The Chicago Seven Strategy Still Works

Trump was back in court for the second E Jean Carroll civil trial in New York on Tuesday, and his exchange with Judge Kaplan was true to form:

"Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which what has been reported to me consists of. And if he disregards court orders, Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial," Judge Lewis Kaplan told Trump, who was reportedly making comments throughout the trial, according to CNN.

Trump responded to Kaplan by throwing his hands up.

"I understand you’re probably eager for me to do that," the judge said.

"I would love it," Trump said, according to reporters in the courtroom.

"I know you would," Kaplan responded. "You just can’t control yourself in this circumstance apparently."

This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of Trump's public demeanor, as well as his conduct in the courtroom. It echoes similar comments by William Barr:

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said it would be a "particularly bad idea" for former President Donald Trump to take the stand in New York because the latter "lacks all self-control."

In a Sunday interview with Fox News' Shannon Bream, Barr was asked whether Trump would personally defend himself in court if his indictment went to trial.

"I'm not his lawyer, generally I think it's a bad idea to go on the stand," Barr replied. "And I think it's a particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks all self-control, and it would be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion."

As I pointed out last October, Trump's strategy, at least in the New York civil cases, is based on the Chicago Seven defense, something Alan Dershowitz recognizes, and Dershowitz worked for the defense on that case. I quoted him in that post:

[T]he trial turned into a farce, because they had picked a judge named Julius Hoffman, who was a very right-wing jurist to preside over the trial, and he hated these radical defendants, and the radical defendants hated him, and Abby Hoffman came up with a tactic, he said basically to his lawyers and everybody else, "Look, we can't win this case in front of Judge Julius Hoffman. Let's see if we can go about getting it reversed on appeal, and the best way to do it is to provoke this judge, he has a short fuse, and provoke him into making error after error."

And that's exactly what [Abby] Hoffman did, he stood up, he made speeches, he wore costumes, he did everything possible to provoke the judge, and the judge fell into the trap, and I was one of the lawyers on the appeal, and we won the appeal, and he held the lawyers in contempt, and we won the appeal on contempt. So we had a total victory, and [Julius] Hoffman really was laughed at by his fellow judges, and he was condemned by jurists and appellate judges. So I call this the Chicago Seven tactic, and I think this is what Donald Trump is using now.

Unlike Judge Kaplan or Mr Barr, Dershowitz recognizes Trump's strategy as fully calculated. Both Trump and Dershowitz recognize Trump can't get a fair verdict in either of the New York civil trials, so on one hand, he's aiming to provoke Judge Kaplan, and it looks very much as though he'll succeed. But in addition, as Abby Hoffman was at the time, Trump is media savvy, and he's playing his courtroom performance for the media. Trump understands the media needs him as a story, and he's getting free coverage every day, while at the same time he calls attention to the other bizarre characters in the drama, this time "whack job" E Jean Carroll.

During the Letitia James trial, he's been able to play himself against Judge Engoron. Whether Judge Kaplan will prove as effective a foil, Trump is nevertheless now able to bring up Ms Carroll and her absurd allegations, which if nothing else prove delicious entertainment and keep the focus on Trump. He doesn't need campaign ads, and he doesn't need to debate. His name is in front of the public all day, every day, for free.

This is the error of NeverTrumpers like Andrew McCarthy. I quoted him yesterday in his apostrophe to Trump's supporters:

You need to put yourselves in the shoes of the country as a whole. Most Americans do not see this as you do. They vote, but they don’t follow politics closely. They are not attuned to the partisan machinations, the way incumbent Democrats convert the legal system into a campaign weapon. They know only the broad outlines of news coverage.

Trump knows well enough that most Americans won't necessarily understand whatever subtleties may be involved in HR 2 vs the Senate Lankford compromise, but they know entertainment when they see it, and they see it every day with Trump. Trump is a truthteller, a Huckleberry Finn, a Holden Caulfield, James Dean as Caleb Trask in East of Eden, or John Belushi as Bluto in Animal House.

Andrew McCarthy and William Barr misunderstand this as Trump's lack of self-control, when it's more like Bluto's pure irrepressibility. The American people understand this completely, and they'll be in the process of rejecting the NeverTrump alternative, that paragon of self-control Gov Haley, within the next few weeks.