Stick around to see Donald Trump rage against strong women, especially women of color like Nikki Haley. This intensifying trait is hurting him as the presumptive Republican nominee.
Case in point: Haley placed second in the New Hampshire primary and vowed her campaign for president is “far from over.” That election night, she looked bright and sounded like a confident winner. Trump’s victory speech was a tirade threatening to “get even” and sniping at her “fancy dress.”
Red-faced, he looked like a loser. Alas, he was just a sore winner.
The nerve of Nikki, not dropping out of the race. Then E. Jean Carroll just won an $83.3 million jury verdict in a civil defamation case that found Trump liable for sexual assault.
That’s real money out of Trump’s pocket for a woman he insulted over and over. The nerve of Carroll: ignoring his barrage and pursuing her day in court. Intimidation didn’t work.
This is bound to be a pattern of crime and punishment as Trump faces more trials and 91 felony counts this year. The hush money trial featuring Stormy Daniels is the least of it.
These trials could push Trump past his point of endurance and cause a meltdown, unless the Supreme Court eases his predicament and grants presidential immunity.
Trump is certain to chafe in Judge Tanya Chutkan’s federal courtroom in Washington. Chutkan is scheduled to preside at the election interference trial. This is Special Counsel Jack Smith’s legal centerpiece in the crown for prosecuting the ex-president for the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the Capitol.
That’s bad luck of the draw for Trump: Chutkan is a no-nonsense woman jurist of color. She’s known for handing down the stiffest sentences for the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Trump incited storming Congress in a rally for all the world to hear: “We fight like hell ... we’re going to go to the Capitol,” he roared to a rowdy crowd of White nationalists.
Thousands who came to town did serious harm on Trump’s command. Contrary to his claims, he did nothing to stop the violence at the Capitol for hours, according to sworn testimony.
How Trump will hold his tongue as defendant in that indictment is a mystery. His courtroom conduct in the Carroll case was surly and defiant. But the stakes in the Jan. 6 are higher, more sweeping as a federal crime charge and could result in a prison sentence.
Accepting Chutkan’s authority will be the worst thing that ever happened to Trump. Is he capable of acting with respect for the judge if his future depends upon it? Will Chutkan clamp down on his speech outside the court?
This case is the crucible of American democracy. Make no mistake.
Let’s not forget Fani Willis, Fulton County district attorney, has built a strong case for Trump trying to overturn the Georgia election in 2020. As president, Trump was caught on tape seeking “11,780” more votes, speaking to a state official.
Willis is a woman of color with gumption. That combination is likely to make Trump see red.
Trump makes no secret of his disdain for women, period. He brags that his Supreme Court nominees reversed 50 years of constitutional reproductive rights. Tragically, in Texas, about 26,000 pregnancies were caused by rape since that 2022 ruling.
That’s the price of doing business for Trump, courting the hard right in the White House. Never mind the suffering of injured women and girls.
We’re pretty worthless in Trump’s crude world. I realized how alike and interchangeable women are to Trump when he kept referring to Haley as “Nancy Pelosi” in his rambling New Hampshire speech.
As House Speaker, Pelosi, D-Calif., was the one politician who stood up to President Trump to his face in public and private meetings. She ripped up his State of the Union speech in a moment of resistance.
Trump has a special place of inner ire for Pelosi. In his confused state, he saw her as his tormentor. The nerve of Nancy.
Feeling besieged by women, Trump is making mistakes: hoping the economy will crash and insisting Republicans block a big border deal in the works.
His fluster and bluster, sound and fury, will be something to see.
Jamie Stiehm is a former assignment editor at CBS News in London, reporter at The Hill, metro reporter at the Baltimore Sun and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is author of a new play, “Across the River,” on Aaron Burr. See JamieStiehm.com.
From The Progressive Populist, March 1, 2024
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