With a presidential-style plane and motorcade, a bunch of flag-waving fans and a lawyer shouting alternative facts, the latest season of The Trump Show – let’s call this one The Defendant – again filled every TV screen on Tuesday.
But the most important scene of all was missing. And no one was happier about that than Donald Trump himself.
Americans were denied the chance to see and hear the former US president, the first to face federal criminal charges in America’s 247-year history, sitting in court and taking his medicine.
It was like To Kill a Mockingbird without Atticus Finch’s closing argument or A Few Good Men without Colonel Jessup erupting: “You can’t handle the truth!” Instead of Twelve Angry Men, it was Twelve Angry Maga Men waving flags outside court.
It mattered because the inside of the courtroom is the one place where Trump was no longer the all-powerful emperor of his dreams but a humbled, vulnerable figure who, on the eve of his 77th birthday, was contemplating the prospect of prison.
It mattered even more because, in the age of disinformation, where lies saturate social media and Trump’s supporters’ alternative reality, a court of law is the last redoubt where evidence, facts and truth are still the bottom line.
At Tuesday’s hearing in Miami, Florida, where some reporters but no cameras were present because of federal court rules, The Defendant faced the enormity of his alleged crimes and how they undermined America’s national security.
According to a 49-page indictment, he stored thousands of sensitive documents, including information about the US nuclear programme, in a haphazard manner at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate and his New Jersey golf club. Photos showed boxes of documents stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom and strewn across a storage-room floor.
As the former president – who has now been arrested more often than elected – entered a not guilty plea before magistrate judge Jonathan Goodman, millions of TV viewers were consuming commentary from pundits obliged to fill the dead air. Before he had even left the building, the conservative Fox News network had pivoted to unproven allegations about Joe Biden’s involvement in a bribery scheme.
And over on Fox Business, a protester wearing a “Make America great again” cap and “Ultra extreme Maga” T-shirt took up airtime with whataboutism by insisting that Biden’s son, Hunter, “started the war in Ukraine five years ago”.
The courtroom blackout was a curious omission in a country that prides itself on transparency and one that has televised the trial of OJ Simpson and cases such as Johnny Depp v Amber Heard. But it is no mystery why The Defendant should suddenly turn so camera shy.
The same pattern played out in April when he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush money payment to an adult film star. Trump enjoyed all the upsides of ruling the news cycle, rallying supporters and raising money but none of the downsides of public humiliation before a judge whose instructions he must obey.
On Tuesday helicopter footage of roads being closed to make way for his convoy of black limousines made The Defendant look more statesman than fugitive, more VIP than OJ-on-the-run.
Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian, tweeted: “This was the never-before-seen arrest of an ex-president on grave federal criminal charges and because we and our free press have been barred from watching and hearing in real time, the accused man managed to make it look like a triumphant motorcade arrival.”
Rolling news coverage is perfectly suited to Trump’s reality distortion field. Over at the White House, Biden was meeting the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and wisely keeping quiet lest he be accused of prosecuting his election rival. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was similarly taciturn.
But Republicans have no such inhibitions. Outside court, Trump’s lawyer and spokesperson Alina Habba delivered an angry statement: “The people in charge of this country do not love America. They hate Donald Trump ... The targeted prosecution of a leading political opponent is the type of thing you see in dictatorships like Cuba and Venezuela.”
After the hearing, The Defendant stopped at the Cuban restaurant Versailles and was greeted like a wronged folk hero. Supporters gathered around him and prayed for him. Someone shouted: “Jesus loves you!” Trump smiled and waved and declared: “Are you ready? Food for everyone!” The crowd erupted in applause and cheers. One yelled: “Keep fighting, sir!”
Then the patrons broke out in a chorus of “Happy birthday dear Donald, happy birthday to you!” The former president remarked: “Some birthday! We’ve got a government that’s out of control.”
He was back in his element, playing to the cameras and posing as the populist champion who can shape the narrative and set the tone. His rivals for the Republican presidential nomination were once again twisting themselves in knots over whether to condemn him or the justice department or both.
Courts demand the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For The Defendant that is a hostile environment. The American public, weary of seeing Trump’s face on every screen and every newspaper front page for years, deserve to watch him grapple with his personal kryptonite.
English (US)