Apparently Donald Trump didn’t want to hear about record players and Everett Dirksen, a Republican senator who’s been dead since 1969, any more than the rest of us did. Bruce Castor’s so-called “defense” was a mishmash of personal anecdotes, giving “the impression that he started working on his opening statement at 2 a.m. only to wake up 10 minutes before he needed to be at the Capitol with his face stuck to a bunch of half-written pages and had to just shove whatever he had in his briefcase and and wing it,” to quote Bess Levin at Vanity Fair.
Trump was not amused. New York Times:
Mr. Castor, the first to speak, delivered a rambling, almost somnambulant defense of the former president for nearly an hour. Mr. Trump, who often leaves the television on in the background even when he is holding meetings, was furious, people familiar with his reaction said.
On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the angriest, Mr. Trump “was an eight,” one person familiar with his reaction said.
And while he was heartened that his other lawyer, Mr. Schoen, gave a more spirited performance, Mr. Trump ended the day frustrated and irate, the people familiar with his reaction said.
Unlike his first Senate impeachment trial, just over a year ago, Mr. Trump has no Twitter feed to do what he believes he does better than anyone else — defend himself — and to dangle threats of retaliation over the heads of Republican senators who serve on the impeachment jury. […]
An adviser to Mr. Trump, speaking on background as the lawyer was making his defense, insisted that Mr. Castor had always planned to try to reduce the temperature in the chamber because the former president and his aides anticipated an emotional presentation by the Democrats.
But Mr. Castor undercut that by declaring at the outset that he and Mr. Schoen had switched their presentation order because the Democrats’ case had been so good.
That one of his own lawyers praised the prosecutors surprised and infuriated Mr. Trump, people familiar with his reaction said.
The set up for day two is certainly interesting on these facts. One thing was accomplished: Castor referred to Trump several times as “the former president” and that is a handle that has stuck. At least that little nuance is out of the way and things can proceed.
Yes, I didn’t know but I howled with laughter after Castor called him “former president” and other things like that in amongst his rambling today.
I look forward to seeing him being referred to as the twice impeached, twice popular vote loser
ex-president.
And convicted felon on numerous charges.
I wonder what kept him at an 8 instead of a 10?
I turned off Castor because he was making absolutely no sense and it was angering me!!
Crazy! I turned it off!
Now that Castor has given the performance that will end his law career, I look for Trump to fire him any day now.
ALL the criminal insurectionists from the Capitol should retain Mr. Castor to defend them. Now that’s karma!