So much for Donald Trump testifying

When Donald Trump initially insisted he would testify in his own defense in his criminal trial, just about no one believed him. There was just no way his babysitters were going to let him take the stand, given that 1) he’d come off as senile, 2) he’d unwittingly help incriminate himself, and 3) he’d likely get nailed for perjury in the process.

Sure enough, Trump’s defense announced today that they’ll be resting their case tomorrow – which means that by default, Trump is not testifying. That’s not a surprise at all. But we should talk about how we got here.

At one point Trump announced to the media that he couldn’t testify because of his gag order. This is, of course, not how things work. The witness stand is the one place where you’re not gagged. The judge even made a point of explaining this to Trump.

Yet it seems pretty clear that Trump’s handlers used the gag order as a way of convincing Trump that he couldn’t testify. And why not? Patients with severe dementia can be convinced of pretty much anything if the seed is planted matter of factly enough. So this is, indeed, yet another apparent instance of Trump’s worsening senility.