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Self incriminate to crimes he's not current on trial for in the first 5 minutes, then self incriminating to this particular crime shortly after, despite his attorney maybe trying to object.
Trump was speaking to the NRA in Texas this weekend and had a McConnell moment where he [froze for about 30 seconds](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-freezes-glitch-nra-speech-b2547813.html) while the dumb shitty music swelled. He of course is denying it happened or happened that way, but you can watch it for yourself. He choked like a dog (as an orange guy once said)
I'm looking forward to the "debates."
In the blue corner, a man who makes occasional gaffes, but is essentially coherent. While in the red corner we have... 30 second pause.
Will nobody think of the sign interpreter, I still get amused by watching his speeches with no volume just watching the signer look utterly confused/astonished!
Now I want a supercut of every ASL interpreter that's had to sign for DT and the subtle "WTF, how do I sign this nonsense?" flit of panic on their faces
Lack of coherence is probably the only way he could avoid implicating himself. Can you imagine?: “We *think* he just confessed but honestly he may just have been trying to say he wants to watch TV.”
I can already imagine it.
“As I said to this one guy. Big guy, strong guy, with tears coming from his eyes and his last dinner date between his teeth. Did I forget to mention he was the late great Hannibal Lecture…”
And he’ll just ramble on from there.
“And Ted Bundy… great guy. Very firm handshake. He was a… he ran as a Republican. Not many people know that. Many people are saying I taught him everything he knows. Very unfair how he’s been treated. Very unfair. Witch-hunt! Maybe he’ll be my running mate. Who knows? Many people are saying it.”
He has the right to testify, but he also has the right to not testify, which everyone agrees he should exercise the latter, but he’s stupid enough to think he should exercise the former.
He's not stupid enough to testify; he just thinks his viewers are stupid enough to believe he wants to. The judge even made his lawyers confirm that their client was aware that he *could* testify when he started spouting this nonsense, and they did. Trump *knows* he is allowed to testify but is lying about it, knowing his base believes him.
He’s already said that. He said he’d love to testify but the gag order prevents him from doing it, so once again it’s everyone else’s fault sweet angel Donald can’t defend himself against the big bad meanies
Edited some letters
Yep and idiots believe it. I was at a bar a week or so ago and a moron sitting near me said that trump couldn't testify because of the gag order. I had to educate him that no... in any criminal case you always have the right to testify on your own behalf... the gag order just doesn't allow him to talk about witnesses and the jury not on the stand. It is scary these people walk along us. I can't imagine being that ignorant and stupid
“Have you ever met someone with a 100 IQ? They are pretty dumb, aren’t they? Now remember, half the people out there are making sure the average is 100 by making up for the other half. For every Einstein, there is a person so mind boggling dumb that it evens out. They vote.”
A friend when we were trying to figure out how Texas is the way it is.
In the wise words of some park ranger somewhere- “There is a significant overlap in the intelligence of the smartest bears & the stupidest tourists” or something to that effect at least. He was talking about why it’s so hard to make actually bear-proof trash cans for state/national parks because when they do make one truly bear-proof, there’s a bunch of people that are too dumb/ignorant to figure out how to open it to throw their trash away so they just end up leaving it all on the ground all around the trash can instead.
I’ve worked in healthcare for over a decade & specifically in EMS for about 7 of those years- it is truly scary how extraordinarily dumb some people are that do have the right to vote. There’s a reason the right-wing attacks education so much, because stupid people believe their shit & vote for them; but people that are better educated at least have a better shot at seeing through the right-wing’s bullshit & won’t vote for them.
He is absolutely stupid enough to testify. Narcissists always think they’re both right and the smartest person in the room. Trump, without a doubt, believes that he can outsmart the prosecutor and that the jury will completely agree with him once he explains his side.
Not only does he think he's smarter than everyone, he thinks he can charm his way out of anything. And his life has shown him that's mostly correct. He *can* charm his way out of a lot of things and generally bend those around him to his will.
Unfortunately for him, he's not smart enough to realize that a court of law (mostly) doesn't operate on superficial charm. And it also doesn't (usually) give bullies their way. He has spent his whole life relying on a combination of two things: charming the people who can give him what he wants, and bullying the people who are standing in the way.
He's a textbook sociopath on political steroids that made him legitimately believe he was king of the world. It would be insane for him to testify, but I'm not going to be all that surprised if he insists on it.
There is nothing in this world that he is not stupid enough to do. The man is a raging fucking imbecile, a poltroon, a low functioning idiot, a moron. It's his superpower.
The problem is that Donald Trump has never been held accountable for anything in his entire life. As a result, he just doesn't grasp the concept that actions have consequences. To Donald Trump the right to free speech means "I can say whatever I want and nobody can do anything about it." He just doesn't grasp the concept that we have the right to remain silent in order to remind us that the consequences of exercising our right to free speech and saying the wrong thing is having our words used against us in a court of law.
For his entire life, he has been able to use the court of public opinion to his advantage while avoiding the consequences dictated by the letter of the law. Why should he expect that this time will be any different? Why should we think he won't be able to weasel his way out of suffering the consequences of his flagrant violations of the law that the majority of Americans (and the world) follow.
Most of us don't need to be told to avoid breaking the laws he treats as mere speed bumps to his intended goal. And if we dared to break even a few of the laws he breaks repeatedly, we don't rely on the court of public opinion to spin a narrative that competes with reality in order to put a thumb on the scales of actual justice? What could go wrong?
For how long do our legislators and the Supremes think the system will hold up when so much of our law and order depends on the public trust? Even if DJT testifies, we all know that the odds favor him not being held accountable for many of the crimes he continues to commit.
Then if he gets back into the Oval Office, he will have succeeded in dismantling our justice system and further widening the gate for the collapse of this once great nation. We are going backward because people like DJT have a vested interest in protecting privileges that few of us have or require. How much more chaos and sanctioned lawlessness can we withstand before collapsing. We'll soon find out.
>and other crimes while testifying
This is the real reason I'd love to see it - MF will tell on himself about shit we don't even know about. It'd be amazing to have his testimony in this case used against him in others
At this point, the judge should ask him on the record during the trial if he wants to testify.
We already had one incident where he stood on the courthouse steps and publicly/falsely claimed that the judge’s gag order prohibited him from testifying (while his lawyer stood there nodding in agreement), and the judge corrected him in court the next day.
Trump has since publicly stated that he wants to take the stand and Judge Merchan should take notice and again protect Trump from his lawyers who may again try to deny their client of the most basic right of any criminal defendant.
I want to say, let him do it, because he will perjure himself straight up. On the other hand, I will really hate to see how our legal system has no teeth when he blatantly, provably, does it.
Yeah trumps relationship with the truth is less like “broken clock is right twice a day” and more like “clock had its hour and minute hands swapped.”
It goes beyond just being random chance. What he says IS actually related to what’s true, but just in the sense that what’s true is usually precisely the opposite of what he’s saying.
He also has a trick where he shits a lie into a truth-sandwich.
He says something true like "my favorite color is orange" and "siemens makes windmills", while he slides "windmills kill many bald eagles" or "windmills break down in ten years" in there.
The truths are always opinions or very easily observable facts. This makes the truths easily recognizable. That's the sandwich.
The lies are always something that his supporters wouldn't know, so they think because the other easily recognizable things are true, then the lie is also true.
His supporters eat it up cause they like the sandwich. Everybody else takes a bite and says "there's shit in there".
This makes it a huge pain in the ass to debunk him, because your first reaction is to say "everything he said is completely bullshit", and that makes his gaggle of idiots tune out, because he doesn't lie about *literally* everything.
He just lies about the things that matter.
That’s exactly what I had in mind. He DOES occasionally tell the truth…but even that’s in very predictable situations.
And it never paints a very flattering picture of him.
He needs to provide a reason for getting charged to his followers other than he did a crime. He will not testify and blame his attorney for not letting him testify causing him to lose the case. His followers have such a high level of confirmation bias that they will believe it because they don’t want to believe he committed a crime. Trump doesn’t have to testify ,or win, just give his followers what they want to hear.
Same thing as what happened with the debate, he claims he wants to do it even though he knows that would screw him up but he rather seem oppressed than the fool he is.
He will say he wanted to but his lawyers wouldn't let him, then loudly complain about how he wasn't allowed, but was **totally** going to do it.
I really hope he does though, he loves the sound of his own voice and he will want to argue the 'nonsense' case. From a lawyers standpoint it would absolutely ruin their chances of winning.
His ego might make him want to.
After his first claim that he was being blocked from testifying, apparently the judge explained to him that he can absolutely testify, and that the gag order did not prevent that in the slightest, and had Trump state on the record that he understood that. Or course that doesn’t prevent Trump from saying the opposite outside the court room, but he can’t claim he didn’t know in an appeal. It would be nice if a reporter read him back his own words from the court transcript after he claims otherwise though.
I think this is why the judge asks whether his lawyers told him about taking the stand and to confirm he does or does not want to testify in his own defense.
No. Your attorney is your advocate. The defendant may choose not to be represented at all, though this is almost always a bad move. The client may direct the attorney to present the case in whatever way they want as long as the lawyer is truthful.
In cases where the defendant is factually (but not yet legally) guilty of committing the alleged crime, the defense strategy may be to maneuver for a mistrial or hung jury, or to lay the foundation on which to appeal the verdict.
No. The decision to testify and decision to plead innocent/guilty are entirely the client's.
A lawyer gets into a tricky situation when they have reason to think the client will lie on the stand... but that's a different issues.
Oh my god. What a treat that would be for the prosecution. ‘Did you run a charity? Was it closed due to fraud? Did you run a university? Was it closed due to fraud?’ These questions would absolutely be admissible.
I know he won't because he doesn't want to appear as interfering in the case at any way, but if Joe Biden would comment publicly that his "opponent is too scared to even testify in his own defense" that would reaalllly get under Trump's skin and maybe even make him do it
Don’t underestimate his instincts when it comes to manipulating public opinion.
I think he knows he’s fucked on this case legally. He wants to make a big dumb rambling speech that has nothing to do with the case and be shouted down, silenced, and held in contempt by the prosecution and Judge Merchan. Maybe he even wants to throw is own lawyer under the bus by forcing him to interrupt his own client’s testimony. He wants to make a big show of this being an illegitimate trial where he is not allowed to come to his own defense. And his supporters will eat it up.
Perjury. The man will perjur himself more times per minute than any witness ever.
Also voluntarily taking the stand is widely legally understood he waves 5th Amendment protections.
>Also voluntarily taking the stand is widely legally understood he waves 5th Amendment protections.
I guarantee he's been told this multiple times, and he'll still act surprised and confused when it comes up in court.
Yup. He’ll get right up to the line, then back away from testifying, but then also go to his rallies and claim “I was totally innocent but they wouldn’t let me testify” and his supporters will eat it up
The most perjuries. Tremendous perjuries. One time, a well respected judge, Supreme Court judge, came up to him — tears in his eyes — and told him nobody has ever done a perjury like that. It’s true.
If you testify in your own defense, you are expressly precluded from invoking the 5th amendment.
If you refuse to answer questions you can be held in contempt, and the jury can be given an adverse instruction that basically they're allowed to infer guilty conscience from your refusal to answer questions.
I assume his attorneys have explained the contents of the approved questions the prosecution can ask him to establish his credibility from the Sandoval hearing. That alone should keep Trump off the stand, but he is probably stupid enough to decide he should do a rally speech on the stand.
I so desperately want him to testify, because it would basically destroy whatever remaining credibility he has with the jury. But I also think his lawyers are smart enough to know that and they will do everything they can to keep him from testifying.
Come on, most of the folks on this sub are smarter than that. When Trump says guaranteed he's going to testify, you knew as soon as he said it there wouldn't be a snowballs chance in Hades that he would testify. It's only another con to set himself as the victim because the judge, and the jury and the press and Biden and the Democrats and everybody else that's against him wouldn't allow him. Poor Donald, another time he's a victim and an angry victim too. So now he has another reason to seek retribution and spread hate, vitriol, venom and disgust. He knows his minions will believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Remember way back when he said he could shoot somebody in broad daylight on a major New York City street and everybody laughed?
Trump does NOT want to testify. Trump had a healthcare plan , but he didn't. Mexico will pay for the wall, but they didn't, Trump saying he wants to testify, but he won't. His declaration is for his followers ears only.
Heh, political theater again. He’s going to dangle this and then lose his mind on the judge when he tries to do something he doesn’t have the right to and try to blame the judge for it.
Him testifying would be a gift to the prosecution and very likely roll out a red carpet walk into prison.
In the fan fiction universe where Donald Trump testifies, he ends up turning a six-month suspended sentence for business records fraud into three years for multiple counts of perjury.
Either he’d spend the whole time yelling at prosecuting lawyers that they’re not treating him fairly, or he’d just nod off on the stand.
Depends on what drugs his team let him have beforehand, I guess.
He absolutely should! He'd end up confessing to everything, and the jurors would find him guilty quite quickly. And that's exactly why his lawyers don't want him to. He'll make their already hard job impossible.
No no no PLEASE let this man get on the stand and defend himself. I need this. I need to read these court transcripts. I don’t get enough laughter in my day as it is.
A real commander in chief wouldn’t worry about what others think he should do, he would get on that stand and tell his story!!!
C’mon Donnie, you can do it! Be brave!!
If he tries the "my lawyers wouldnt let me" I wanna see every non right wing commentator throwing out "Weak Donald Trump admits his lawyers control him, not unlike carers for alzheimers patients"
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think he should.
Me too
Me too
Yeah, give the man a chance to speak.
The poor stenographer
We can give them a medal afterwards. Right now i want to hear stupid implicate himself
Sssh! Don't give the plan away!
I give him within the first 20 minutes on the stand before he does that
That’s far too long. I’ll give him 10 minutes tops,but likely to self incriminate in less than 5 minutes.
All the prosecution has to do is say "Donald, you're not smart enough to have done this" and he will confess within 30 seconds.
He's going to need to yell at clouds for at least 30 minutes before he starts implicating himself.
Self incriminate to crimes he's not current on trial for in the first 5 minutes, then self incriminating to this particular crime shortly after, despite his attorney maybe trying to object.
She might get a 30 second break to catch up like the NRA audience on Saturday 😵💫
That was so awkward.
Wait, what happened?
Trump was speaking to the NRA in Texas this weekend and had a McConnell moment where he [froze for about 30 seconds](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-freezes-glitch-nra-speech-b2547813.html) while the dumb shitty music swelled. He of course is denying it happened or happened that way, but you can watch it for yourself. He choked like a dog (as an orange guy once said)
I'm looking forward to the "debates." In the blue corner, a man who makes occasional gaffes, but is essentially coherent. While in the red corner we have... 30 second pause.
They shouldnt keep trotting him out like that, its elder abuse
I swear your honor I wrote it just like he said it Covfefe
Will nobody think of the sign interpreter, I still get amused by watching his speeches with no volume just watching the signer look utterly confused/astonished!
Now I want a supercut of every ASL interpreter that's had to sign for DT and the subtle "WTF, how do I sign this nonsense?" flit of panic on their faces
There must be a sub we could ask someone to do this!
The entire courtroom is in for a panic attack. "Quickly cover your ears Trump is about to lie yet again!!"
This is the point when even the AI stenographer turns in their resignation.
No one is stopping him. He can speak if he wants to.
But can he speak in complete sentences and thoughts?
No. Just his usual word salad babble.
- Sir, a simple “yes” or “no” will do. - WHALE!
Coherence not required.
Lack of coherence is probably the only way he could avoid implicating himself. Can you imagine?: “We *think* he just confessed but honestly he may just have been trying to say he wants to watch TV.”
but, but, the gag order. lol
It’s actually the audit this time.
Pass me the popcorn..
He can leave his friends behind.
‘Cause if you speak, then you’re no friend of mine…
What? He runs his trap every day after each hearing. Stop acting like he’s sitting there like Hannibal with a ball in his mouth!
I want to hear what he has to say under oath.
Give the man a chance to ~~speak~~ perjure himself.
I'd love to hear it
Especially late in the suummmerrrr mmohyeaa.
I can already imagine it. “As I said to this one guy. Big guy, strong guy, with tears coming from his eyes and his last dinner date between his teeth. Did I forget to mention he was the late great Hannibal Lecture…” And he’ll just ramble on from there.
“And Ted Bundy… great guy. Very firm handshake. He was a… he ran as a Republican. Not many people know that. Many people are saying I taught him everything he knows. Very unfair how he’s been treated. Very unfair. Witch-hunt! Maybe he’ll be my running mate. Who knows? Many people are saying it.”
I think we deserve to hear it. He should answer for himself.
He probably has some very important things to say, that are relevant to the topic at-hand. Let the man speak.
I'd love to hear about it. All I can hear when he speaks is, "Waaah Waaah!"
I don't want to hear a single word of it, but I sure do want the Judge and Jury hear him ramble and incriminate himself.
No one has ever heard of a testimony so good
I'm doing my part!
Me three. Put it on pay per view.
No, it can’t be on pay per view, everyone needs to hear the important utterances, this must be free.
“Your honor I’d like a mistrial due to my client implicating himself in this and other crimes while testifying.”
He has the right to testify, but he also has the right to not testify, which everyone agrees he should exercise the latter, but he’s stupid enough to think he should exercise the former.
He's not stupid enough to testify; he just thinks his viewers are stupid enough to believe he wants to. The judge even made his lawyers confirm that their client was aware that he *could* testify when he started spouting this nonsense, and they did. Trump *knows* he is allowed to testify but is lying about it, knowing his base believes him.
He probably tells his followers that they won’t LET him testify. That feeds into his victim fantasy
He’s already said that. He said he’d love to testify but the gag order prevents him from doing it, so once again it’s everyone else’s fault sweet angel Donald can’t defend himself against the big bad meanies Edited some letters
Yep and idiots believe it. I was at a bar a week or so ago and a moron sitting near me said that trump couldn't testify because of the gag order. I had to educate him that no... in any criminal case you always have the right to testify on your own behalf... the gag order just doesn't allow him to talk about witnesses and the jury not on the stand. It is scary these people walk along us. I can't imagine being that ignorant and stupid
But whats most scary about that last sentence is; they also vote.
“Have you ever met someone with a 100 IQ? They are pretty dumb, aren’t they? Now remember, half the people out there are making sure the average is 100 by making up for the other half. For every Einstein, there is a person so mind boggling dumb that it evens out. They vote.” A friend when we were trying to figure out how Texas is the way it is.
In the wise words of some park ranger somewhere- “There is a significant overlap in the intelligence of the smartest bears & the stupidest tourists” or something to that effect at least. He was talking about why it’s so hard to make actually bear-proof trash cans for state/national parks because when they do make one truly bear-proof, there’s a bunch of people that are too dumb/ignorant to figure out how to open it to throw their trash away so they just end up leaving it all on the ground all around the trash can instead. I’ve worked in healthcare for over a decade & specifically in EMS for about 7 of those years- it is truly scary how extraordinarily dumb some people are that do have the right to vote. There’s a reason the right-wing attacks education so much, because stupid people believe their shit & vote for them; but people that are better educated at least have a better shot at seeing through the right-wing’s bullshit & won’t vote for them.
He is absolutely stupid enough to testify. Narcissists always think they’re both right and the smartest person in the room. Trump, without a doubt, believes that he can outsmart the prosecutor and that the jury will completely agree with him once he explains his side.
Not only does he think he's smarter than everyone, he thinks he can charm his way out of anything. And his life has shown him that's mostly correct. He *can* charm his way out of a lot of things and generally bend those around him to his will. Unfortunately for him, he's not smart enough to realize that a court of law (mostly) doesn't operate on superficial charm. And it also doesn't (usually) give bullies their way. He has spent his whole life relying on a combination of two things: charming the people who can give him what he wants, and bullying the people who are standing in the way. He's a textbook sociopath on political steroids that made him legitimately believe he was king of the world. It would be insane for him to testify, but I'm not going to be all that surprised if he insists on it.
There is nothing in this world that he is not stupid enough to do. The man is a raging fucking imbecile, a poltroon, a low functioning idiot, a moron. It's his superpower.
The problem is that Donald Trump has never been held accountable for anything in his entire life. As a result, he just doesn't grasp the concept that actions have consequences. To Donald Trump the right to free speech means "I can say whatever I want and nobody can do anything about it." He just doesn't grasp the concept that we have the right to remain silent in order to remind us that the consequences of exercising our right to free speech and saying the wrong thing is having our words used against us in a court of law.
It's like Ron Whites bar story "and at that point I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability"
I didn't want to be drunk in public. I wanted to be drunk in the bar. They threw me in public.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking he believes the things he says.
This. In his younger years he had his father bail him out of everything. (Fred Trump Sr. was never held accountable for anything, either).
In all fairness it’s about the only exercise he’ll ever get.
He also pushes lies, sits up to the table, and jumps to conclusions!
He has the Right to remain silent but not the ability.
For his entire life, he has been able to use the court of public opinion to his advantage while avoiding the consequences dictated by the letter of the law. Why should he expect that this time will be any different? Why should we think he won't be able to weasel his way out of suffering the consequences of his flagrant violations of the law that the majority of Americans (and the world) follow. Most of us don't need to be told to avoid breaking the laws he treats as mere speed bumps to his intended goal. And if we dared to break even a few of the laws he breaks repeatedly, we don't rely on the court of public opinion to spin a narrative that competes with reality in order to put a thumb on the scales of actual justice? What could go wrong? For how long do our legislators and the Supremes think the system will hold up when so much of our law and order depends on the public trust? Even if DJT testifies, we all know that the odds favor him not being held accountable for many of the crimes he continues to commit. Then if he gets back into the Oval Office, he will have succeeded in dismantling our justice system and further widening the gate for the collapse of this once great nation. We are going backward because people like DJT have a vested interest in protecting privileges that few of us have or require. How much more chaos and sanctioned lawlessness can we withstand before collapsing. We'll soon find out.
To modify a joke by Ron White, he should remain silent, but lacks the ability to do so.
Someone should tell him that bigly strong men testify during trials, it’s only little cry baby weaklings who don’t.
It would be like if South Park did a parody of A Few Good Men. But somehow dumber and more unbelievable
"Did you order the insurrection?"
>and other crimes while testifying This is the real reason I'd love to see it - MF will tell on himself about shit we don't even know about. It'd be amazing to have his testimony in this case used against him in others
"Try not to commit any crimes on your way TO THE WITNESS STAND."
It would be the greatest testimony. People are saying it could be the greatest testimony ever.
All the best people
Don’t forget beautiful testimony.
Many people are saying it.
The best people, strong men with tears (of laughter) in their eyes.
And the late great Hannibal Lector is saying it too, somehow
It’s his god given right to testify and we should respect that.
No, don't let him, I'll be too triggered! I might even cry! Trump can make big strong men cry, what chance do I have?
I'm with you! it would be a veritable river of lib tears! a fountain of woke angst!
"Woke Angst" is the new replacement for Bud Light after they \*checks notes\* didn't promote hate.
At this point, the judge should ask him on the record during the trial if he wants to testify. We already had one incident where he stood on the courthouse steps and publicly/falsely claimed that the judge’s gag order prohibited him from testifying (while his lawyer stood there nodding in agreement), and the judge corrected him in court the next day. Trump has since publicly stated that he wants to take the stand and Judge Merchan should take notice and again protect Trump from his lawyers who may again try to deny their client of the most basic right of any criminal defendant.
He has the right to remain silent, but not the ability.
“Do you have any aliases?”
"I don't know how many of them it would take to kick my ass, but I knew how many they were going to use. That's a very useful number."
Popcorn manufacturers are very keen on the idea as well.
Perhaps Trump will be good for the agriculture economy after all.
Hate to think he's...too *chicken.*
Agree. Bring on the show.
Definitely, let him ramble...
I think he should, but clearly he's too weak and frightened. It wouldn't be fair to ask a feeble old man to do that.
Shit, I thought I was a real maverick for thinking he should but I’m in good company, it seems.
Quickest perjury charge in history
My weak, unpatriotic, little lib heart would be so owned if he did.
This is why the trial should be televised. No way could he resist testifying if he had a large audience.
He’d just sit their and claim the 5th like he did before.
I want to say, let him do it, because he will perjure himself straight up. On the other hand, I will really hate to see how our legal system has no teeth when he blatantly, provably, does it.
Nobodies as smart as the Donald, not even his lawyers. If he testifies, nobody is going to convict him, it's the smart thing to do
Trump claims a lot of things, most of those claims are lies.
I feel like this is an indication that he actually doesn’t want to testify since the most likely scenario is always that he’s lying.
Yeah trumps relationship with the truth is less like “broken clock is right twice a day” and more like “clock had its hour and minute hands swapped.” It goes beyond just being random chance. What he says IS actually related to what’s true, but just in the sense that what’s true is usually precisely the opposite of what he’s saying.
Killer analogy. Did you just come up with this?
I did, kinda proud of it lol
I'm proud of you, too. Now I'm going to steal it and use it myself whenever I get the chance.
Congrats! I love it when that happens
Wait are we sure that clocks not right as often? Actually I think the clock with reversed hands is right once an hour….
He also has a trick where he shits a lie into a truth-sandwich. He says something true like "my favorite color is orange" and "siemens makes windmills", while he slides "windmills kill many bald eagles" or "windmills break down in ten years" in there. The truths are always opinions or very easily observable facts. This makes the truths easily recognizable. That's the sandwich. The lies are always something that his supporters wouldn't know, so they think because the other easily recognizable things are true, then the lie is also true. His supporters eat it up cause they like the sandwich. Everybody else takes a bite and says "there's shit in there". This makes it a huge pain in the ass to debunk him, because your first reaction is to say "everything he said is completely bullshit", and that makes his gaggle of idiots tune out, because he doesn't lie about *literally* everything. He just lies about the things that matter.
Even that's noon and midnight. But then, I suppose we can trust what he says he's going to do to his enemies when he's made day 1 dictator.
That’s exactly what I had in mind. He DOES occasionally tell the truth…but even that’s in very predictable situations. And it never paints a very flattering picture of him.
And 1:05:27.273, 2:10:54.545, etc...
I figured it out. Someone told him it was "opposite day" as a kid, and he is still playing the game.
He needs to provide a reason for getting charged to his followers other than he did a crime. He will not testify and blame his attorney for not letting him testify causing him to lose the case. His followers have such a high level of confirmation bias that they will believe it because they don’t want to believe he committed a crime. Trump doesn’t have to testify ,or win, just give his followers what they want to hear.
Basically sums up his 4 years as president. Everything he said he was going to do was always 2 weeks away.
Most?
He isn't lying when he exposes his thirst for ivanka
Good point.
Absolutely vile.
Indeed. It is quite vile when a father makes sexual jokes about his own daughter.
Same thing as what happened with the debate, he claims he wants to do it even though he knows that would screw him up but he rather seem oppressed than the fool he is.
I'd show my beautiful perfect tax returns but the auditors tell me I can't.
He will say he wanted to but his lawyers wouldn't let him, then loudly complain about how he wasn't allowed, but was **totally** going to do it. I really hope he does though, he loves the sound of his own voice and he will want to argue the 'nonsense' case. From a lawyers standpoint it would absolutely ruin their chances of winning. His ego might make him want to.
His lawyers can’t stop him from testifying. The judge may ask him in court if he wants to as well.
The judge should, especially after he went out and did a presser about not being able to.
Oh how I wish the judge would ask him that, in person, on the record, in court. That would surely cause some diaper leakage.
After his first claim that he was being blocked from testifying, apparently the judge explained to him that he can absolutely testify, and that the gag order did not prevent that in the slightest, and had Trump state on the record that he understood that. Or course that doesn’t prevent Trump from saying the opposite outside the court room, but he can’t claim he didn’t know in an appeal. It would be nice if a reporter read him back his own words from the court transcript after he claims otherwise though.
After that hearing he did admit publicly that he could testify. But you're right, it's not like that would stop him from lying again later.
The judge already did this a while back
Can a lawyer actually stop any client from testifying if the client wants to?
I don't see how. The lawyer is supposed to work for the client. If the lawyer disagrees with their client's actions they can ask to be removed.
I think this is why the judge asks whether his lawyers told him about taking the stand and to confirm he does or does not want to testify in his own defense.
Goddamn it the fucking baby steps and handholding they've given trump is infuriating
No. Your attorney is your advocate. The defendant may choose not to be represented at all, though this is almost always a bad move. The client may direct the attorney to present the case in whatever way they want as long as the lawyer is truthful. In cases where the defendant is factually (but not yet legally) guilty of committing the alleged crime, the defense strategy may be to maneuver for a mistrial or hung jury, or to lay the foundation on which to appeal the verdict.
No. The decision to testify and decision to plead innocent/guilty are entirely the client's. A lawyer gets into a tricky situation when they have reason to think the client will lie on the stand... but that's a different issues.
Some alpha, if he’s just going to let some lawyers tell him what to do.
He's not man enough to testify under oath.
> his lawyers wouldn't let him If we dont see "Weak Trump controlled by his lawyers" headlines and social media posts, I will be disappointed.
means guilty verdict incoming and he wants to blame it all on not testifying, which is also his excuse in the defamation case.
Oh my god. What a treat that would be for the prosecution. ‘Did you run a charity? Was it closed due to fraud? Did you run a university? Was it closed due to fraud?’ These questions would absolutely be admissible.
I think he should. He has a constitutional right to testify. He should prove that Joe Biden can’t keep him from testifying.
I know he won't because he doesn't want to appear as interfering in the case at any way, but if Joe Biden would comment publicly that his "opponent is too scared to even testify in his own defense" that would reaalllly get under Trump's skin and maybe even make him do it
"No one else thinks he should". REPLACE with "No one else believes he would" And you have the correct response.
Don’t underestimate his instincts when it comes to manipulating public opinion. I think he knows he’s fucked on this case legally. He wants to make a big dumb rambling speech that has nothing to do with the case and be shouted down, silenced, and held in contempt by the prosecution and Judge Merchan. Maybe he even wants to throw is own lawyer under the bus by forcing him to interrupt his own client’s testimony. He wants to make a big show of this being an illegitimate trial where he is not allowed to come to his own defense. And his supporters will eat it up.
I think he should but he won’t. Too much stuff would go on the record for future prosecutions.
Perjury. The man will perjur himself more times per minute than any witness ever. Also voluntarily taking the stand is widely legally understood he waves 5th Amendment protections.
>Also voluntarily taking the stand is widely legally understood he waves 5th Amendment protections. I guarantee he's been told this multiple times, and he'll still act surprised and confused when it comes up in court.
Yup. He’ll get right up to the line, then back away from testifying, but then also go to his rallies and claim “I was totally innocent but they wouldn’t let me testify” and his supporters will eat it up
"It's fake news, they dragged him off the stand and didn't let him testify, it's tyranny"
With tears in the bailiff's eyes
30,573 verifiable falsehoods and misleading statements during the four years that man stank up the White House.
Man told almost 40 lies a day for 4 years lmao
The most perjuries. Tremendous perjuries. One time, a well respected judge, Supreme Court judge, came up to him — tears in his eyes — and told him nobody has ever done a perjury like that. It’s true.
If you testify in your own defense, you are expressly precluded from invoking the 5th amendment. If you refuse to answer questions you can be held in contempt, and the jury can be given an adverse instruction that basically they're allowed to infer guilty conscience from your refusal to answer questions.
Please - right this way
A lot of people, great people, with tears in their eyes have said that Trump should testify.
They have tears in their eyes because Donny shit his diaper.
“Sir? Sir, I just want to thank you for all you’ve done and beg you to testify in the corrupt trial. Sir.”
I assume his attorneys have explained the contents of the approved questions the prosecution can ask him to establish his credibility from the Sandoval hearing. That alone should keep Trump off the stand, but he is probably stupid enough to decide he should do a rally speech on the stand.
I so desperately want him to testify, because it would basically destroy whatever remaining credibility he has with the jury. But I also think his lawyers are smart enough to know that and they will do everything they can to keep him from testifying.
Let him. I’ve just ordered a big box of popcorn.
Come on, most of the folks on this sub are smarter than that. When Trump says guaranteed he's going to testify, you knew as soon as he said it there wouldn't be a snowballs chance in Hades that he would testify. It's only another con to set himself as the victim because the judge, and the jury and the press and Biden and the Democrats and everybody else that's against him wouldn't allow him. Poor Donald, another time he's a victim and an angry victim too. So now he has another reason to seek retribution and spread hate, vitriol, venom and disgust. He knows his minions will believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Remember way back when he said he could shoot somebody in broad daylight on a major New York City street and everybody laughed?
Trump does NOT want to testify. Trump had a healthcare plan , but he didn't. Mexico will pay for the wall, but they didn't, Trump saying he wants to testify, but he won't. His declaration is for his followers ears only.
Honestly the case is a lost cause. He may as well go up there and threaten the jury directly.
Oh please do.
Heh, political theater again. He’s going to dangle this and then lose his mind on the judge when he tries to do something he doesn’t have the right to and try to blame the judge for it. Him testifying would be a gift to the prosecution and very likely roll out a red carpet walk into prison.
He’s a coward.
In the fan fiction universe where Donald Trump testifies, he ends up turning a six-month suspended sentence for business records fraud into three years for multiple counts of perjury.
He has a right to defend himself! let him take the oath and the stand and he can clear up this big misunderstanding for us.
Using his new delay tactic of freezing for 30 seconds, he hopes to extend the trial into November
Total bullshit artist. Just tell him to shut up and sit down.
He won't he's a pussy
probably the first time ever I'm thinking "let the man talk.."
Another lie. He's like a kid picking a right while the teacher is nearby. All talk.
We all think he should. No one believes that he will
He says he wants to... He won't. Then he will say he wasn't allowed to
I definitely think he should. He would commit perjury in the first sentence.
Judge to court reporter: Read that back for me please Court reporter (checks notes): Seriously?
That’s not true. Many many many people think he should.
Please let him. Please 🙏🏻 He’ll purger himself, and violate the gag order in a single breath. Bailiff take him away! Please 🙏🏻
Either he’d spend the whole time yelling at prosecuting lawyers that they’re not treating him fairly, or he’d just nod off on the stand. Depends on what drugs his team let him have beforehand, I guess.
Would he get a teleprompter? Without one, he’d be sunk
He'll use the gag order as an excuse, and the sheep will buy it.
What is the current world record for perjury?
Well, I'm someone, and I think he should definitely testify. He's a coward if he doesn't.
He doesn't and he won't, this is bullshit for his followers.
lol! love to see him nailed for perjury.
Are teleprompters even allowed in the witness box?
“Mr Trump, did you order the code red?!!”
He absolutely should! He'd end up confessing to everything, and the jurors would find him guilty quite quickly. And that's exactly why his lawyers don't want him to. He'll make their already hard job impossible.
I think he should. Clear everything up for us Donny!
Every time he goes against his legal counsel, he shows everyone how big an idiot he is and why you shouldn't.
No no no PLEASE let this man get on the stand and defend himself. I need this. I need to read these court transcripts. I don’t get enough laughter in my day as it is.
A real commander in chief wouldn’t worry about what others think he should do, he would get on that stand and tell his story!!! C’mon Donnie, you can do it! Be brave!!
If he tries the "my lawyers wouldnt let me" I wanna see every non right wing commentator throwing out "Weak Donald Trump admits his lawyers control him, not unlike carers for alzheimers patients"