१७ मे, २०२४

"People are thinking...." Which people?

I'm trying to understand Trump's new post (at Truth Social):

People are thinking that Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, who never wanted to bring the Witch Hunt against me in the first place, is going to drop this ridiculous and very unpatriotic “CASE” in order to save lots of money, and also the self respect of his once revered Office. He would then be able to focus on Violent Crime, which is running rampant and totally out of control in New York. The dilemma is, and always has been, the Trump Hating (APPOINTED IN 2009 & STILL ACTING!) Judge, Juan Merchan, who would be confronted with the problem of how he would explain this TRUMP loss, to the Radical Left Democrats, to whom he owes so much? Bring back “Justice in America.” ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!

Which people are thinking this? He's writing in the present tense. He uses this crazed shorthand, expects us to get what "election interference" refers to, and that I get. But who thinks that at this point Bragg would drop the case? There are always people thinking things, but why post? You could post any idea you want to waft and append "People are thinking." Just by reading that, I'm "thinking" about it. That's what reading is. It's easy to translate into a wish: Bragg ought to drop the case.

४७ टिप्पण्या:

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

Ann:

That’s a frequent rhetorical device used by Trump. Just like, “Some people say ….” and “No one has ever seen….”

rhhardin म्हणाले...

People are thinking of an elephant.

It's a rhetorical introduction that also makes it true. It means: "consider."

Howard म्हणाले...

He's just double during the judge to throw him in jail.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

It's a classical ad hominem argument, which classically meant flattering and appealing to the interests of the opponent. Appeal to the good sense of Bragg to urge him to adopt some.

Lilly, a dog म्हणाले...

It's the equivalent of, "These are not the droids you're looking for."

It worked in a movie.

Earnest Prole म्हणाले...

It’s called a Jedi Mind Trick; it worked in a movie Trump saw a while back: “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

Heartless Aztec म्हणाले...

What's the old aphorism?
Shameless is as shameless does.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

Trump's communication skills are... lacking.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

Trump needs to hire someone to help with this stuff. A little help around the edges would go a long way.

Biden is controlled 99% of the time.

All I am suggesting is for Trump to let intelligent communicators - help out.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

Seems like he's trying to give Bragg a face-saving way to walk away from this debacle. But he wants Merchan to suffer, probably because of the financial corruption with Merchan's daughter. It angers Trump that one of his persecutors is making money off it.

Leland म्हणाले...

I’m not thinking Bragg wants to drop the case. I certainly don’t live in Trump’s fantasy that Bragg wants to fight crime. If Bragg dropped a bad case for cost and crime, he would drop charges on Daniel Penny.

Perhaps Trump is trying to make sure it is Merchan and not Bragg that gets blame for the botched trial? Otherwise I’m missing Trump’s 3D chess move. This trial has so far accomplished its purpose, but the unintended consequences to date have gone Trump’s way. Goading Merchan to jail Trump procedurally is too risky.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

We need to win this election.... and this odd-ball who cannot speak properly is our only hope.
Lord help us.

There is no greater threat to our Democracy - than the corrupt Soviet Arabella Leftist Modern Democrat Party elite... and their international billionaire controllers.

Temujin म्हणाले...

It’s Trump’s version of ”sources say”.

Kate म्हणाले...

It's Rocket Man diplomacy. Insult, then stroke.

rehajm म्हणाले...

This is how NYT does it, how they try to plant ideas in SCOTUS heads. No foul…and might work on a few leftie heads. If not, no harm done…

CJinPA म्हणाले...

This is the first I've read that Bragg was reluctant to bring the case. If nothing else, he introduced that idea into the cacophony.

Christopher B म्हणाले...

Does seem to be confusing Vance, who didn't bring the case, with Bragg, or maybe confusing a DV/mistrial decision with dropping the case.

Disagree about 'election interference'. Pretty clearly refers to continuing the case.

narciso म्हणाले...

colangelo is running the thing, with the other 6 prosecutors, fat alvin is just there for the ice cream

Mark म्हणाले...

He uses this crazed shorthand

Have you ever considered that Trump has descended into a complete crackpot? He (like Biden, who was Trump before Trump was Trump) has always been an obnoxious blowhard, but since Fall of 2020 he's been increasingly a total nutter spewing more and more nonsensical and irrational rants.

cfkane1701 म्हणाले...

To quote Salena Zito, you are taking him literally but not seriously, while President Trump's supporters take him seriously but not literally.

Aggie म्हणाले...

Trump is better, rough-cut. He's just navigating the gag order.

robother म्हणाले...

Some people say a man is made out of mud....

Achilles म्हणाले...

"People are thinking...." Which people?

Everyone who read that is thinking about it now.

Including you.

Does that explain?

Inga म्हणाले...

People are thinking that Trump is desperate, so much so that he attempts to plant his delusions in the minds of his followers. No one that isn’t a Trump follower considers any such thing will happen.

kylos म्हणाले...

It might be a sly way to put pressure on Judge Merchan, in hopes of getting him to issue a directed verdict, by isolating him. The claim that Bragg wants to drop the case seems unlikely and serves to distract from the real motive as you're left wondering why Trump would make that claim. Meanwhile, it still makes the point that you don't want to be the one holding the bag on this disaster, so could serve to encourage the judge to try to make it go away.

That's probably too 3D chess, but would be my guess.

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

Dave Begley said...

"...That’s a frequent rhetorical device used by Trump. Just like, “Some people say ….” and “No one has ever seen….

It's the same device used by journos for years, especially in the venue of social media. He's using their techniques against them.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"Everyone who read that is thinking about it now. Including you. Does that explain?"

I guess you didn't read my post. Or an idea came into your head as you were reading it and you mistook it for you own.

I appreciate that you like my idea, even as you imagine that I couldn't have thought of it on my own.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Bragg could withdraw the case considering how badly his team has screwed the pooch but, of course, that isn't going to happen- in for a penny, in for a pound. Merchan is the only official here that has a real chance at saving some dignity and reputation but he is clearly too stupid and partisan to do so.

Drago म्हणाले...

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin: "We need to win this election...."

LOL

Who is "We"?

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

"We need to win this election.... and this odd-ball who cannot speak properly is our only hope.
Lord help us."


Sigh.......without Trump in 2016, Hillary Clinton would be in her last year of office and Tim Kaine would be cruising to victory in November over Marco Rubio with mail-in-ballots without restriction being in place in all 50 states due to SCOTUS approved federal legislation plus no voter ID anywhere.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

It's just a way to frame it. Like 'Some say...'

'People' read past that on to what he wants you to know.

Don't get hung up on this simple verbal convention...

mindnumbrobot म्हणाले...

The "People" in this case is Trump. It's the same as when a journalists starts a question with "some people say". They're actually referring to themselves.

Kakistocracy म्हणाले...

That's some high-test blather coming from Trump.

MAGA grammar is a splash of confusion to an already muddled cocktail of English. It’s like you’re trying to set up the ultimate linguistic trap, a Bermuda Triangle for unsuspecting spellers where good grammar goes to disappear.

I hope they're not bartending at this language cocktail party, because everyone would end up with the wrong drink. “We’re going to have a great time!” suddenly turns into “Were going to have a grate thyme!” and before you know it, everyone’s wondering where the exit is.

We're, where, were

Their, there, they're

This isn't very hard

Let's throw a ticker tape parade because someone can't differentiate between words that a spellchecker has been handling since 1997.

Keep aiming for those stars—or, you know, the basic grammar skills, whichever comes first.

Achilles म्हणाले...

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Trump needs to hire someone to help with this stuff. A little help around the edges would go a long way.

Biden is controlled 99% of the time.

All I am suggesting is for Trump to let intelligent communicators - help out.



If you hadn't noticed Trump is having VP tryouts in front of the courthouse.

Trump is probably the most intelligent and effective communicator the world has seen in recent history just by objective standards. He is getting his message out despite the most coordinated and pervasive censorship regime ever created.

He is smarter than you and he is far more intelligent than Ron Desantis. Ron Desantis is a mediocre loser that is 20 IQ points below Trump at best.

I will note that Donalds, Vivek, Burgham, Gaetz and many other Republicans are outside the courthouse supporting Trump.

Guess who isn't.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

It is as many said, his version of "some say..." a very common journalistic trope.

But really I just show up to see April whining. It's repetitive but hypnotic in an absurd way.

Achilles म्हणाले...

Ann Althouse said...

"Everyone who read that is thinking about it now. Including you. Does that explain?"

I guess you didn't read my post. Or an idea came into your head as you were reading it and you mistook it for you own.

I appreciate that you like my idea, even as you imagine that I couldn't have thought of it on my own.


Sorry I wasn't clear enough for you.

Trump is not trying to change what Bragg or Merchan do. They are the foil he is playing off.

Trump is shaping the national conversation. Every time anyone discusses this topic in a group someone is going to bring up that this trial is going so badly that Merchan and Bragg are looking for an escape. Everyone is going to be thinking about how badly this trial is going for the Biden Regime.

Trump has always been a deal maker and he would probably rather Merchan and Bragg surrendered. But he also realizes how much better it is for him if they throw him in jail.

Rusty म्हणाले...

After this Bragg has to seriously consider doubling down or dropping the case. If doubling down means he's going to call even more irrational witnesses then he will lose to the jury either way. The fact is that no matter what happens Trump wins.

JK Brown म्हणाले...

I think that is an instance of what Scott Adams calls 'thinking past the sell'.

who are these people, do they have a good question, etc. Instead of staying behind the hard lines

Wince म्हणाले...

Bragg? Merchan?

Somebody has to take this "dog" of a case out to the gravel pit and shoot it.

Get Kristi Noem?

JaimeRoberto म्हणाले...

It's Trump's version of the journalistic phrase, "Some say..." It basically means "I think".

Chuck म्हणाले...

As a trial lawyer, I have learned to avoid any temptation to predict jury verdicts.

I'm not predicting anything with this one. I will say that from the media that I have been consuming, including everyone from Andrew McCarthy to Andrew Weismann to Andrew Thompson to Andrew Napolitano, it looks like a very strong prosecution case against the defendant,

But I do think that this comments page is going to be one of several pages that will make for fascinating and hilarious reading in the event of a guilty verdict.

Bookmarked.

Michael K म्हणाले...

"Chuck"

I'm not predicting anything with this one. I will say that from the media that I have been consuming, including everyone from Andrew McCarthy to Andrew Weismann to Andrew Thompson to Andrew Napolitano, it looks like a very strong prosecution case against the defendant,

"Chuck" neglects to mention which case. The case with no crime ? Or the one in your head?

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Once again, Chuck the Cunt, what was the crime here and how has the prosecution proved it? Speak up you sorry pile of dogshit- educate us on how this was a strong case made by the prosecution.

Jim at म्हणाले...

But I do think that this comments page is going to be one of several pages that will make for fascinating and hilarious reading in the event of a guilty verdict.

If you bothered to read the comments here, you'd know the majority of us think it's going to be a guilty verdict. Because the whole thing is a farce from beginning to end ... including the verdict.

Dumbass.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

"”Chuck" neglects to mention which case. The case with no crime ? Or the one in your head”

The problem here is that there are two cases here against Trump. The first is that he (and the people who actually made the bookkeeping entries, etc) authorized 11 payments, entered them, etc, with three crimes alleged for each payments. Of course, Trump himself did little of it, but they are holding him responsible for all of it regardless. But these are misdemeanors.

To get to a felony, they need election fraud. And this late in the prosecution’s case, we still don’t know how they are going to do that. The first alternative is for violating NY state election laws, which are preempted by federal election laws for national elections. The second is for violating federal election law, which they don’t have jurisdiction to prosecute. (And the judge prevented testimony that would have negated that). The way that they appear to be trying to get around that is by charging Trump with Attempt to violate election laws. NY has a very liberal Attempt statute that doesn’t require that the act required for the attempt could actually result in the crime. In other words, (legal) Impassibility is not a defense, as it is most everywhere else. All they need to prove is Intent (presumably shown by Cohen’s testimony) and an act intended to result in the crimes.

phantommut म्हणाले...

Anything that puts Trump in jail works to the benefit of Trump; BDS sufferers are convinced that "convicting" Trump is finally get "low info voters" to turn on him, and they're spinning that desparately

Won't happen. People pissed at the current state of their lives will see it as validation of their view that Government is sleazy and corrupt.

Best case for Dems would be a directed verdict, but I don't think Merchan can bring himself to do it, no matter how terribly the State performs in court.

I'm really worried about what the Deep State's Plan B might be.

NKP म्हणाले...

He (Trump) is smarter than you and he is far more intelligent than Ron Desantis. Ron Desantis is a mediocre loser that is 20 IQ points below Trump at best.

I'll tell what's not so smart: trashing members of your own team.

I support Trump and I support DeSantis.

Trump made a lot of promises and actually tried to keep them but his inept selection of Knights at the Round Table doomed too many of his efforts.

DeSantis, on the other hand, not only delivered results but greatly strengthened support of the MAGA agenda in a once Purple State.