Thread by @dcpetterson

Trump's "lawyers" have said they only need one day (tomorrow) to defend Trump.

My guesses for what they'll do:

Distract, lie, distort, and deflect.

1/11

First, they will spend lots of time arguing that the trial is unconstitutional since Trump is no longer in office--even though the Senate has already voted on that and settled that question. Trump's lawyers will ignore that vote, and make the argument anyway.

2/11

Second, they will insist nothing Trump said on 1/6 was any worse than various random statement by random Democrats (elected, unelected, or retired) and civil rights activists over the years. They'll also concentrate on Trump's one reference to "peaceful" protest.

3/11

Third, they'll say the rioters were mere rioters, claim lots of them were BLMers and "antifa" (while offering no evidence of that), and did what they did either just on their own, or just to make Trump look bad (false flag operation).

4/11

Fourth, they'll insist nothing any of the rioters did was any worse than the terrible, aweful, very bad, no good stuff BLM and "antifa" did throughout last summer (ignoring that all the violence over the summer was done by rightists and Trump supporters).

5/11

Fifth, they'll insist Dems are picking on Trump because they hate him, and the trial is nothing but a partisan stunt, and they'll threaten us with Republicans committing their own partisan stunts as soon as they get the chance (thus admitting GQPers are mindless partisans).

6/11

They might try Gym Jordan's idiot argument that Trump couldn't have caused the riot on 1/6, because law enforcement already knew there was going to be violence. Maybe they'll blame Speaker Pelosi for it, claiming it was her responsibility to ensure security.

7/11

Trump's lawyers are likely to insist Trump did everything he could to stop the violence, and will distort or invent claims in an effort to make that seem plausible.

They are unlikely to engage with any of the evidence or arguments the House managers presented.

8/11

They are, in fact, likely to ignore anything the House managers said, except possibly to use it to prove Democrats hate Trump.

That's my prediction for what will happen to tomorrow. A barrage of bullshit.

9/11

Republicans will hope we'll argue about the bullshit, and forget the compelling and terrifying evidence the House managers presented.

Republican Senators, Representatives, and talking heads, Fox "News" and OAN will be 24/7 with the lies and distractions.

10/11

It will only take 3 to 5 hours to present that firehose of falsehoods, that landslide of lies. No reason for them to risk boring listeners. It will be a red-faced shout-a-rama lacking all substance.

That's my prediction.

11/11