After watching and reading news accounts of Don Jr. and Eric Trump testifying in court, I had an observation. It may have nothing to do with reality, though I suspect it at the very least has a passing acquaintance with it.
The problem became apparent with Eric yelling at a prosecutor for having the gall to ask what was a basic question that he felt was obvious and thereby was insulting to have been asked. Never mind that this wasn’t a personal conversation, but testimony in court where often things are required to be asked in order to get them on the record. But it was apparent throughout his testimony and his brother’s, as well. Denying things that were then presented to them as evidentiary proof of what they were denying. Passing blame on everyone else for everything. Getting testy with the prosecutor. Refusing to accept that facts (such as the size of the Trump apartment) had been presented incorrectly (three times the reality) and were therefore at best innocent mistakes that wildly inflated valuation – and at worst, intentional fraud. What struck me is the sense that the Trump brothers live in a certain bubble. It’s a world where what they say – whatever they say – is accepted by employees at the Trump Organization and the vendors who do business with the company and by those who want to be in their social circle and by total strangers for whom they owe no responsibility and more. And if it’s not accepted, it doesn’t matter since anyone who doesn’t accept their words, accept their entitlement doesn’t matter to them. Such people are only out to get them. It’s political, a witch hunt, jealousy, a nothingburger. They can say what they want and get away with it, because they have their whole life. The problem is – they’re in court. Testifying under oath. And I don’t get the sense that they quite realize it. The prosecutor asking him that question Eric thought was so insultingly stupid – to the brothers he’s a fool and someone you can yell at and tell off. Not recognizing that the prosecutor doesn’t matter – in fact the prosecutor probably loved being yelled at, so the judge could see that – because it’s the judge who is only person who matters. The judge is the person who is going to decide how much the Trump Organization is going to have to pay. The judge is who already has ruled that the Trump Organization committed fraud. The judge is who already has ruled that the sons’ father, their personal Zeus upon Mount Trump, was not a credible witness. The judge is who had the power and used it to impose a gag order on him. Yet there they are, the petulant, entitled Trump sons yelling at prosecutors, denying physical evidence, blaming others for actions they were in charge of, ignoring reality, ignoring that there’s actual video of their sworn depositions – because that’s what they do in normal conversations of everyday life – and appear to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that when they swore to tell the truth, that actually had legal meaning, and have blocked out that there is an actual judge judging everything they say and everything they do and how they do it and how they say it in order to help him make his judgement, because that’s what judges do. I know it’s hard to miss the judge when you’re testifying in court – after all, he’s sitting right next to you at your elbow when you’re in the witness stand. But living inside a vacuum-sealed bubble and having Mr. Magoo myopia can screw up one’s awareness of the real world that exists just outside your protective, invisible defense shield -- most especially when you are the entirety of your world. A world which, in turn, is nothing more than a small, circling orbit of their father’s soul-sucking universe.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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