One more step downwards into the abyss as yet another blow is struck at our institutions by a right-wing zealot and conman. Alan Dershowitz lost whatever credibility he ever had some time ago. Apparently he’s aware of that fact and he doesn’t care. He’s continuing to be the troll from Harvard, misusing that fine institution’s pedigree to validate the drivel that comes out of his mouth. Dershowitz was on Real America’s Voice and he took the side of “chaotic” witness Robert Costello, and said that the man “had a constitutional right to stare down the judge.” And then he compared the judge to Travis Bickle, the DeNiro character in Taxi Driver. Hit this link to see the video. Here’s a partial transcript.
“Well, the judge cleared the courtroom of everybody, including the media. For some reason, I didn’t get cleared,” Dershowitz recalled.
“So I ended up sitting there literally in the front row, looking the judge right in the eye and watching as he excoriated this very distinguished lawyer, Bob Costello, and threatened him and threatened Trump, and said, if you ever raise your eyebrows or stare at me again.
“He sounded like the character out of Taxi Driver, you’re looking at me, you’re looking at me, if you ever look at me again like that, I will strike all your testimony.”
“Donald Trump didn’t do anything wrong, and he threatened to deny the defendant his Sixth Amendment right to put on a defense if somebody raised an eyebrow at him,” he continued. “First of all, everybody in the world has the constitutional right to raise an eyebrow.”
Co-host Gina Loudon told Dershowitz that her background in psychology gave her the impression that the judge needed a mental competency test.
“I never heard of that,” the law professor admitted, “but when I saw this judge saying, are you looking at me? You’re giving me the eye, it reminded me of the psycho in Taxi Driver.”
“You remember?” he asked. “Are you looking at me? Are you looking at me?”
“You know, not the way normal people react, and certainly judges are supposed to have a thick skin.”
The actual line was, “Are you talking to me?” But that’s the least of it here. Dershowitz is actually suggesting that Justice Merchan is unhinged. But that’s not surprising, that’s what he’s getting paid to do.
And where this turns into high comedy is where “Dr.” Gina Loudon states that in her “professional” opinion as a psychologist that the judge should have a mental competency exam. Gina Loudon no more has a Ph.D. in psychology, as she claims, than I have a Nobel prize in physics. It’s a fiction she makes up for her audience. She’s got some kind of a cockamamie degree from an online university in human and systems organization, but she is not a trained or licensed psychologist in Florida or any state. She’s a MAGA and she’s a liar.
She’s also the mother of Bo Loudon, who were are told is Barron Trump’s BFF. I’m assuming that she’s either raised her son to believe her lies, or maybe he knows she’s lying but has been taught to go along with it, because it’s a lie that makes Mommy money on right-wing media.
And if you’ve been following my pieces on Barron here, you know that I’ve speculated about whether Barron is being played by this kid whose mother has a major interest in being a star in Trump world. It’s a speculation that is reasonable based upon the corruption of MAGA. MAGA is about grift. MAGA is about manipulation. And the MAGA Mango Messiah is the king of transactional relationships.
I hope for Barron’s sake that that’s not the case. Everybody needs a friend when growing up. Life is challenging and I can’t imagine that growing up in the zoo that is Mar-a-Lago with estranged parents living in different quarters and putting on a face for the world is easy.
Who knows? Maybe Bo Loudon sees through the bullshit and he and Barron talk about that — although I find that difficult to believe since the Daily Mail article that referenced the Bo/Barron friendship also said that Bo wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps doing right-wing commentary. Which means that he doesn’t want to work for a living, he wants to lie on the airwaves.
We don’t know. All we do know is that there are two American cultures, commingled and contiguous. and each one is listening to a different version of reality. MAGA is being played by right-wing media for profit. But as Mark Twain observed, “It’s easier to con people than to convince them they’ve been conned.”
“This behavior by a judge is unprecedented” they all scream! You’re damned right it is! It is unusual for a judge to act this way because witnesses, especially ones who are lawyers (aka officers of the court), don’t act this way! Blowing raspberries and saying “jeez” is not proper courtroom decorum and everybody knows it. Even when you are testifying, poorly, in defense of a man who has shat on the decorum of every venue he has ever entered, you don’t get to act like that!
Here’s to hoping whatever state bar issued costello’s license to practice was watching his childish and moronic behavior. As an officer of the court, regardless of what he was in that courtroom to do, he has a responsibility to uphold the standards required of an officer of the court/attorney. I’d like to see his license yanked for his stupidity in Merchan’s courtroom. I hope complaints have been filed.
As for dersh’s asininity: does he even still practice?
His text and emails also proved he lied while under oath. Lock him up.
Sure Alan. You are like totally credible. Such as your claims that during those sleazy massages when it came time for your “local” the gas would get your rocks off by working “over” your tighty whities.
If you ever needed proof of just how low caliber an attorney dershowitz is, the fact he still, after all these years, doesn’t know that the judge is the BOSS in the courtroom, indicates dersh just didn’t pay attention in school, in practice, or at all. The judge could tell a lawyer to go stand on his head in the corner and spit out wooden nickles and the judge would have the reasonable expectation that his command would be obeyed. You learn how powerful a judge is in their own courtroom in f*cking middle school f.f.s. Now, yes, a judge could do something that might make an appeal more successful but that generally doesn’t stop judges from doing pretty much what they want. That most judges DON’T tell lawyers to stand on their heads in the corner and spit out wooden nickles actually astounds me-especially dumb-asses like dersh who BTW wasn’t there as counsel making the possibility of an appeal almost nil.