Trump In FL Court Today. To Sing Come On AILEEN?

Today poor little federal judge Aileen “Loose” Cannon has to feel beside herself. It seems she’s feeling enough pressure that she (“sigh…”) has no choice but to go through the motions of pretending to move along Trump’s Florida trial. A trial in the works because he endangered National Security by stealing and refusing to return all those classified documents. But today she scheduled two ex parte hearings. One so Team Trump could present arguments on certain motions to her, and another so Jack Smith’s team could respond.

What’s unusual is that although he doesn’t need to be there, as The Associated Press reports  Trump has shown up in judge Cannon’s little one-judge federal “branch” court to…hear his lawyers at work?  Or maybe for something sinister. His showing up in other courtrooms and glaring at judge hasn’t, to his dismay and outright fury intimidated them. Cannon however has been his lapdog from the beginning. Trump is no doubt kind of pissed she simply didn’t dismiss the case right off the bat, but as I’ve said before even he knew that might not play well.

The next best alternative was something he knows better than most how to do – drag things out. In his mind (and Cannon’s) pushing the case past the election is good enough. Once he’s President again (dream on dude!) he can have his AG make the whole thing go away.  Cannon has I’m sure thought the same way ever since she caught the case. Appearances have to be maintained of course. Cannon knows she’s taking a beating from the overall legal world and every non-MAGA but she also knows history. She’s got a lifetime appointment and while in theory federal judges can be impeached and convicted by the Senate and removed from their position in reality it’s not going to happen.

Still, I’m of the opinion Trump is nervous. Ok, more like scared to the point of being like the fictional detective Monk only instead of having his assistant Natalie constantly give him hand-wipes he’s got someone handing him fresh Depends because he keeps filling them with…well you get the idea. So what Trump is there to do is stare down his pet judge and make sure she gets the message. He might as well have two goons, both named “Vinnie” standing behind him. Huge guys stuffed into silk suits with huge tacky (fake) gold rings on every finger. (Leave marks when they hit someone!) Will he speak? That depends on whether there’s a court reporter willing to stop typing for a bit. This IS after all just the judge and Team Trump and if I’m not mistaken since classified information will be discussed no outsiders (journalists) will be allowed.

Well, upon learning Trump would show up in Cannon’s little (and it IS little) courtroom in her little courthouse my mind flashed to a campy tune some forty years old. How the Dexy’s Midnight Runners song Come On Eileen ever made it to the top of the charts has always been a mystery to me. As far as I’m concerned it’s “ear wash” and just remembering it means it will irritatingly haunt me on and off the rest of the day. “Come on Eileen, you mean everything to me” it goes. However, I think it’s likely that since Trump appointed Cannon to her post AFTER he’d lost the election he’s there to remind her of something.

She didn’t grow up poor but came from average means to get into and graduate from Duke, then from Michigan Law. Excellent credentials which it turns out she wasn’t able to parlay into much of a career as a lawyer. Now? Thanks to Trump (and McConnell who rammed her confirmation through in the lame duck session) she’d in a cushy $185k per year job with great perks. No, she won’t get rich but she’s sure as hell set for life. Unless she’s got ambitions to move up she’s got a sweet deal going. A nice, quiet and before all this easy, low key gig in an out of the way spot. Easy-peasy cases for the most part leaving her non business hours free to live and enjoy life.

So yeah, one could say she OWES Trump her sweet gig. What she doesn’t owe him however is deference. She is after all a federal judge and he can’t do jack to her. Like I said federal judges simply don’t get impeached and removed. Plenty of Trump appointees all the way up to SCOTUS have ruled against him. Cannon? Nope. So far she’s been willing if not eager to do Trump’s bidding. Even to the point of pushing things to where Jack Smith has grounds to appeal to the 11th Circuit and wind up getting her kicked off the case. That’s probably why today’s hearings are actually happening.

It’s also why I think that Trump is worried. Worried that Cannon might get the idea into  her head that Trump can’t remove her from her job! THAT is something he doesn’t want her to ever, ever ever think about. But she has to have. And Trump is scared sh*tless that Cannon might start thinking she should start treating Trump like the criminal defendant he is. So he’s there to “remind” her. Not just “Who’s your daddy” but with an extra “And don’t you forget it!  Oh, he might put it in nicer terms like that stupid song but it would be with some revised lyrics. Like:

Come on AILEEN, you OWE EVERY THING to ME!!! 

(And for good measure suggest my good pals, the “Two Vinnies” here will be “looking after” you. Nice deal you’ve got going here. It sure would be a  shame if anything happened to change that…)