The former president can be expected to stick to his political strategy despite its legal risks and Judge Juan M. Merchan’s lack of patience for it.
After a pretrial period replete with juvenile tantrums, nonstarter attempts to delay the proceedings, and savage attacks on prosecutors, the presiding judge and New Yorkers in general, Donald Trump is about to face the men and women who will decide whether he is guilty of 34 felony charges.
With the start of his historic hush money trial in Manhattan on Monday, the former president might be expected to abandon these so far unsuccessful tactics. But don’t bet on it.
The trial’s opening act will likely feature much the same brand of petulance and vituperation from the defendant, now redirected to the jury selection process.
Expect Trump to beat the same drum he has for several months, savaging anyone within legal reach — that is, not expressly off limits under the gag orders Justice Juan M. Merchan has imposed — and playing the martyr suffering for his followers at the hands of the anti-MAGA elite.
Even as he faces the tangible prospect of a conviction and prison sentence — though appeals could take several years — his strategy will continue to be more political than legal. He’s hoping to win the presidency and then figure out how to clean up the various train wrecks left in his path.
To begin with, that means Trump and his legal team can be expected to rail at Merchan’s decisions about whom to seat on the jury.
Like most jurisdictions, Manhattan follows a set of rules that impose a rigorous strategy on the litigants.
