Donald Trump’s testimony today in the E. Jean Carroll trial is a disaster already

If Donald Trump had any sense, he wouldn’t have bothered taking the stand in his second E. Jean Carroll trial. The judge already made clear that Trump wouldn’t be allowed to dispute the findings of the first trial, so what argument could Trump even make on the stand?

As it turns out, Trump’s time on the stand today was little more than a farce. Trump’s attorney Alina Habba asked him if he stands by his deposition in the case. Trump said yes. Then Trump tried to argue that Carroll had said something that Trump considered to be a false accusation, but the judge cut him off, citing the fact that the jury in the first trial found Carroll’s claims to be true.

On cross examination, Carroll’s attorney forced Trump to acknowledge that he was present at his first trial, that he was given the opportunity to participate, and that he had counsel at that trial.

And that was it. What a disaster. There really wasn’t any point to Trump taking the stand. All he did was look weak and desperate in the eyes of the jury. And even if Trump’s current attorneys want to try to argue that Trump was somehow victimized in the first trial, Trump himself just admitted that he was given every opportunity in the first trial. Trump would have been much better off not taking the stand today.

This raises the question of why he took the stand. His legal team surely advised him against it, given that he wouldn’t be allowed to give any testimony that contradicted the findings of the first trial. And sure enough, he didn’t say anything today that could help him.

It feels like Trump insisted on taking the stand out of pure defiance, and so his attorneys briefly put him on the stand today just to let him have his way – and then they just didn’t ask him any questions. It’s like when a kid wants ice cream, so you drive him past the ice cream store and then take him home and tell him he had ice cream. Trump really does seem to be that far gone.