(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Trump will keep on slinging insults, gag order or no gag order, because anger is his product [1] ['Daily Kos Staff'] Date: 2023-10-24 Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan temporarily lifted a previously imposed gag order against Donald Trump while she considers a claim from Trump’s attorneys that the order is too restrictive. That order restricted Trump from publicly attacking prosecutors, court staff, and potential witnesses. With the lifting of that order, Trump hurried to fire shots at all three. He’s filled the days since with attacks on judges, throwing racist terms at prosecutors, going after special counsel Jack Smith, and going after a potential witness who claims to have knowledge of Trump spreading classified information. Trump seems to have avoided attacking Chutkan directly—though he unloaded on her back in August—but that’s about his only omission in his recent spree of speeches and social media missives. As usual, Trump is skating the thin edge of legality while maximizing hate. Trump’s threats to prosecutors, leaning on witnesses, and attacks on judges are definitely not things that will win him any favors in court. Trump may be making some calculation that his statements could help shape attitudes in future jury pools, but he’s also facing cases like that in New York, where Judge Arthur Engoron will be ruling on his penalty directly. So why is Trump doing it? Because he can. And because it generates money. As The Washington Post reports, Trump may be furious over his gag order and his attorneys may fret over the legal impact of his statements, but his campaign absolutely loves this. They love it because it gives Trump something more to be angry about, and in Trumpland, anger translates directly to dollars. In the last month, Trump’s campaign has sent out at least three dozen email pitches specifically mentioning the gag order. In fact, they were raising money off just the idea of a gag order before such an order existed. As former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale explained, “Anything that turns up the temperature and becomes controversial is where the online fundraising comes from. It’s a lot easier to catch fish in a hot lake than a cold lake. All these stories heat up the lake.” In other words, Trump wants to call Smith “deranged,” describe his judges as “Trump hating,” throw racist insults at New York Attorney General Letitia James while calling her a racist, disown his previous attorneys, dismiss witnesses, and blame all his crimes on President Joe Biden. He does it to make his followers angry, and when they are angry, they respond by reaching into their pockets and giving money to Trump. As his staff makes clear, they don’t believe judges will dare do anything to Trump even if he does directly violate a gag order. The game for him is the same as it has always been: encouraging hate, racism, and division to funnel more money to Trump. Earlier this month, Trump dropped off the Forbes list of America’s 400 wealthiest people. Which, of course, resulted in Trump denouncing Forbes and demanding an apology. But Trump’s net worth was still figured at $2.6 billion. Median net worth for a family in the United States is $121,760. Spending a million dollars on legal fees for Trump is less than the equivalent of the average family spending a night at Olive Garden. Donald Trump has absolutely no reason to beg for help in paying his legal bills. He’s not about to lose his private jet or even cut back on the endless shrimp buffet at Mar-a-Lago. He doesn’t need that money he’s raising from his followers. He just wants it. And if keeping them angry and agitated increases the take, Trump is more than happy to oblige. It’s been one of the great wonders of the whole media cycle going back to 2015 that major outlets seem unconcerned about either the why or the how of Trump’s fundraising. That fundraising has always been filled with antisemitic claims, racism, white nationalism, insults, and demagoguery. These pitches are the most direct statements that Trump makes to his supporters, and they can make Trump’s run-of-the-mill frothing seem tame by comparison. Compared with his Republican rivals, Trump is highly successful. His rile-them-up-then-fleece-them strategy has left Trump with a $37.5 million war chest for the 2024 campaign, even after he tapped his campaign contributions for roughly $20 million to cover his court costs. But really, this is still chump change. Trump’s price manipulations in New York alone reportedly netted him about three times this much. In 2008, Trump reportedly sold a single Palm Beach estate to a Russian oligarch for $95 million after buying it for $40 million. That’s roughly enough to replace his campaign fund and pay all his legal bills in just that one sale. His small-dollar donations are small change for someone who has a multibillion-dollar pipeline to Saudi wealth. So why does Trump beg his supporters for cash? For the same reason he engaged in such low-dollar schemes as Trump steaks and charged the Secret Service $950,000 during a single visit to Scotland. He’s a grifter. There is nothing more important to him than the grift. If that means taking $5 or $10 out of the pockets of his supporters (or draining their puny bank accounts dry) to cover legal bills he could easily pay himself, he’s going to do that. And if insulting judges, prosecutors, and witnesses increases his take … he’s going to do that, too. After all, as one Trump ally puts in the Post article, “What are they really going to do to him?” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/24/2201289/-Trump-will-keep-on-slinging-insults-gag-order-or-no-gag-order-because-anger-is-his-product?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_3&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/