Bill Clinton got caught having an affair, there was a howling chorus of people out there crying, “Why doesn’t Hillary leave Bill?” I haven’t heard the same about Melania. But from what I can tell, hers has become a marriage in name only, assuming it was ever anything else.

Melania appears to be contractually obligated to make a few campaign appearances with Donny. Very few. HE tries to present a picture of a happy marriage. HER presentation is more, “I hate this guy and I’m about to puke.” I guess they can make her show up but they can’t make her smile. Now she gets to be treated to the details of the affairs, laid out point by point as they move through the trial. Make that, “I hate this guy and I’m about to puke – but the money’s good.”

I imagine Melania will be free to divorce Donny AFTER the election. After the election, the divorce won’t matter. He’ll be in, and since he appears determined to never leave, why the hell would he keep a woman around who despises him all day, every day? But his sham marriage deceives the rubes and THAT’S what he needs.

I’ve heard polls show that a conviction in this trial could hurt Donny among his base. I’m not sure I believe that, either. MAGA has a seemingly endless capacity to convince themselves of the most ridiculous things and even if he’s convicted by a jury of his peers, how hard will it be for the deceived to decide he’s been framed? Donny’s already calling it the ‘Biden Trials,’ as if Joe had anything to do with them, whatsoever.

Still, the possibility that he might actually face some kind of justice is stronger today than ever. Yes, he’s been given every break. The deference from the system has been frustrating, angering, even. But, on balance, the system seems to be working, albeit glacially slowly. Maybe, just maybe, there’s hope, after all…

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Okay, speaking of glacially slow, I wish people would STOP ripping on Aileen “loose” Cannon and Alina Habba as “stupid” just because they do so many stupid-seeming things that delay the trials. Whether or not those things are stupid depends entirely on ones goals, doesn’t it? Sure, if the goal is a proper trial using proper procedure, Cannon is an idiot. But that’s not HER goal. HER goal is to disrupt and, hopefully, derail the trial. EVERY so-called “stupid” move she makes, facilitates that goal. If it advances her game, exactly the way it’s supposed to advance her game, how “stupid” could it be?

It’s the same with Habba. People keep sneering at her because she files motions that should be embarrassing to a lawyer. “WHY,” people ask, “would she do THAT?” I presume she KNOWS her motions are ridiculous. The point is not the validity of the motions. The point is the delay. Every one of those motions must be ruled on, dumb or not. That takes time. I have the exact same question about Habba I have about Cannon. If it advances her game, exactly the way it’s supposed to advance her game, how “stupid” could it be?

I suspect I could easily endure the entire world calling me a dummy if it resulted in millions of dollars in my pocket and these two women clearly feel the same way. The only true measure of how stupid they might be is this: did they got the money up front?