Donald Trump’s opening argument isn’t going well for him

The prosecution in Donald Trump’s criminal trial gave a strong and detailed opening statement today, connecting the dots among the numerous witnesses and pieces of documentary evidence that add up to overwhelming proof of Trump’s guilt. Then Trump’s own attorney presented his opening argument, and… let’s just say that it wasn’t great.

At on point Trump’s attorney likened the charges against Trump to merely “thirty-four pieces of paper” while generically insisting that the charges should never “have been brought.” Sounds like a Trump social media post, right?

Then Trump’s attorney went on to claim that Trump knew nothing about the scheme to have Michael Cohen pay off Stormy Daniels. Then he seemingly did an about face and admitted that Trump was indeed trying to influence an election, and that “spoiler alert, there’s nothing wrong” with doing so.” Then he added “it’s called democracy.”

Well okay then. So Trump’s argument is that he didn’t commit these crimes, but also he did commit these crimes and it’s okay because he was trying to influence an election? This is borderline word salad. Trump is going to need a very strong defense presentation in order to have any chance in this trial, and so far, this isn’t it.