By all accounts Trump’s rape trial isn’t going well for him. He’s both furious and humliated that it got to trial. Being Trump he hoped E. Jean Carroll would just die and the matter would be over. However, “Nevertheless she persisted” not only in staying alive, healthy and alert (not to mention compelling) but in pressing her case through the court process. Despite a list minute attempt for yet another delay this time Trump finally got it through his thick skull there was going to be a trial and it would begin as scheduled.
Faced with that Trump had to decide whether or not he’d show up in court for the trial. In fact the judge presiding made a point of pinning attorneys on both sides as to whether their respective clients would appear in court. Since Carroll’s lawyers planned on her being a witness that was easily settled. Trump? His team hemmed and hawed and talked about how busy he was (well, it’s not like he hasn’t got plenty of other legal troubles to contend with!) and in the end said he wouldn’t be in court.
Why this matters is that in the leadup it was clear Team Trump was in trouble via how pre trial motions were going. Without a legal leg to stand on (for the most part) Trump was losing far more often than he won on that score. So by the beginning of April it was clear that 1) there was going to be a trial and it was going to begin as scheduled, and 2) Trump’s name was going to be in the news and not in a good way. For a guy who considers himself the greatest studmuffin ithe world, the “bigliest” chick magnet of all time having a woman he damn well knew (from pre-trial stuff) would be poised and credible telling the world there were in fact women that weren’t lusting after him his entire life would as I said be humiliating. First Stormy Daniels and now THIS! People can be judgemental about Daniel’s being an adult performer but Carroll? That’s another matter entirely.
Carroll was known and respected (still is) in upper crust NY Society, the circle that Trump so desperately wanted to be fully accepted in yet never was.
It’s not surprising he’d avoid being anywhere near that courtroom, NYC or the state these days. So he decided to just be gone from the entire country! Ostensibly to check on a few of his UK golf properties. He does love his golf although those courses are way the hell beyond his skill level. Of course he cheats like hell when it comes to marking his scorecard! Still, he hasn’t been across the pond in a while and might think that he’d find himself in friendlier company. Polite British Society that wouldn’t be so distasteful as to mentioning his facing a rape trial as I write this. And, being feted by a few dignitaries wouldn’t hurt his marketing his Presidential comeback.
Except he’s an EX President. Sure, there will be security but not to the level that keeps the common folk at the kind of distance that was once possible. And folks over their HATE Trump. One of my favorite words is one the Scots came up with – Shitgibbon. I wanted to use a pic of a couple of Sottish ladies with protest signs but on had the c-word on it – noting she couldn’t call Trump the word because he lacked depth and warmth! The other referred to him using another bit of Scots’ particular brand of insulting slang – “Jobby” which is the polite term for feces. Sh!t. Or as they sometimes call it over there “ShItte.”
But the leader of Scotland made it clear he wasn’t going to have anything to do with Trump. No other leaders over there seem to want to do so either. Same with Ireland. None of the leaders want to be anywhere near him, and it seems upper crust Brits aren’t interested either.
Because there’s something else going on – the coronation of King Charles!
He’s been officially King since him mum died but tradition being what it is there was always going to be a big hoopla formal Coronation Ceremony. And this has been on the books since late last year. Whether they like him or not, anyone who is anyone in the UK either serving in His Majesties government or not (over there there’s that ubiquitous “Magic Circle” of people – almost all men – behind the scenes. Relationships formed back in school days as classmates or rivals that became respected rivals) will either be there, or if unable to secure seating at some nearby place – kind of like people who can’t fit on the platform during one of our Inaugurations but get their moment at one of the multiple Inaugural Balls around DC.
Given that, and that Trump knew damn well what is going down in the UK this week was he trying to take a dump on King Charles’ big moment? Have a handful of bigwigs show up at one of his resorts and if not play golf have private but very, very publicized dinner with His Lowness, the Donald? This is Trump we are talking about and he’s probably heard rumors that his state visit with the Queen wasn’t the “bigly” hit in the UK he’d assumed it was. I think his publishing the note from now King Charles without permission was a quite specific “f**k you” and it probably is eating Trump alive that the King didn’t take the bait and respond to the diplomatic insult.
So we have Trump in places where the masses hate him and are freely and delightfully creative in their expressions of contempt. And more polite upper crust folks are ignoring him too. If they want to maintain their status any of them with half a brain knows that being with Trump this week would be the equivalent of kicking the new King in the balls. And that’s not the type of thing upper crust British Society, including and especially those in that Magic Circle I mentioned will forgive or forget. And the punishment would extend beyond the individual(s) – it would extend to their family and heirs.
So I get back to the original question. Did Trump go over there to hide out for a bit, or did he harbor fantasies of headline about him showing up King Charles? I’ve thought about it a lot today and I’m still 60-50 on the question.
I am however pretty certain that Trump is feeling isolated as hell right now. The only news out there about him is bad news and he’s powerless at the moment to change the narrative. He’ll eventually say or do something to get folks talking about him again, if only to marvel that he’s still the presumptive GOP nominee and that rules still don’t apply to him.
But from where I sit he’s lost either way. Shunning the spotlight of his rape trial, and not only not showing up in court but heading overseas to PLAY GOLF isn’t going to sit well with that jury. If his goal was to grab some headlines about dissing the King and stealing some of the Coronation spotlight well, that’s not happening. High up, tony British muckety-mucks are in London or headed there. Where they are NOT is at one of Trump’s golf properties in the UK. If he thought some would pick him over their King he miscalculated – bigly.
He’s leaving Scotland and inflicting us in Ireland with his presence on the 3rd, so he’ll probably be sulking in County Clare
Benedict Arnold ran to England and Washington wasn’t able to punish him for treason. Of course in the 18th century it was an ordeal to travel overseas. Baby Huey will not be so fortunate. Maybe he went to retrieve buried treasure in one of his sand traps that he can sell to our enemies. Bills do pile up.
Arnold attempted a return to the States. England turned to be not as welcoming as he’d assumed it would be. Frankly, from the time he turned traitor and was given some commands in the English Army he had detractors. While no one doubted his courage or even his military skill since he’d betrayed his own countrymen they found it hard to trust him and that was likely more true of the rank & file troops than his fellow oficers. Over in England he did have a handful of supporters but the generalized view of him was less than kind. There were a couple of jobs he might have held that would have at least allowed him to life a moneyed life but again, the overall view of him was so negative he wound up living of the pension (and not the full amount) the British had promised him for turning traitor.
While back in the U.S., he tried to become accepted again in the Freemasons who had stricken his name from membership. Contrary to what some believe (and a central premise of a favorite movie of mine) Mason’s are not obligated to maintain all secrets/forgive all sins of fellow Master Masons and treason is a huge no-no. Still, knowing a collection of prominent Americans would be in attendance at a meeting he asked to be heard. George Washington was never Master of a Lodge, but he sat in the East and presided as Arnold pled his case. And lost. Arnold wasn’t welcome in Masonic Lodges either in England nor back here in the United States!
Orange pus didn’t publish the King’s letter to irk him. He published it because he’s has no class, no sense of propriety and he’s an uncouth boor.
Thanks Denis for the history lesson. It’s always more complex than we are taught. Fact of life we shouldn’t forget.
Masonic history is filled with some interesting stuff. I’ve only been to Boston once, which was for a 4th of July celebration. Took in the concert of course, the whole nine yards. The gal I was dating was in Boston and at the last minute I decided to hop on the (then) shuttle from DC to Boston on the 3rd and back first thing on the 5th. I was in my office in Herndon (VA) mid-morning! I’d have loved to have stayed longer and for a particular reason. To visit the famous (in Masonic circles) Lodge named for Paul Revere. Yes THE Paul Revere. I wanted to check for myself on a bit of lore that’s been passed around to see it it’s true. Masonic Lodges have ledgers to note attendance at meetings. There are two kinds – “stated” which are regular meeting that take place on a prescribed schedule. In my home Lodge back in my hometown where I was once Master of the Lodge those took place on the first and third Mondays each month. Most Lodges have a set schedule of their own. Some meet weekly, some monthly and some like mine in between. Stated meetings are like clockwork. it takes something extraordinary for one to be cancelled. (i.e. in my weather event prone hometown a tornado passing over or even touching down somewhere, if some big national event happened maybe. For example I’m sure Lodges all over the country that had stated meetings scheduled on 0/11 still briefly convened to offer prayers and start organizing support for victims. Special meetings might be held for such a purpose but more often than not are held to confer degrees to people being initiated or advancing through the levels to become a Master Mason.
I went into all that because the story (legend?) I’d been taught is that there was a stated meeting scheduled at what is Paul Revere Lodge on the same night the Boston Tea Party was held. Supposedly, the date was noted but no one signed the ledger. Instead, a horizontal line was drawn across the page below the date, and from that a vertical line extended down to the bottom of the page. IOW a giant “T”! I so wanted to be able to visit the Lodge to see if that was indeed true. Would be pretty cool if it was, don’t you think?
Once he is determined to be a rapist, adding to his other accomplishments including tax cheat, bankruptcy fraudster, traitor and extortionist, can’t we take away his taxpayer funded “entitlements ” and make him pay the governments legal costs? Afterall, he is a “billionaire ” that made his money by cheating on his taxes.