Donald Trump Has An "Idiotic" Defense Strategy. Literally

Plus, why 2020 will still be with us in 2024; is Joe Biden corrupt?; how bad is the abortion issue for Republicans? (Pretty bad).

I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.

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So I’ve returned from vacation, and we’re Zoom Chatting this Friday! I’m very excited about this because former Boston Globe movie critic Ty Burr will be joining me to talk all things Barbie/Oppenheimer. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend checking them out before Friday’s discussion — and check out Ty’s excellent Substack newsletter.

For those of you who just want to talk politics, I’m breaking this conversation into two parts. At noon, I will jump on for anyone who wants to talk about Trump's indictment, the slow political descent of Ron DeSantis, the looming Biden impeachment … you name it. Then at 12:30, Ty will join me, and … it’s off to the movies! If you can’t make it, I’ll record this and send it afterward. Here’s the link.

American Maelstrom Is On Kindle!

So seven years after its publication ... my book on the 1968 presidential election, American Maelstrom, is finally available again on Kindle (it’s a long story as to why, but suffice it to say business monopolies are bad). So if you’ve been waiting to buy it on Kindle, have at it.

It’s Always Going To Be 2020

Last Friday, I wrote a column for MSNBC that picked up on something from my last newsletter …

The central issue of the 2024 campaign will almost certainly be Trump’s legal status — and whether the former president will ever be held criminally accountable for his actions. If it feels like American politics hasn’t been able to escape the last presidential election,  we ain’t seen nothing yet. 

… it’s fairly clear that Trump isn’t all that focused on winning in the courtroom — where the evidence and the law are stacked against him — but rather at the ballot box next year, where he has a puncher’s chance to prevail. Attacking [Jack] Smith and dismissing the charges against him as a political attack is above all a strategy for avoiding prison by winning the 2024 presidential election and not having to face that possibility. 

This is the best explanation for Trump’s continued provocations in attacking Jack Smith and the judge in his January 6 case. By riling up his supporters in umbrage over his multiple indictments, Trump likely believes it will help his chances of winning the GOP nomination and, potentially, the presidency. (There’s also the fact that Trump is a lunatic who doesn’t understand basic social norms and is in a constant state of aggrievement).

But the bottom line is that he will not stop talking about 2020, and it will be the central issue of the 2024 election. And as I wrote for MSNBC, this will be a disaster for Republicans because rather than making the election a referendum on Biden, it will be a referendum on Trump and, in particular, his criminal accountability. You never want to say never, but you’re going to have a hard time convincing me that a majority or plurality of Americans will cast a ballot for a thrice-indicted politician or, quite possibly, by November 2024, a convicted felon. For down-ballot Republicans in blue and purple states, Trump’s legal status will be a political albatross.

Stupid Is As Trump Does

This week for MSNBC, I wrote about Trump’s emerging defense strategy: he’s dumber than a box of rocks.

For those who have closely followed the political rise of Donald Trump, it’s rather obvious that the former president isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. This is a man, after all, who once mused about spraying disinfectant or ultraviolet light inside the body to kill the Covid-19 virus, looked directly at the sun during a solar eclipse without protecting his eyes and said Hurricane Florence was “one of the wettest we’ve ever seen, from the standpoint of water.”

But in the wake of his third criminal indictment in four months, it appears that even Trump’s criminal defense team is essentially arguing that their client is an idiot. 

Consider the comments of Trump’s lawyer John Lauro, who said Sunday that his client’s defense “is quite simple. Donald Trump … believed in his heart of hearts that he had won that election.”

I don’t doubt that Trump believed he won the 2020 election or that he repeated the lie so many times that it became his reality, but that’s not a defense — it’s a cry for help.

I almost feel sorry for Lauro. He has a terrible client who can’t stop shooting his mouth off, and the evidence against him is overwhelming. But the fact that Trump is too dumb and deluded to realize he lost the 2020 election would, in a normal political world, disqualify him from the presidency in the minds of most voters. Instead, this is happening.

If enough Americans are blinkered enough to still vote for Trump, maybe he can convince one juror and avoid a guilty plea.

Dobbs Is A Disaster For Republicans

Back in 2008, I gave a talk in which I made a comment, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that the worst thing that could happen to the Republican Party — and the best thing that could happen to the Democratic Party — is if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Fast forward fifteen years later … and yeah.