Donald Trump’s lost weekend just came crashing down

Donald Trump ended up getting nearly a week off from his criminal trial, thanks to a confluence of events including a juror’s need, a holiday weekend, and the judge’s desire for closing arguments to flow directly into jury deliberation. During his six days off, Trump proceeded to get booed off the stage at one event, and stood in a parking lot waving to no one at another event. In terms of optics and trying to wrangle votes, Trump would have done better if he’d spent his six days watching TV.

Of course Trump won’t have a choice in the matter tomorrow, when his criminal trial resumes. We’ll see closing arguments from both sides, and then the whole thing will be in the jury’s hands. When is the verdict coming? We don’t know. What are the odds he’ll be convicted? High. What will his criminal punishment be if he’s convicted? Past precedent isn’t clear.

But we do know that after an increasingly dementia-riddled Donald Trump spent the weekend seemingly unable to fully grasp that the audience in front of him hated him, and seemingly unaware that he was waving to an empty parking lot, he’ll be forced to come face to face with reality in court today. Then again maybe not. There’s a good chance he’ll sleep through closing arguments, and the judge will have to wake him up for the verdict.