Trump's wake up call

With a lot on the line, Trump’s got to do a better job of remaining conscious in court.

So Donald Trump falls asleep in the courtroom on the first day of his criminal trial while babies sleep untroubled outside the courthouse.  That means, the “All hell will break loose!” threat Trump issued – predicting mass rioting if he were hauled up on criminal charges – fell flat.  And that’s good.  

It turns out the city that never sleeps doesn’t include Trump, who reportedly nodded off several times during the first day of the trial. According to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman who reported live during the proceedings,“Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.”

Trump woke up after his lawyer Todd Blanche passed him a few notes, maybe accidentally on purpose touching his coat sleeve in an attempt to revive his client.  Blanche further assisted by refilling Trump’s water glass several times, as if to say, “Drink this. Stay awake.”

We’ve all done it
To be charitable, we’ve all been there at one time or another.  Not in the courtroom – at least not as often as Donald Trump who's now in the habit of balancing a chorus of civil and criminal trials. 

But, yes, after a long plane ride, having gotten up early, you go to the movies, and maybe drop off in the middle of Cate Blanchette’s big scene in Tar conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. It happens.

Yet it’s a tad odd for a former president facing conviction on any of 34 counts and possible jail time to not find the proceedings compelling enough to stay alert and upright.  The theory goes: it’s in your best interest to at least look like you care about what’s going on. 

Turned tables
Aside from survival, there’s another reason to remain wakeful.  Exhibit A: Anyone who has made a habit at his rallies of calling the sitting president “Sleepy Joe” shouldn’t fall asleep at the switch from now to November. 

Trump’s courtroom napping is clearly an unforced error in this burgeoning campaign season, especially after the presumptive Republican candidate has been ruthlessly mocking Joe Biden for being a few years older and, therefore, in Trump’s mind, oh so much more deserving of ridicule than he is, for his age.

So at 77, Trump’s Job #One should be not to give Biden any ammunition to train the sleep-themed mockery back at Trump himself.

Late night laughter
Caffeination, Nodoz, power naps – all offer more than adequate antidotes to the sleep problem.  Otherwise, the 45h president faces more nights of brutal late night takedowns. Like Stephen Colbert’s imagining Trump stirring awake after a quick nap saying, “Oh my god, I was having the most terrible dream – I had to wake up and read something!”

Or Jimmy Kimmel’s acerbic Trump nickname,  “Donnie Nappleseed.”

Or Jon Stewart’s, “Imagine committing so many crimes you get bored at your
own trial.”

Call for violence fizzles
Putting humor aside about Trump’s courtroom narcolepsy, what was especially encouraging yesterday was the almost non-existent turnout near the courthouse – or anywhere – of violent Trump supporters. 

On March 24, 2023 Trump predicted “potential death and destruction” just before Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg charged him for trying to influence the outcome of the 2016 election by paying off a porn star he’d had an affair with (march 24, 2023 washington post).

But none occurred on April 4 of that year, when Trump appeared in Manhattan for his arraignment. Just as nothing occurred yesterday on the first day of the trial.

“There were a dozen, maybe two dozen Trump supporters'' outside the courthouse yesterday as Trump arrived, said MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell who walked around the area in an effort to check out the veracity of Trump’s prediction.  “There were about as many anti-Trump protestors,” he added – observing that both pro- and anti-Trump crowds were peaceful, protesting primarily with their signs.

Doesn’t help the image
Just as Trump’s prediction of violence fizzled, so too did his image. Yesterday began the process of jury selection, with prospective jurors standing in the courtroom. NBC legal reporter Lisa Rubin suggested Trump’s brief sleep may have made an unflattering first impression. A concern, for Trump, is that his inability to stay awake in the courtroom or prepare himself for doing so may send the signal, “I’m so bored I’m going to go to sleep.”

To The Resistant Grandmother (TRG), Trump’s sleepiness could also work against his long-cultivated tough guy image. Trump has crafted a persona of being rough on opponents.  Directing his rally-goers to “knock the crap” out of protestors and urging police to roughly push suspected criminals into police cars, banging their heads in the process, are among the many examples of Trump showing no mercy in a civic context.

Top of the heap?
So the Resistant Grandmother offers a bit of friendly advice to the 77- soon to be 78-year-old GOP candidate: channel your inner New Yorker, the one venerated in the  lyrics to “The Theme from New York, New York. ” At this time, it’s important Trump burnish his image, not just with the public, but now with the all-important jurors.  Assuming you want to emerge as king of the hill and make a brand new start of it, stay awake at trial.

–trg

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