Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and…and…um…And you won’t fool me again George W Bush
I’m not going to jump the gun and start making predictions, but it’s starting to look like Special Counsel Jack Smith may have found a kindred soul in an inexperienced federal judge in a small district courthouse. And one with a troubled past to boot.
We all know federal judge Aileen Cannon’s checkered past when it comes to Donald Trump, so I’m not going to rehash the whole sad episode here. But suffice it to say that no matter how infuriating and frustrating the experience was for Smith and the DOJ, It now starts to appear that the aftermath of that experience was equally as traumatic, if not more traumatic for judge Cannon.
It started a little shaky. Trump’s arraignment was handled by a Miami federal magistrate instead of judge Cannon, leading to speculation that she may be paving the way to recuse herself. Judge Cannon moved quickly to quell that notion. At the arraignment the Special Counsel vowed to move for a speedy trial under Florida’s Rocket Docket, within 70 of arraignment.
Judge Cannon was loaded for bear. Shortly after the arraignment Cannon issued her first ruling from the bench in the case. A couple of days after the arraignment, Cannon issued an order to the Trump legal team that they had until Tuesday to get their security clearance applications in if they wanted to be able to examine the classified documents. And not Tuesday, November 18, but like, today Tuesday. She gave them a six day window, and they all made it. But Cannon laying down the law like that couldn’t be comforting to the Trump legal team.
Smith, smelling blood in the water, pushed the envelope. He filed a Protective Order with the court, advising that he was going to start providing non classified documents and evidence to the defense under discovery, and asking that she order that neither Trump nor the defense team release or disseminate any of the information to the public. Cannon swiftly ruled that Trump could not possess any of the information, hell, he couldn’t even examine it by himself, he must be in the company of his attorneys at all times.
But here’s where it gets weird. It’s almost like judge Cannon is playing Liars Poker with Jack Smith. Ooooooh, a protective order and discovery, very nice choice. I’ll see your protective order and raise you a trial date! How about August 14th, I’m free that day?
People, this is not normal! Normally the defendant is arraigned. At the arraignment, the judge sets the bail conditions and sets a date for a preliminary hearing. At the preliminary hearing the judge sets the ground rules, opens discovery, sets a pre-trial hearing date, as well as a trial date. It has all the cadence and rhythm of a judicial waltz.
But here, judge Cannon hasn’t even set a preliminary hearing date, and already she’s setting a trial date! Part of that credit goes to Jack Smith, for self expediting the discovery process, and allowing her to truncate her calendar.
But let’s be realists here. There is no f*cking way that jury selection is going to start on August 14th. It will take 6-8 weeks for the FBI to clear the Trump defense team for their security clearances. But since they only have to see 31 documents, and Smith is already releasing discovery to the defense, suddenly a seriously potential trial date for late September to mid October does not appear out of reach. Especially since the way for a judge to delay a trial is to set an excessive date for a motion, and then let the defense continue to delay. Cannon is running a true Rocket Docket here.
Which leads me to something I know just as sure as I know that the sun is going to come up tomorrow, whether it is cloudy or not. Florida US district court judge Aileen Cannon is supremely pissed. She was a young, unseasoned Assistant US Attorney with almost no trial experience, and no legal writings to speak of, not even dreaming of a robe, and out of the blue Trump makes her a judge.
And wouldn’t you know it? Only a year or so later, still with almost no judicial experience under her belt, who should come a calling to her Fort Pierce courtroom but the former President who appointed her a judge in the first place, desperately seeking justice at her hands for an unfair prosecution. How could she not show him every deference and respect?
There was just one thing that neophyte judge Aileen Cannon didn’t realize. And that’s the fact that her benefactor has a pet name for her. It’s the same pet name that he had for Ivana, Marla Maples, Melania, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, and who knows how many other. She’s a bimbo. They’re all bimbos. Toys to be used and discarded by a rich and powerful man. Cannon was just another shiny object.
And judge Cannon paid the price, in spades. If an inexperienced judge makes a judicial error, especially in an out-of-the-way courthouse in Florida, the requisite appellate court slaps her down, and she learns the lesson. But this was Trump. A global celebrity, and the first former United States President to be threatened with federal indictment. She didn’t just end up a Fort Pierce judicial laughingstock, she became a national judicial laughingstock. And unless she lives under a rock with nothing but a kindle, there’s no way she didn’t know it.
Judge Aileen Cannon is obviously out to rewrite history, at least her judicial history. And these first couple of case rulings show that Judge Cannon is not about to let the Trump team drag this out. She has the Rocket Docket in her district. But if she’s as pissed as I think she is, it’s terrible news for team Trump.
One of the Trump team’s highly anticipated delay tactics was going to be to throw as many pre-trial requests for hearings in front of an inexperienced, starstruck judge as they could at the preliminary hearing and pre-trial motion hearings. Simple fact. Hearings take time. They have to be scheduled, they have to be held, and then the judge has to consider the merits and issue a ruling. The goal was to flood Cannon with totally senseless motions described in fancy $10 legal words, and let her chase her tail around forever.
But it appears that judge Cannon has gotten the memo. The top choice for delaying a case is endless bullsh*t objections at the pre-trial motion hearing. We all already know that 90% of Trump’s pre-trial motions are totally nonsensical, but they want judge Cannon to think they’re serious. But if Cannon simply uses the legal knowledge she already has, she’ll be ruling from the bench after every motion argument, totally blowing up the Trump team’s delay option.
Which brings us to the trial. Never forget one thing. Trump is the ultimate sociopathic narcissist. Whatever happens today and in the months to come, as far as His Lowness is concerned judge Cannon is his bimbo. She’s always been his bimbo, and she’ll always be his bimbo. And when she starts issuing bench rulings based on case precedent law, and not on subservience to Trump, Traitor Tot is going to be one bummed out criminal defendant.
And so I can only close with Nice work, dipsh*t. You spent your entire adult life using and humiliating everybody you came across, for no better reason than because you were richer and more powerful than them. And now, at the moment of the greatest personal peril of your sad, misbegotten life, you nationally insulted and humiliated the one woman who now has dictatorial control of the rest of your life, as well as your personal freedom. Stand Up And Take A Bow, FOOL!
I’ve never read or heard on tv or radio that trump called her a bimbo. Anybody out there that has?
Trump doesn’t have to have said the words aloud for him to THINK that. Considering how he tends to treat women (mainly in terms of sexual devices), the word “bimbo” wouldn’t be far from his thoughts.
My first thought upon reading the title and even the first part was you’re out over your skis some. Then you mentioned the part about Cannon giving Trump’s lawyers until today, only six days to get their paperwork in so that the FBI folks who do such things can get to work on their background investigations necessary for them to be granted the high level security clearances they will need. Six days! I was only nearing 26 when I first had to do that and even in that short a life span it was some serious a$$ work to gather all the required information and even some documents. For lawyers well along in life, even with keeping up Bar recertifications and stuff they had to set damned near everything aside to make today’s deadline. I’m surprised they actually did. I’d imagine Trump told them to ask for more time, his opening round in the attempts at delaying everything.
That’s why you might be on to something. Suppose judge Cannon had a small Ex Parte communication with not Trump but his lawyers to the effect of “Yes I know it will be rather burdensome to get it done that fast – but do NOT test me on this!” I can only imagine Trump’s fury that they didn’t try and dick around and embarrass the judge.
I also thought of something else. Cannon knows she became an object of national ridicule. NO ONE stepped up and truly went to bat for her. The best GOPers would do is some mumbling, and some even expressed some “questions” about the whole thing. If ever she needed a friend it was since that whole fiasco. What’s just occurred to me is during all this time when Cannon was being raked over the coals there was one person in particular we didn’t hear from. Donald J. Trump! The guy who can’t restrain himself and STFU about ANYTHING whether to trash someone who he feels has crossed him or praise someone who helped him didn’t have jack sh*t to say in defense of Cannon.
Perhaps she noticed. And, as you say feels scorned because looking at things now it sure looks like typical Trump – use someone and when they are no longer of use (and even Trump knew her reputation and career was in the sewer) dump them. Maybe she does feel used. Scorned. I’m not fully convinced mind you but as of tonight I’m actually open to the possibility that even if sometimes she can’t help herself (many a cult member who gets out sometimes still feels a pull back towards the crazy) she might turn out to be more of a straight shooter than I’d feared.
Cannon’s slap down by the appellate court painted her as a Trump hack. She knows that the road to a seat on the Supreme Court is a long way off if ever for her. This first stain must be erased if by nothing more than rigid neutrality and the force of law and precedent in the case before her now. She could recuse herself, which would invoke both vitriole from Trump and affirm the perception that she’s a Trump stooge, but a cowardly one. Or, she could just do the right thing in a case where the defendant is going on national TV admitting to the crimes he has been indicted for and instruct the jury to determine on the basis of the evidence. She comes out intact…and ready to be wined, dined and flown around the country by grateful billionaires…after all, it’s the American Way!
She was painted as a trump hack because she is one. The slap down she received from the appellate court did nothing to stop her from kissing trump’s ass. If she’s a fed soc fool and she is one of their little stars. She will kiss the ass of whatever con monster she needs to and she will never stop-that is what is means to belong to that society of idiots.
I think your basic premise is correct, she is pissed at Trump. But here’s something I’ve always wondered about: As you say, at the time of the earlier Trump case, she was a very inexperienced judge. The tricks she pulled were stupid, but fairly elaborate. Did she think them up entirely on her own? I always assumed she was getting advice, but from where exactly? Cannon has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2005, when she was still in Law School. I have always wondered whether she was being advised by them.
I think it’s too early to declare Loose Cannon has seen the errors of her earlier ways. There are still things she can do to ratf@ck the process. How she rules on motions and how she inserts herself in jury selection will tell the story.
I am heartened by the fact that she seems to be following the dictates of the “rocket docket.” Possibly TFG will be a convicted felon by the end of the year, something we all could celebrate, whether he does time or home incarceration.
This is definitely an interesting take. Looking forward to seeing how it all plays out!
Maybe she’s been ordered by the Federalist Society to get Trump convicted as soon as possible & more importantly sentenced to home confinement. They may see it as their only shot at beating President Biden.
If they want a shot, their only one as you say, home confinement isn’t going to cut it. He will need to be in prison if they want even a chance and I’m not positive that will be enough to dissuade the magats from voting for him.