Donald Trump’s ventriloquist dummies have officially let him down

Ever since Judge Merchan threatened Donald Trump with jail time, Trump has sheepishly abided by his gag order. This isn’t surprising; Trump has a consistent habit of cowering in such situations. Trump truly is afraid of being locked up.

Now Trump has a new tactic where his associates show up to the trial and stand outside and attack the targets instead. One day it was Alina Habba. The next it was Rick Scott. Then it was JD Vance. Now Trump’s sons are getting in on the action.

Even though these folks are functioning as Trump’s ventriloquist dummies, saying exactly what Trump wishes he could say himself, there may be no way to bust Trump for it. Proof would be needed that Trump is coordinating these attacks, and since such proof doesn’t seem to exist, that’s perhaps the end of it.

That said, none of this is working. What’s the goal here anyway? Are we really supposed to believe at this point that the remaining witnesses and such are going to be intimidated by this kind of thing? It’s totally ineffective. Moreover, the people participating in it have to know that it’s ineffective.

If anything it seems Trump’s remaining allies are doing this just to try to keep Trump’s spirits up. He’s already so dejected and out of it that he’s sleeping through much of his criminal trial. You can’t get much closer to giving up than that. Trump’s people reportedly gave him photos of his rally crowds during Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday just to keep him awake and interested. That’s how far gone he is.

And so Trump’s ventriloquist dummies aren’t really helping him in any meaningful way by showing up each day and saying the mean spirited things that Trump isn’t allowed to say. In fact they’re letting him down. If they wanted to help him, they’d convince him to cut a plea deal and disappear from public view before anyone else can see just how far gone he is cognitively. Instead they’re keeping him pacified on his way down.