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-Wednesdays are days off in the New York election interference trial - and Lordy, is it necessary! Stormy Daniels took the stand and did not disappoint, as her dramatic testimony over careening objections and an admonition from Judge Juan Merchan to get Defendant Ex-President Trump (R-apist) LXXXVIII to stop muttering "Bullshit!" and "Bitch!" under his stink and towards the jury.
-In terms of the case, Daniels was testifying first and foremost to establish that, indeed, she and Trump had a sexual encounter that led to her story being caught-and-killed and covered up to prevent it from coming out as a follow-up to the ACCESS HOLLYWOOD tape - in large part because the Trump defense was that it never happened and Trump should be believed because of what a virtuous choirboy he is while you buy Trump Vodka. And HOO BOY, the details (many of which were first revealed in Daniels' book and subsequent 60 MINUTES interview) are somehow even skeevier than you could imagine them to be.
-From the initial appeal made through a Trump bodyguard at a hotel where Daniels was attending a porn convention (initially met with a "F*ck NO!" from Daniels) to her publicist persuading her to do it ... to the dinner in Trump's room with him first wearing silk pajamas (mocked by Daniels) ... to Daniels ripping Trump for constantly interrupting her and then demanding he whack his fat ass with a magazine (with him on the cover) to get him to stop ... to his big plays for Daniels: comparing her favorably to her daughter (which every man trying to get sex from a woman over 30 years younger than him does) and a role on THE APPRENTICE (which, surprise surprise, he revealed was fixed) to "rescue" her from a "trailer park" ... to going to a bathroom and glancing through his toiletries bag (which included gold tweezers - of COURSE) ... to Trump then being in bed wearing boxers waiting for her ... to the encounter itself (which Trump of course thought was great) ... to a year of trying to hook up again (at one point with Trump enlisting fellow rapist, scuzzbag Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger) ... well, like I said, we need a break after all THAT.
-Although it must be said that the cross-examination - being conducted by a woman, and NOT Alina Habba (although she was in the audience for 'support' along with indicted insurrectionist Boris Epshteyn and failson Eric "Eric" Trump) - observers noted Daniels was holding her own, and in fact thought the questioning was backfiring and giving even more credibility to Daniels. That is where the New York case will resume.
-Because, alas, it is appearing more and more like this trial may very well be the only one to complete - perhaps even start - prior to November. As previously reported, the lone judge whom Trump has not tried to tear apart on social media, Aileen Carroll, used the Daniels testimony as the perfect time to announce the May 10 start of the case involving ALLEGED (eyeroll) classified document theft has been indefinitely postponed - because of "complications" in the case observers quickly pointed out that occurred because of previous delays and pro-Trump rulings by Carroll herself. Even if Special Prosecutor Jack Smith were to either try to have Carroll removed from this case or to try to get other indictments in other districts (DC and NJ), the combination is likely to keep the trial from starting in 2024 (and then, should Trump regain power, have the cases killed altogether).
-On top of that, THIS JUST IN: an appeals court in Georgia has agreed to hear an appeal that will again revisit whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must be removed from the RICO conspiracy case to steal the 2020 Electoral College votes from the winner of that state, Joe Biden. That appeal was based on the relationship she had with a fellow prosecutor, which Team Trump says prejudices and corrupts Willis for reasons. The decision will likely further delay the start of that trial, which Wills reportedly was looking to begin in August.
-And we continue to await the Supreme Court to rule on Trump's Presidents Are Gods That Can Do Anything They Want As God Can ruling, with each day passing means one more day delayed in the start of that trial - and the anticipation that the radical Federalists on the court (including insurrectionist-adjacent Clarence Thomas) will create a 'rule' for Trump that, while all but sure to lose, will again result in further delays. (Or they could actually agree that ALL Presidents including Trump are citizens and allow the trial to begin. Hey, a guy can dream!).
-So we move on to the election, which even with the trials will be the ultimate ruling on Trump - and there, trends continue to edge towards Biden. Two newer national polls (if you believe in those things) have Biden opening up leads that approach going outside the margin of error, while in Indiana Trump continued to see no-longer-campaigning Nikki Haley get a significant percentage in the Republican Primary (just under 22%) and more Republicans announcing they will not vote for Trump (including Paul Ryan and former GA Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who went one step further and endorsed Biden!). Trump also continues to have money issues - so much so that he announced a fund-raiser rally in Minnesota (which he hilariously claims will be in play) (MN will not be in play) on May 17.
-By the way ... if May 17 rings a bell, that's the day Trump's beloved son Barron is graduating high school. You may recall that Trump and his attorneys had a hissy fit over the New York trial schedule, with Trump whining that if he was in court he could never get to Barron's graduation - and Judge Merchan scheduled a day off so Trump could attend. Well, it now looks like Trump has other plans, so Barron (who some reports claim is not one of Trump's favorites because Barron is taller than Trump) will just have to settle for his mother, Melania, to attend.
-Or it could be there was confusion with Barron's parents, give that Stormy Daniels also testified that, in their dinner, when Daniels asked about Trump's wife and then-four-month-old son, Trump assured her it would be no big deal, as they slept in different bedrooms at the time of the Daniels/Trump meeting.
-Then there's Robert F. Kennedy Jr., (EW!) who polling continues to show is now hurting Trump more than Biden. RFK Jr. continues to insist he is running and not running as a spoiler to Biden (that despite his biggest funder also being one of Trump's biggest funders) (EW!), but multiple outlets are reporting that RFK has admitted that, among other concerning health issues that reportedly do not involve vaccinations, that a parasitic worm ate part of his brain (EW!) and is still in his brain (EWWW!) and that, as an apparent result, now suffers memory lapses as a result. But that worrisome detail was not worrisome enough for the newest RFK Jr. celebrity endorser, beloved and well-respected actor Kevin Spacey (EW EW EW EW EEEEEWWWWW!!!!)
-MEANWHILE ...
-As campus protests continue nationally demanding Israel end their war in Palestine and release hostages and demand Biden do something about it, Biden continues to try to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Palestine while staving off a long-promised invasion by Israel of the city of Rafah. Negotiations are continuing and have swayed back and forth between breakthrough and collapse, while Israeli forces took over an entrance to the city (which is near Egypt) but continued to allow humanitarian aid to enter. And for the first time, the United States withheld a shipment of arms and munitions to Israel over concerns that they would be used for the Rafah invasion. All of which comes amid other polling that indicates that, contrary to what some in the press would have you believe, the college protests have not yet resulted in younger voters abandoning Biden - super-important given the size of that voting cohort and Biden's dominance over Trump among those voters.
-Speaking of the press, the New York Times continues to get well-deserved brickbats after extending their feud with the White House over Biden not doing an interview with the Gray Lady. In the latest missive, NYT Executive Editor Joe Kahn told the newsletter Semafor that Biden's request for media to report on Trump's clearly-stated hopes to make the Presidency an autocracy with powers that rival despots and dictators would "turn (the New York Times) into Xinhua News Agency or Pravda" and that the Times' polling claiming most Americans want to hear about immigration is more important than whatever Trump may be saying, even if Trump saying immigration is important just happens to be the same thing that the New York Times is saying (probably after talking to all those people at diners). That TIME Magazine has made an interview with Trump and Trump's fascistic tendencies a cover story without TIME reporters sprouting mirror shades and LET'S GO BRANDON buttons would seem to indicate the New York Times may be full of themselves is, well, beside the point.
-And with that, suddenly this Substack is ready for more Stormy Daniels testimony ...
-On this date in 1846, the Battle of Palo Alto began the Mexican-American War. On this date in 1945, World War II ended on the European front. On this date in 1973, the American Indian Movement ended its occupation of Wounded Knee, SD. On this date in 1980, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox was eradicated thanks to vaccines. On this date in 1984, the Soviet Union announced a retaliatory boycott of the Olympics Games for Los Angeles after the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980. And on this date in 2007, Northern Ireland formed its first independent government since The Troubles.
-Debuts on this date: Military conscription in the United States (1792), The Westminster Kennel Club National Dog Show (1877), Coca-Cola (1886), DR. NO (1963), LET IT BE (1970), BOYS DON'T CRY (1979), the first woman to graduate from The Citadel (1999 - Nancy Mace, who sadly became a MAGAt House of Representative).
-Happy Birthday to Edward Gibbon, Harry Truman, Edmund Wilson, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Roberto Rossellini, Robert Johnson, Saul Bass, Sir David Attenborough, Don Rickles, Miyoshi Umeki, James R. Thompson, Mike Cuellar, Thomas Pynchon, Toni Tenille, Ricky Nelson, Peter Benchley, James Traficant, Keith Jarrett, Chris Frantz, Mike D'Antoni, Philip Bailey, Beth Henley, Alex Van Halen, Stephen Furst, Lovie Smith, Ronnie Lott, Bill de Blasio, Melissa Gilbert, Enrique Iglesias, and Kevin Stefanski.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to King Kamehameha I, John Stuart Mill, Gustave Flaubert, Paul Gauguin, Elmer Rice, Avdry Brundage, Gilles Villeneuve, Pam Ewing, Robert A. Heinlein, George Peppard, Dana Plato, Dirk Bogarde, Eddy Arnold, Dom DiMaggio, Maurice Sendak, William Schallert, Jim Fowler, Helmut Jahn, Pete DuPont, Fred Ward, and Joe Kapp.
-Feed the Worms: Sex Offender Gary Glitter and Yinzer Turncoat Pittsburgh Steeler "Coach" Bill Cowher entered Earth on this date.