As I’m sure many of you have, I’ve been thinking a lot about the electoral choice we have in 2020 with more focus over the past few days, and I keep returning to a conclusion I reached a while back, but felt was not realistic enough as a scenario to be worth expressing. And that is that, for the good of the country and their own good, both of the major-party presidential candidates should retire.

Absolutely agree with @Delavegalaw, @MichaelCohen212, and @meiselasb. I was in the courtroom that day, and I found that moment to be a good one for the defense, but felt it was only a small one and essentially the only good moment during a rather long, meandering, and ineffective cross-examination.

I was astonished—shocked, in fact—when I learned that television viewers, particularly on @CNN, had been misled into believing that the defense had dealt some kind of death blow to the prosecution’s case.

Some of the mainstream media coverage of the case has been downright bizarre, and remains so. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Here’s what I said about that day right after court, at 5:04 pm EDT on May 16, 2024. I’m not patting myself on the back for being right; I’m just expressing mystification about how many others could have been so wrong.

Chris defends the Goldwater rule in his “deep dive.” It has been the subject of severe criticism among many mental health professionals. Their informed criticisms are far more persuasive than Chris’s cursory defense. I attach a (small) sampling of their articles:

https://twitter.com/chriscillizza/status/1793721857125884221

researchgate.net/profile/Donald…

Every bit as funny as, “It’s past your jail time, Donald.”

https://twitter.com/beneverson40168/status/1790777196161663272

Dealing with Trump is actually easy. He’s not normal. So you don’t treat him as normal.

You treat him like the nut job he actually is. But you do it with humor.

Yep. Even if Cohen had advanced the money in October 2016 on his own without any expectation of repayment by Trump—a ludicrous lie—Cohen would have committed a campaign finance violation (which is why he pleaded guilty to one).

https://twitter.com/aweissmann_/status/1786479393323225560

Hicks’s testimony establishes beyond any question that Trump knew about that illegal and undisclosed contribution, and knew that his reimbursement of Cohen was not a payment for legal services.

the folks who watch Fox News have no idea how horrible New York City really is even for people who aren’t being persecuted for making perfectly legal and properly documented legal retainer payments smh

Numerous experts have pointed out Trump’s aphasia. And here it is yet again.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1779304544612061567

news.cornell.edu/media-relation…

“Former President Donald J. Trump’s new shared fund-raising agreement with the Republican National Committee directs a portion of donations to the political account he has used to pay his legal bills before any money goes to the party itself.”

https://twitter.com/shanegoldmacher/status/1770927711193637093

“The order in which entities will receive funds from big donors through what is known as the Trump 47 Committee was disclosed in the fine print of an invitation to a big dinner next month in Palm Beach, Fla., where top donors are asked to contribute up to $814,600 per person to attend.”
nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/…

“There is ‘overwhelming’ evidence that Donald Trump is suffering from dementia, a leading psychiatrist has claimed, amid speculation about the state of the former president's mental health.”

https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/1770439539233825146

“Dr. Lance Dodes, a supervising analyst emeritus of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and retired Harvard Medical School professor, was among those recently quoted by Duty To Warn, which describes itself as an association of mental health professionals concerned about Trump.”

“Donald Trump’s … over-the-top rhetoric is not new and, for more than 400 licensed medical professionals, it’s not the most troubling aspect of Trump’s public performances.
 
“They see evidence that the former president, at 77, is suffering from ‘probable dementia’ so they have signed their names … to an online statement asserting that grave concern.” “In a long series of testimonials, doctors and other professionals cite Trump’s use of incorrect words or jumbled words, suggesting a condition known as paraphasia, a common indicator of dementia.”

https://twitter.com/baltimoresun/status/1770193165284175996

There’s some commentary on here saying we should disregard Trump’s “bloodbath” remarks last night because he was talking about potential harms to the auto industry.

That is misguided. 1/x Trump may well have been referring to a “bloodbath” in that industry. He’s sufficiently incoherent that, as is so often the case with him, it’s hard to tell one way other what exactly he’s talking about at any given moment. 2/x

.@tedcruz, May 3, 2016 (1/8):

“I'm going to do something I haven't done for the entire campaign. For those of you all who have traveled with me all across the country, I'm going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump.”

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1756686197332598932

.@tedcruz, May 3, 2016 (2/8):

“This man is a pathological liar. …. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.”

cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/16…

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1756686197332598932

For years many people—big, strong men, with tears in their eyes—have been saying to me, sir, you should do a podcast. It would be a tremendous podcast, like no one has ever seen. (1/5) And my reaction has always been, “Aren’t there too many podcasts in the world? How many podcasts can our small, fragile planet handle? Shouldn’t we be trying to conserve our resources for other far more important things, like Corgi TikTok videos?” (2/4)

“When you pick apart the many subsidiary legal issues swirling in Trump’s certiorari blender, they dissolve one by one. Take the contention that it is too difficult for courts to figure out standards by which to determine what it means to ‘engage’ in an ‘insurrection.’ The simple response to that is: ‘𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 “𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴” 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 1 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 “𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 3?’” “Or the argument that the president is not an ‘officer of the United States’ under Section 3. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 ‘𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦’ 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 ‘𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧’—𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵?—‘𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦’ 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳? 𝘖𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥-𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥, ‘𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴.’ 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 ‘𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳,’ 𝘵𝘩𝘦 ‘𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳,’ 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 ‘𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳’ 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴?”

“‘Cass, if I can get through this job and manage to keep (Trump) out of jail, I’ll have done a good job,’ Meadows told Hutchinson in June 2020.”

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1706631602690822159

“‘We killed Herman Cain,’ Meadows told Hutchinson.”

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1706631602690822159

Hi @JeffClarkUS there are at least 50 nonstops from DC airports to Atlanta tomorrow and 51 on Thursday.

Hope this helps.

No need to thank me.

I know you’re rushed enough as it is.

Just trying to be helpful over at TruthSocial 😀

Idiot. That’s not what the indictment charges, and that’s not how conspiracy law works.

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1691291587202998272

If Tony Soprano, Silvio Dante, and Pauline Gualtieri agree to whack Big Pussy Bonpensiero by taking him out on Tony’s boat, shooting Pussy, and dumping Pussy’s body in the Atlantic, and Paulie drives to Home Depot to buy heavy chains to tie to Pussy’s body so it will sink,…

Let’s see now:

1. Nut-job billionaire enters into imprudent merger agreement with acquisition target.

2. Nut-job billionaire breaches imprudent merger agreement with acquisition target.

https://twitter.com/reuterslegal/status/1677409776026914816

3. Target company is forced to launch bet-the-company litigation to enforce imprudent merger agreement breached by nut-job billionaire.

4. Nut-job billionaire is forced in bet-the-co litigation to carry out imprudent merger agreement he entered into and breached.

https://twitter.com/reuterslegal/status/1677409776026914816

watch this space https://t.co/VxHfH5z05J

https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1672918703946571776

@Kaos_Vs_Control @gtconway3d @MelanieHT1919 too quick to assume t/finish—were in t/intermission stage btwn acts 2–& 3 Putins revenge t/curtains of which has yet to open

Were an MTV world where it’s happening now now & now—RU closes the trap w/plotting w/in plotting w/in a puzzle box for revenge

This is not yet baked
2/

🧵🪡 🧵🪡Some additional thoughts about the legal pointlessness of a Pomerantz deposition, apart from the question before the Second Circuit of whether the deposition should be allowed to proceed:

1/

https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1648802268282486784

There are really only three general subjects that the House committee could ask Pomerantz about.

(1) They could ask him questions about Michael Cohen’s credibility. That won’t help Trump legally because:

(a) it wouldn’t be admissible evidence at a Trump trial; and

2/