Mar.21

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Dem 51

   

GOP 49

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity?

There's an old saying that there's no such thing as bad publicity. There's also a variant that says the only bad publicity is your obituary. Donald Trump may be proving those aphorisms true right now, as his claim that he's going to be arrested today by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has once again made him the belle of the ball, at least for now.

So many people have been longing for the day of Trump's arrest that it's really no surprise that this photo (and several others like it) went viral yesterday:

It's not real, of course, since he hasn't been arrested as of the moment we write this. The photo was created by AI. Clearly, there's still work to be done bringing the AI up to speed because this could never pass for the real thing. His head looks (too) plastic, the lighting is inconsistent, and the hands are wrong (Trump appears to have only four fingers). Perhaps most obvious, however, is that while he may not be as tall as he claims, Trump is over 6', and the (fake) person in the photo most certainly isn't 6' tall. Nearly as obvious: The person in the photo is far too trim to be Trump. Those are something like size 34 pants, and we would guess he hasn't worn size 34 since he was in high school.

Other than propagating memes like this one, Democrats have largely been silent on the supposedly imminent arrest. Not so Republicans. Let's just run down some of the responses:

• Ron DeSantis: Although Trump is the one who ostensibly faces criminal prosecution, it's actually Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) who is somewhat on the hot seat right now. If Trump has to be extradited to New York, then DeSantis would be in a position to either facilitate that or to gum up the works (at least temporarily). If he chooses the former, he will aggravate the MAGA crowd. If he chooses the latter, DeSantis will appear somewhat lawless and will be helping a soon-to-be-rival.
  
  For what it is worth, DeSantis has made his choice, while also taking the opportunity to twist the knife a little. While definitely kowtowing to the MAGA militia a bit by slurring Bragg as a tool of George Soros (a.k.a. "The Jews"), the Governor said he would not get involved in blocking an extradition, also remarking: "Look, I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair."
  
  
• Donald Trump: Trump was furious at DeSantis' response. So, he hopped onto his boutique social media platform to share these thoughts:

  Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he's unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are "underage" (or possibly a man!). I'm sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!

  The former president also included the now-famous photo of DeSantis during his teaching years, surrounded by several teenage girls. For those keeping score at home, then, the Governor is apparently both a groomer of underage women and yet also gay. It's hard to keep track!
  
  
• The MAGA Mouthpieces: Trump's wingmen were also furious on his behalf, and yesterday DeSantis was savaged by Steve Bannon, Mike Lindell, and Donald Jr. Bannon called the Governor a "weasel," Lindell said "DeSantis is the Trojan Horse we thought he was. I just wanna put that out there, how disgusting he is," and Don Jr. declared that DeSantis is "owned by Karl Rove, Paul Ryan & his billionaire donors." For those hoping that, after the 2024 primary, the Republican Party can close ranks and come together, this is not a good sign. For those who would like to see the GOP go down in flames in 2024, by constrast, this is an indication that you should stock up on popcorn.
  
  
• House Republicans: House Republicans, at least the ones who tote the Trump water, are doing what they can to try to help their Dear Leader. For example, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is busy these days chairing multiple show committees, sent a letter to Bragg demanding documents related to his investigation of Trump. Bragg will ignore that letter, unless he sends a reply to Jordan advising the Representative that he is free to review court records in any cases brought against Trump, just as any other citizen is free to do.
  
  
• The Base: In theory, it is time for the base to take to the streets in support of their hero. That is certainly what Trump encouraged them to do over the weekend. However, the pro-Trump protests have been flaccid, at best. Some Trumpers claim this is deliberate, because they want to keep things "low key." Others apparently believe that this is really just a scam being put on by Democrats in order to entrap MAGA faithful, just like the scam Democrats ran on 1/6. Hmmmmmmm. One wonders if what they are really worried about is Donald Trump leading from behind yet again, leaving his faithful followers to be the ones who are bayoneted. In any event, the odds of Violent Uprising v2.0 seem to be low.
  
  
• Alan Dershowitz: Truth be told, we are not sure if Dershowitz is a Republican these days or a Democrat or something else. What we do know is that he's completely wrecked a reputation he spent decades building. These days, he's largely only welcome on right-wing programming, and yesterday he appeared with Charlie Kirk to declare that a Trump indictment is not only illegal, it's a "violation of the Bible." As readers may recall, the U.S. is not a theocracy, and the legal system does not operate according to biblical dictums. Guess that never came up during Dershowitz's years teaching law school.

We will see within the next few hours if Trump's prediction proves correct and, if so, if it results in some photos like the one above. George Conway pointed out yesterday that Trump is the rare accused felon who might actually want a perp walk, as it could help him whip the base into a lather. (Z)