Donald Trump has successfully delayed his several criminal trials via the appeals process. But his delay strategy may cause him maximum damage. At least one of the “major” cases could go to trial immediately before the election this fall. In that case, he probably would have been better off just having the trials and allowing himself and his surrogates time to pontificate and demagogue about his persecution and persuade dubious supporters who might be having second thoughts about voting for him..
With this strategy, his chances of a conviction before the election might have dropped to some degree overall, but his chances of a conviction within two months prior to the election, when most of the country starts paying close attention, has risen sharply. And even if he’s not convicted, the trials might be in process during the election, causing non-cultish supporters to have to at least think twice about the votes they are casting.
There are also other examples outside of the issue of delay that seem to be backfiring against Trump. And they’re simply the result of this knee-jerk reaction to argue against any procedural task or appeal any ruling that appears unfavorable to him in the hopes of delay.
The Florida Classified Documents Case
In the classified documents case before Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump recently argued that he should be able to see the identities of witnesses against him before the trial begins. A cynic might say that this is because he wants to intimidate and publicly discredit these witnesses before a jury is selected. And this cynic would be correct!
But during this process, as Cannon deliberates on the matter, the witnesses are apparently sweating this out and feeling immense pressure. One of them revolted on Monday, March 11. Known as “Trump Employee 5,” Brian Butler spoke out in the national media clearly and concisely about the damaging and inculpatory behavior he witnessed from the former president and some of his close employees regarding their handling of classified documents from the White House.
Butler correctly assumed it would be better for him to just come clean and be exposed on his own terms, rather than let the machinations of Trump and MAGA work their usual dark magic of inciting deep state conspiracy theories resulting in threats and intimidation. He probably will still be threatened and intimidated, but he mitigated them by coming out so publicly now. It took away the power of Trump to control the narrative and induce his own style of “discouragement”.
Trump can’t blame this on the prosecution leaking the information, one of his favorite strategies. The witness himself was on CNN explaining everything clearly in a matter-of-fact manner. There are no anonymous sources or prosecutorial misconduct to blame this on, as it was not from an investigative journalism piece. It was direct from the source itself, with a name and face, on a national television broadcast for all to see.
The result was it put out damaging information that the public otherwise wouldn’t have known before the election. Since this trial is being slow walked by Cannon so that it safely occurs after the election, it was likely the public would not be aware of the worst of the classified document mishandling until after their votes were cast. Since this behavior was probably similar to how a traitor might behave, it could have been disturbing enough to some non-cult Trump supporters to completely destroy his chances at being elected.
But now the public is aware of at least some of the damaging information and has some basis on which to calculate the pros and cons of voting for Trump. And if things keep going the way that they are in that case, with Judge Cannon helping to gum up the works and delay it, it seems likely that more witnesses will feel compelled to come forward to give the public the information they need on their terms, not Trump’s or his minions’ terms, which will apprise the country of even more examples of such behavior.
The NY Fraud Civil Judgment and Bond
Trump again utilized the strategy of appealing everything in sight, when he appealed the bond he was required to put up to allow for his appeal of the civil judgment that Judge Arthur Engoron issued in the NY business fraud case. It was understandable, as it was a huge amount; the judgment itself plus already-accrued interest was almost $500mil, so a bond for the same amount would have had to be posted for him to be able to appeal the judge’s decision. It’s hard to blame anyone for appealing the decision or the bond amount.
But Trump’s legal actions always come with highly charged political bluster, so he’s boxed himself into a corner. He has been portraying himself as a martyr who’s being persecuted so we don’t have to be— a true modern-day Jesus Christ. He even reposted something a fan sent to him comparing him to Jesus and citing a Bible verse. He’s been relentlessly posting on his Truth Social account almost every day all day about how excessive and unjust the verdict is, and how he has the money to pay it but it takes away from what he intended to contribute to his campaign, and election interference, and declining country, America First, etc.
But on Monday, March 25, the NY Appeals court inexplicably granted him more favorable terms on his bond. The original bond deadline was on that day, but he got 10 extra days, and the bond was reduced to $175mil (the judgment is the same, just the bond needed for him to not have to pay the judgment before the resolution of his appeal was reduced).
A logical person would have to assume that Trump will now gladly post the bond and start the appeals process. He won, after all, got his bond lowered to almost a third of what it was, and got extra time to secure it. If he’s right about the judgment being excessive, he has the opportunity to fix that upon appeal, and won’t be on the hook for the full judgment amount until the appeals process is finalized. Once again, he slips by unscathed, right?
Well, maybe. He still may not be able to post even this reduced bond amount. And what if that happens? He just won in court, after portraying the whole affair as excessive punishment and election interference, and promised that he has the money, no problem, but just doesn’t believe in paying into such an unjust system. So, what’s he going to do now, if he doesn’t just post the bond? Say that he should have won by more, and the corrupt NY judicial system is stacked against him, even though they just gave him a huge break?
The appeals court literally made it so that he still owns and controls his properties, as opposed to the Attorney General immediately taking them over, at least for the time being. It was a last-minute Hail Mary that worked in his favor. So it deflates his number one propaganda technique of victim grievance. And, if he can’t pay up now, he looks more like a desperate fool than he did before. If he had the previous bond amount available as he says, then surely he has the new amount as well, or at least the means to secure it.
As often happens when Trump and MAGA get their way, their bluff is called and they are exposed for the Machiavellian hypocrites they are. The political damage might be minimal for now, but this all adds up to more emotional and financial stress for Trump and his campaign that will be very challenging to overcome. The more he is seen as flailing around and deteriorating before our eyes, the worse it is for him and his election chances. And this constant legal obstructionist strategy, while understandable to some degree, when constantly applied to any unfavorable scenario, will continue to produce these unintended consequences from which it will be hard for Trump and his campaign to recover.
