The million years of stars and pussies
Then there’s the one about the “you can grab them by the pussy” tape.
Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan asks him: “When you’re a star they let you do it, you can grab them by the pussy, you can do anything, that’s what you said, correct?”
Trump: “Well historically that’s true with stars.”
Kaplan: “True with stars that they can grab women by the pussy?”
Trump tilts his head: “Well that’s what – it’s – ya look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true, not always, but largely true.”
Huh. Million years. I wonder how he knows that. I wonder what his sources are.
He adds, with brilliant insight and perception, “Unfortunately or fortunately.”
Kaplan: “You consider yourself a star.”
Trump: “I think you can say that, yeah.”
Kaplan: “You consider yourself a star.” / Trump: “I think you can say that, yeah.”
The closest star I know of is about 4 light-years away. Could be that there is a planet-of-the-Trumps orbiting it, and inhabited by knuckle-draggers, all with a strange similarity to you-know-who.
Could be that it’s the origin of the species.
One of the first things you tell a client in deposition preparation is to just listen to the exact question and answer that specific question. When he was asked, “… that’s what you said, correct?” the correct answer is “yes” rather than immediately going on the defensive and trying to justify or explain.
Now, any decent lawyer is still going to ask the follow-up question, but that comes across differently than volunteering this shitty defensive answer. To say nothing of volunteering that ridiculous “fortunately or unfortunately.”
Trump just can’t help himself. That’s why he’s such a terrible witness. He’s gotten away with it in every other context, because in media interviews and even in presidential debates, you can just dodge the question, change the subject, go on a rant, toss out a random insult, make a joke, whatever, and a lot of people — especially your fans — will at least let you get away with it, if not eat it up. It’s even sort of baked in to expectations at this point; nobody expects Trump to respond to a debate moderator’s question with a reasoned, thoughtful, fact-based position, just a lie and a “what about Crooked Hillary/Sleepy Joe” redirect. Serious political commentators have been gravely wondering how DeSantis or whoever will react to whatever kindergarten nickname Trump uses in a debate, that’s how low the bar is set.
But in court a judge or jury is going to be faced with specific questions they need to answer, and that tape or transcript is going to be repeated to them. The deflections and dodges and sideshow performances only get you so far.
The legal system is far from perfect, but it does some things ok.
Omar,
There’s a star about 8 light minutes away.
Anyway, Carroll’s lawyer turned that “fortunately” against him in addressing the jury: “Who would say the word ‘fortunately’ to describe the act of sexual assault?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/09/trump-e-jean-carroll-verdict-justice/
WaM: Pedantry has never been my long suit. ;-)
Screechy, I’ve just watched 26 minutes (about half) of the full so-far released video and it’s very…I don’t know, amusing-disgusting watching him sullenly following those prep instructions to listen to the question and just answer the question until the moment where he doesn’t any more.
You have a stronger stomach than me.
Bottom?
Gone.
I think I could tolerate it only because he was somewhat inhibited. It wasn’t easy though.
So Trump the stable genius is an evolutionary biologist now. I look forward to his magnum opus “The descent of man into a puddle of shit (an autobiographical account of all of human history).