Just, wow. I’ll admit, it takes a few years to get good at practicing law, and most of being “good” is about understanding how to use your legal leverage, which may be slight or it may be great, in the context of furthering your client’s needs through diplomacy. Because 90+% of what we do and achieve is done well before a trial. Most civil cases are settled without a trial. Many criminal cases are “settled” with plea deals and other agreements which remove the hard decisions from the jury. But Habba doesn’t even seem to understand how criminal jurisdiction works. That’s more than just concerning. Her courtroom performance, which included her fumbling even basic admitting of evidence, is shocking. Only very silly or unserious attorneys would say “don’t get it twisted,” and suggest Trump being tried in a blue state is “by design.” But, Trump is where he is precisely because he’s a fool, a buffoon with terrible judgment who believes perception is all that matters. Unfortunately, in a court of law things are far different than the court of public opinion. Bluster might work on the rubes watching Fox News, but Trump and Habba’s puffy, inane rhetoric is why he’s losing case after case and accumulating hundreds of millions in judgments. At least Trump always has a good argument for inadequate assistance of counsel.
I don't think anyone who is a dumb as she appears to be could get through law school and the bar exam- it's a professional degree not a BA. We all know of rich kids (ahem!) who finagled passing grades through money, cheating, and/or intimidation, athletes who got passed so they could compete, and cuties who "charmed" their way into passing. It's a fair bet that she is just lying to rile up the base. Nothing will get the rubes to open their wallets and give 'till it hurts more effectively than her wailing about how their Lord and Savior is being abused and mistreated by the libs.
I’m convinced she’s not playing dumb. Especially not in court, where her poor performance isn’t useful to her or her client. I agree she’s willing to say inane things on teevee to rile people up. But her bluster in court with judges is pretty much her same bit she does outside the court. When you don’t have the facts, the law, OR tremendous oratory skill, you pound on the table and throw tantrums as a last resort, at least in her case.
" Bluster might work on the rubes watching Fox News..." It always works, so much so that it has replaced all other content orginating from Trump and the Republican Party. Cogent argument, thoughtful policy, coherent positions, have all been jettisoned because a party of lying vandals doesn't want or need them. Losing legal battles because of inept lawyering just proves the court is rigged against them.
Agreed, and that works with wingnuts’ perception, but they are still accumulating loses in court and at the ballot box. The rhetoric about the courts and elections being rigged against them gets their base prickly and eager to donate and complain, but they still seldom have anywhere near a majority (especially as they move further and further right), so their only hope is gerrymandering, suppression, intimidation and outright cheating. Even those weapons aren’t working well enough anymore. Next is outright force, which is what J6 was about. The courts wouldn’t intervene, the VP wouldn’t intervene, the DOJ wouldn’t intervene, and Congress wouldn’t intervene. So the most extreme 2000 people intervened, and 1500 have been arrested and charged for it. Sadly, those convictions and the futility of J6 probably means to most of them that they simply didn’t have the numbers they needed. Next time they might think they can do it right.
I am a for real retired lawyering lawyer lady and I am here to tell you: (1) I am not shocked that Alina Habba, who Trump totally didn’t pick for her tits and ass, has no clue of the basics of venue and jurisdiction, which are taught in first semester law school; and (2) I have to be fair, something about the black robes can bring out the assholery in people, so Alina is not wrong that judges can get cranky and unfairly admonish you on occasion. This does not change the fact that she is as dumb as a box of rocks.
Feel free to let me know if I can clear anything else up for you.
i think she may be still hanging out around one or two of the civil trials? though maybe he fired her after she lost all that money to E Jeanne?
also, i think she still owes a shitload of $$$$ to all the people she tried to sue on trump's behalf (hillary, podesta, jake sullivan, pete strzok, the rest of the FBI, etc.).
In the (admittedly, thankfully, very few) times I have been in a court room, the judge didn't have the admonish the lawyers for being stupid. BECAUSE 95% OF LAWYERS ARE NOT ACTING STUPID IN THE COURT OF LAW.
HabbaDabbaDoo is clearly projecting here. It's obvious she never made it all the way through an actual law book in her entire life... and if she falls asleep when she tries to read, everyone must! Even hours after they're done trying to read!
Every time she opens her mouth, you can see exactly why FuckFace likes her so much (I mean, aside from the push-up bras and the vacant look) -- she makes him feel like a genius by comparison.
It's astonishing that one man has disrupted not just the US but the whole world for 12 years. Granted he's had a lot of help (Hello, Chris Rufo! Hey, GOP!) but so did Hitler, and not even Hitler fucked the world as much as Trump, except in deaths, and Trump isn't finished.
I suggest you give him too much credit. He's a symptom of the Republican disease, not the cause. He is an ignorant, incompetent, and insignificant rich boy who thinks daddy's money made him a winner. He's nothing; it's the conservative ideologues who made him the instrument of their decades-long war against democracy.
Both can be true. To say he's a nothing is a mistake. He is a symptom of the disease - indeed he is the embodiment of it, but he's galvinized and weaponized it - something his predecessors were unable to do.
There was plenty of antisemitism in the world before Hitler - there still is - but he weaponized it, and the world had to go to war to crush it.
Trump has given permission - by his example - to other political leaders to let their freak flag fly. It will not be as easy this time to crush the anti-democratic and genocidal forces.
Seems to me that Ms. Haba has her faking scenario reversed, but I try not to disparage another's looks given that I'm not exactly George Clooney in the looks department.
However, the choice she frames is a false one, because, as it turns out, one cannot "fake" smart. As a licensed attorney, Ms Haba is necessarily educated enough to pass the bar. That means she isn't "dumb." But there's a huge difference between being educated and being smart. My mom had a fourth-grade education, but was one of the smartest, savviest people I know. She could see through people like Haba in a heartbeat.
Let's face it: people like Haba do what they do on the teevee as a means of instructing stupid people what to think. This isn't meant to sound harsh or disparaging. It's just that it's much, much harder to tell SMART people what to think. Grifters and con artists, unless they are motivated by a challenge, will usually go for the low-hanging fruit if it's just hanging there for the picking and lucrative.
In sum and summary, Ms. Haba is faking it in both departments.
demonstratively does not "read a lot". more importantly... can someone connect these two things for me? i'm not seeing any relation between the claim of him reading a lot and him dozing off in court? what am i missing?
like him dicking around on third rate social media sites all night long doesn't really have anything to do with his responsibility to stay conscious in a courtroom. this is an excuse a child would use.
back in the early 90's, I had the pleasure of sitting in the jury pool for Joseph and Thomas Gambino's (and associates') trial for racketeering in the garment industry. District Attorney was Robert Morgenthau (assisted by Eliot Spitzer). Michael Rosen was the Gambino's lawyer. He was wicked smart. There was never a point where the judge had to explain anything. We started with 500 people in the pool, and it took a MONTH to set the jury. There are great lawyers out there. Habba is not one of them.
Just, wow. I’ll admit, it takes a few years to get good at practicing law, and most of being “good” is about understanding how to use your legal leverage, which may be slight or it may be great, in the context of furthering your client’s needs through diplomacy. Because 90+% of what we do and achieve is done well before a trial. Most civil cases are settled without a trial. Many criminal cases are “settled” with plea deals and other agreements which remove the hard decisions from the jury. But Habba doesn’t even seem to understand how criminal jurisdiction works. That’s more than just concerning. Her courtroom performance, which included her fumbling even basic admitting of evidence, is shocking. Only very silly or unserious attorneys would say “don’t get it twisted,” and suggest Trump being tried in a blue state is “by design.” But, Trump is where he is precisely because he’s a fool, a buffoon with terrible judgment who believes perception is all that matters. Unfortunately, in a court of law things are far different than the court of public opinion. Bluster might work on the rubes watching Fox News, but Trump and Habba’s puffy, inane rhetoric is why he’s losing case after case and accumulating hundreds of millions in judgments. At least Trump always has a good argument for inadequate assistance of counsel.
I don't think anyone who is a dumb as she appears to be could get through law school and the bar exam- it's a professional degree not a BA. We all know of rich kids (ahem!) who finagled passing grades through money, cheating, and/or intimidation, athletes who got passed so they could compete, and cuties who "charmed" their way into passing. It's a fair bet that she is just lying to rile up the base. Nothing will get the rubes to open their wallets and give 'till it hurts more effectively than her wailing about how their Lord and Savior is being abused and mistreated by the libs.
I’m convinced she’s not playing dumb. Especially not in court, where her poor performance isn’t useful to her or her client. I agree she’s willing to say inane things on teevee to rile people up. But her bluster in court with judges is pretty much her same bit she does outside the court. When you don’t have the facts, the law, OR tremendous oratory skill, you pound on the table and throw tantrums as a last resort, at least in her case.
" Bluster might work on the rubes watching Fox News..." It always works, so much so that it has replaced all other content orginating from Trump and the Republican Party. Cogent argument, thoughtful policy, coherent positions, have all been jettisoned because a party of lying vandals doesn't want or need them. Losing legal battles because of inept lawyering just proves the court is rigged against them.
Agreed, and that works with wingnuts’ perception, but they are still accumulating loses in court and at the ballot box. The rhetoric about the courts and elections being rigged against them gets their base prickly and eager to donate and complain, but they still seldom have anywhere near a majority (especially as they move further and further right), so their only hope is gerrymandering, suppression, intimidation and outright cheating. Even those weapons aren’t working well enough anymore. Next is outright force, which is what J6 was about. The courts wouldn’t intervene, the VP wouldn’t intervene, the DOJ wouldn’t intervene, and Congress wouldn’t intervene. So the most extreme 2000 people intervened, and 1500 have been arrested and charged for it. Sadly, those convictions and the futility of J6 probably means to most of them that they simply didn’t have the numbers they needed. Next time they might think they can do it right.
The inimitable Charlie Pierce was just talking about anvils, too! Who knew it was a theme/memes
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a60527163/kansas-killing-gods-misfits/
I am a for real retired lawyering lawyer lady and I am here to tell you: (1) I am not shocked that Alina Habba, who Trump totally didn’t pick for her tits and ass, has no clue of the basics of venue and jurisdiction, which are taught in first semester law school; and (2) I have to be fair, something about the black robes can bring out the assholery in people, so Alina is not wrong that judges can get cranky and unfairly admonish you on occasion. This does not change the fact that she is as dumb as a box of rocks.
Feel free to let me know if I can clear anything else up for you.
Huzzah!
Is she still his lawyer in any real capacity, or is she just someone who goes on Fox News a lot?
i think she may be still hanging out around one or two of the civil trials? though maybe he fired her after she lost all that money to E Jeanne?
also, i think she still owes a shitload of $$$$ to all the people she tried to sue on trump's behalf (hillary, podesta, jake sullivan, pete strzok, the rest of the FBI, etc.).
in other words, who the fuck knows?
In the (admittedly, thankfully, very few) times I have been in a court room, the judge didn't have the admonish the lawyers for being stupid. BECAUSE 95% OF LAWYERS ARE NOT ACTING STUPID IN THE COURT OF LAW.
HabbaDabbaDoo is clearly projecting here. It's obvious she never made it all the way through an actual law book in her entire life... and if she falls asleep when she tries to read, everyone must! Even hours after they're done trying to read!
Every time she opens her mouth, you can see exactly why FuckFace likes her so much (I mean, aside from the push-up bras and the vacant look) -- she makes him feel like a genius by comparison.
Wait, does she actually know the meaning of 'admonish?' Woe unto us for misunderestimating her smrts!
Thank you Evan, this is one of your best columns.
It's astonishing that one man has disrupted not just the US but the whole world for 12 years. Granted he's had a lot of help (Hello, Chris Rufo! Hey, GOP!) but so did Hitler, and not even Hitler fucked the world as much as Trump, except in deaths, and Trump isn't finished.
I am very tired of this timeline.
I suggest you give him too much credit. He's a symptom of the Republican disease, not the cause. He is an ignorant, incompetent, and insignificant rich boy who thinks daddy's money made him a winner. He's nothing; it's the conservative ideologues who made him the instrument of their decades-long war against democracy.
Both can be true. To say he's a nothing is a mistake. He is a symptom of the disease - indeed he is the embodiment of it, but he's galvinized and weaponized it - something his predecessors were unable to do.
There was plenty of antisemitism in the world before Hitler - there still is - but he weaponized it, and the world had to go to war to crush it.
Trump has given permission - by his example - to other political leaders to let their freak flag fly. It will not be as easy this time to crush the anti-democratic and genocidal forces.
She hit every branch of the Stupid tree on her way down.
Thank you. I’m dying. 😂
Does she think people read with their eyes closed?
"Does she think"...? Now THAT'S a good question.
Assumes facts not in evidence
Seems to me that Ms. Haba has her faking scenario reversed, but I try not to disparage another's looks given that I'm not exactly George Clooney in the looks department.
However, the choice she frames is a false one, because, as it turns out, one cannot "fake" smart. As a licensed attorney, Ms Haba is necessarily educated enough to pass the bar. That means she isn't "dumb." But there's a huge difference between being educated and being smart. My mom had a fourth-grade education, but was one of the smartest, savviest people I know. She could see through people like Haba in a heartbeat.
Let's face it: people like Haba do what they do on the teevee as a means of instructing stupid people what to think. This isn't meant to sound harsh or disparaging. It's just that it's much, much harder to tell SMART people what to think. Grifters and con artists, unless they are motivated by a challenge, will usually go for the low-hanging fruit if it's just hanging there for the picking and lucrative.
In sum and summary, Ms. Haba is faking it in both departments.
Lately I've been wondering if losing interest in a reply/statementiis a sign of subconsciously realizing that it's false or BS...
My mind seems to wander some what more quickly these days
Man, that stringy hair really highlights the hatred coming out of her face, doesn't it?
demonstratively does not "read a lot". more importantly... can someone connect these two things for me? i'm not seeing any relation between the claim of him reading a lot and him dozing off in court? what am i missing?
like him dicking around on third rate social media sites all night long doesn't really have anything to do with his responsibility to stay conscious in a courtroom. this is an excuse a child would use.
He was determined to finish Mein Kampf once and for all the night bef9re the trial
back in the early 90's, I had the pleasure of sitting in the jury pool for Joseph and Thomas Gambino's (and associates') trial for racketeering in the garment industry. District Attorney was Robert Morgenthau (assisted by Eliot Spitzer). Michael Rosen was the Gambino's lawyer. He was wicked smart. There was never a point where the judge had to explain anything. We started with 500 people in the pool, and it took a MONTH to set the jury. There are great lawyers out there. Habba is not one of them.
Well, *someone* always has to graduate at the bottom of the class!