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MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, inside Manhattan’s Criminal Courthouse on Monday, declared that Donald Trump appeared “old and tired and mad” as she delivered observations about the ex-president on trial for 34 counts of falsification of business records in the alleged pursuit of election interference to protect his 2016 presidential run.
Trump “seems considerably older, and he seems annoyed. Resigned, maybe, angry. He seems like a man who’s miserable to be here,” the journalist told MSNBC viewers Monday afternoon.
“I’m no body language expert,” she conceded, “and this is just my observation. He seemed old and tired and mad.”
The New York Times’ Susanne Craig, inside the courthouse Monday morning, reported: “Trump is struggling to stay awake. His eyes were closed for a short period. He was jolted awake when Todd Blanche, his lawyer, nudged him while sliding a note in front of him.”
The Biden campaign was only too happy to pick up and report Craig’s observation, adding “feeble.”
Former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod, pointing to his piece at The Atlantic, wrote of Trump: “He has charmed & conned, schemed & marauded his way through life. He was bred that way. But the weariness & vulnerability captured in courtroom images betray a growing sense in Trump that he could wind up as the thing his old man most reviled:
A loser.”Watch Maddow's video below.
The Georgia Republican Party has spent more than $1.7 million in legal fees for those wrapped up in Donald Trump's 2020 election scandal.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed on Monday that the hefty spending began in 2022 and covers the fees for many of the co-conspirators in the Fulton County racketeering case. It has become the party's top expenditure during an election year.
The numbers reached $1.5 million by March, with another $237,000 added during that month. It's a far cry from the $400,000 the party spent to organize a state convention featuring Trump as the keynote speaker.
The report explained that Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon said that the party's top priority would be funding the legal defense for the Republican leaders. It has become a problem for those who believe the priority of the state GOP should be winning elections. According to McKoon, the party's previous chair, David Shafer and the 15 other accused fake electors are the ones who saddled the party with the legal bills.
Read Also: Breaking our democracy is all part of the GOP plan
"The GOP electors submitted to state and federal authorities documents that claimed they were the 'duly elected' electors from the state, which they said Trump won," AJC recalled. "They claimed at the time they did so to preserve Trump’s legal rights in case his defeat was reversed."
That is now part of the Fulton County case and the broader federal investigation.
Some have made deals with prosecutors, but Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still, and ex-Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham were among those charged.
McKoon has managed to "float their legal bills" and raise money for the defendants by begging for help from Trump loyalists.
The party has also created a villain in prosecutor Fani Willis who they have painted as “blindly partisan" and "power-mad." They're promising their own lawsuit against her in an attempt to recoup the mounting legal fees.
The report explains that McKoon believes that, without the help of the state party, the co-conspirators would have "been financially ruined."
“I am personally grateful for the tremendous financial support that has allowed the Georgia Republican Party to meet these obligations while preparing to run an aggressive 2024 campaign up and down the ballot,” he said.
The state has $450,000 cash on hand, according to the report.
McKoon told the podcast "Politically Georgia" that the "donor community" has been giving "very good support."
Political expert and veteran newsman Jonathan Alter was sitting in the courtroom Monday with a good view of the jury and the back of Donald Trump and his lawyers.
Speaking to MSNBC, Alter explained that the "split screen" between this view and that of his political opponent is not a good one for Trump.
President Joe Biden's campaign is hosting "kitchen table" events to discuss voters' concerns and hopes for the future. Trump, however, is sat at the defense table.
Hosts Chris Jansing and Andrea Mitchell pointed out that polls have shifted, showing that more and more people think that a jury conviction could influence how they vote.
"I want you to pick up on [that], which is really about the perception of this man who was at the pinnacle of power, the leader of the free world, now in a courtroom," said Jansing.
Alter confirmed those images of Trump matter.
READ ALSO: Trump skirts gag order with repeat attack on daughter of judge in hush money case
"And he can't get out of there," Alter continued. "He's trapped. In some ways, he's already in confinement. He's confined to his dingy courtroom with horrible bathrooms that have graffiti on the waste baskets and that he defines as disgusting. That's where he has to spend four days a week for the next five, six, seven weeks. It's a bad look for him. It's really bad."
Alter said that Trump's body language clearly shows he's not in a good place.
"He just looks like such an unhappy camper when he walks in and out of court, and, you know, obviously the outcome is what will determine the final political verdict on this trial will depend on whether there's a hung jury or conviction," Alter continued. "Almost nobody believes there will be an acquittal, which would take all 12 jurors."
He said that even Trump's own lawyers don't see an acquittal.
"We won't know the full political impact for a little more than a month, but right now, it is not a good look for Donald Trump," Alter said before mentioning the other battle Trump is fighting — with his stamina.
"He can't call Joe Biden sleepy Joe anymore. He's falling asleep in the courtroom himself. That line against Biden is dead," said Alter.
See the exchange with the panelists in the video below or at the link here.
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