Thousands are watching a live video of Trump's plane waiting to take him to New York

 By Hal Brown

It's impossible to interview a sample of the people who were watching the live video of Trump's plane (here).  The Boeing 757 has been called Trump Force One. 

It might be interesting to find out why they were doing this. 

As I viewed it I could see a few people walking on the other side and a couple of small airport vehicles. The highlight was fuel truck driving by in the foreground. The only thing I could hear was the sound of distant traffic.

When I first found this video only 183 people were watching, as I write this over 6000 people are watching.

I can see why watching this is kind of addictive even if one is never rewarded by being able to see Trump arrive. 

For example these two people had been sitting here for several minutes seeming chatting with each other, and I just saw them turn the vehicle around and drive off.

I was just able to watch a plane taking off:

Later on there will actually be something more or less newsworthy to see, especially if the small jets in the foreground move.

You can watch people working on the plane:

I just heard someone's voice on a loudspeaker talking about moving a car. 

Here's a plane taxiing for takeoff:

I just heard a several cars honking rhythmically in the background. 

Networks, like MSNBC (below), have a camera on the side of the plane where Trump will enter. I don't know if there is a live feed where the public can watch this view:

If someone would rather watch people milling around here's a live feed  of people near Trump Tower:

I read an article in The New York Times (subscription) the other day about how lots of people enjoy going to areas near airports just to watch the planes take off and land.

 In fact, you don't have to leave home to do this. There are live feeds from airports where you can do this form the comfit of your living room. For example he's a live feed from LAX:

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I welcome all my international readers, especially those from Russia (Я желаю вам всего наилучшего) and Brazil. I encourage international readers to make comments and let me know what you think of the blog.

Above: Stats for the week.

Nobody knows for certain how Trump feels except Trump

Caricatures by DonkeyHotey

By Hal Brown, MSW, Retired clinical social worker and psychotherapist

This is the title of a Washington Post (subscription) article today:

Shocked and defiant: How Trump is responding to unprecedented indictment

Since a grand jury issued charges related to hush money to an adult film star, the former president has cycled through a range of emotions and postures.

This is an article by Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey

I added this comment to the article:

Nobody knows how Trump is feeling except Trump himself. All that can be reported on with certainty is what is observable. The words "as if he is" should preface any sentence purporting to describe how he feels. Thus even the title of this article makes assumptions. This to be accurate it should read Acting shocked and expressing defiance.

Psychotherapists like me look at this through a different lens than many others. The public would gain a better understand of him if they looked up the term narcissistic injury. They will find this article by Mary Trump: Donald Trump's niece says her uncle felt "narcissistic injury" from being GOP's "biggest loser".

Even Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, is speculating each time she describes her uncle's inner life. Her describing Uncle Donald feeling narcissistic injury makes sense. Look at the definition here and see what you think.

I am as guilty of speculating as all the other mental health professionals who have gone public with their psychological analyses of Donald Trump. Look my name up with Trump and this is what you'll find:

Click above to enlarge image

Google search of Hal Brown Trump here.

My articles and those by mental health professionals who are prominent in the field all helped inform the public as to the likely psychodynamics of Donald Trump, emphasize likely.

If a research psychologist was to construct an experiment in an attempt to determine whether a subject met various diagnostic assessments such as their being a malignant narcissist they could begin with a list of observable behaviors they would predict would manifest themselves in the future if they had the theorized diagnosis. 

Donald Trump has been diagnosed as both an extreme narcissist, a sociopath, and a malignant narcissist which combines the two disorders. We don't actually know, absolutely know, that any of these diagnostic assessments are 100% accurate.

100% certainty is a standard rarely met with a psychiatric diagnosis. There's no MRI machine to scan Trump's brain. There's no pathologist's microscope to put a slide of his mind under to see just how malignant it is.

As Trump will find out within a year or so, 100% certainty isn't even a standard relied on for conviction in a criminal court where the standard is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ashley Parker and Josh Hawley, not to pick on them, are not mental health experts. Here's an excerpt of what is in today's article:

Yet in the immediate aftermath of the grand jury’s decision related to hush money paid to an adult-film star, Trump was not happy, said one person with direct knowledge of his reaction. Others described Trump as “upset,” “irritated,” “deflated” and “shocked,” though some noted that he also remained “very calm” and “rather stoic, actually.”

Even they are relying on second hand reporting, and they only say that "others" who aren't identified described Trump's behavior. We don't know if these are people who actually were with him.

More people described in the article say they know how Trump feels:

• “He’ll do Trump,” said David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser who is not working on his 2024 campaign. “He’ll show up. He’ll be indignant.”
• “He initially was shocked,” said Joe Tacopina, a Trump lawyer, on NBC’s “Today” show Friday. “After he got over that, he put a notch on his belt and he decided we have to fight now, and he got into a typical Donald Trump posture where he’s ready to be combative on something he believes is an injustice.”
• “He has never been concerned about any story that paints him as a moral reprobate,” one Trump ally said. “His whole life and career have been full of those stories and they’ve never harmed him, in his mind.”

There's one quote at the end of the article which makes sense:

But the defiant posture seems likely to remain. In a statement, Taylor Budowich, the head of MAGA Inc., railed against the indictment and promised it would deliver Trump another stint in the White House.

The use of the word "posture" is accurate. The head of MAGA Inc. isn't saying he knows for sure what Trump is feeling. He is predicting how he will act. He's probably correct. 

Only Trump is capable of knowing whether he's playing a role or whether he's struggling to avoid experiencing fear. I say "capable" because Trump, like anyone, has psychological defense mechanisms to prevent anxiety from percolating into conscious awareness.

Bottom line:

Only this guy knows what is happening in his conscious mind.

By definition, nobody knows what is occurring in their unconscious mind. Self-aware people can make informed guesses about this but the unconscious is not conscious. It manifests itself though feelings, behaviors, and hints as to what is going on in the recesses of our minds often comes out in our dreams.

An iceberg is often used to provide a visual representation of Freud's theory that most of the human mind operates unconsciously. Public domain

Updates:

1) In RawStory, writing about the jury pool Trump will face in NYC, Tom Boggioni writes:

Donald Trump faces the embarrassment of arraignment, fingerprinting and a police mugshot in Manhattan on Tuesday, but one legal expert suggested his worst nightmare will come from a jury made up of New Yorkers who know him all too well.

 

Here again we see Trump being described as if he is psychologically normal. He faces what we would be embarrassed by, hell, we'd be mortified. There are two meanings of the word "nightmare" of which one is being applicable here, ie. a terrifying experience. Trump may find it exhilarating. What he can't control is an actual nightmare occurring while he is sleeping. I'd say there is more chance he'll have one or more of these than his actually experiencing conscious manifestations of anxiety.

2) Michael Cohen told Joy Reid that Trump can put on fake bravado but is petrified. He has no way of knowing this is true. He ought to have said that Trump, if he was normal, would be petrified.

3) There is one thing we know for sure abut Trump. It is that yesterday he took a motorcade to play golf (article). However this was arranged, it was done is such a way that he would pass by his supporters. I think it is significant that there were no photographs of him actually playing (at least none that I could find). These might have captured expressions that suggested he was feeling the stress of being indicted.

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Matt Lewis gives me my quote of the day: No offense to actual pigs but Trump is a belligerent pig

 By Hal Brown

I previously attributed this quote to Tom Boggioni. It was from Matt Lewis in a Daily Beast article and republished in Raw Story+.

By juxtaposing a picture of Ivanka with one of a pig
 I am not comparing her with the actual animal.
The insert applies to the Matt Lewis quote.

Link to article about pigs eating people here.

I like the following description from anti-Trump conservative columnist Matt Lewis which was in a Daily Beast (subscription) article titled "Ivanka Had Plenty of Chances to Break With Daddy Trump—It’s Too Late Now".

 He is quoted by Tom Boggioni in his Raw Story+ (subscription) article this morning (here):

 'Trump’s not such a belligerent pig as his four decades as a public figure would make you think' propaganda push."

Of course it maligns actual pigs. The poor animal, which happens to have the reputation of liking to roll around in excrement filled mud, has entered the lexicon of slang with numerous unflattering meanings. 

As fans of "Deadwood" who are familiar with the character Mr. Wu and wanted to confirm pig's dietary preferences and who looked it up know, they will eat human remains.

The bad reputation of pigs goes back to the Biblical prohibition about eating them and the fact that eating pork isn't kosher. Pigs are featured in Leviticus:

And the pig, because it has a cloven hoof that is completely split, but will not regurgitate its cud; it is unclean for you. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

Ivanka, it should be noted, converted to Judiasm when she married Jared who is an Orthodox Jew. The couple do keep a kosher household. 

Take the very worst slang definitions of pig and modify them with the word belligerent and it is an apt definition of Donald Trump. 

Even Trump's ardent fans wouldn't dispute the fact that he's belligerent, in fact the more belligerent the avenger out for retribution gets the more they admire him. 

The MAGA's wouldn't appreciate Matt and me calling him a pig, i.e., that is a repulsive person who also happens to be a glutton. 

Addendum:

Trivia Quiz

How many of these fictional pigs can you identify: 

Answers here.

Update:

This is the No. 1 trending story on Raw Story.

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DeSantis on Trump extradiction, it's all about me, me, me, me...

 By Hal Brown

Caricatures by DonkeyHotey

If the reporting is correct Trump will present himself for arraignment  in New York and not hole up at Mar-a-Lago making himself the most famous fugitive since Julian Assange . Notwithstanding this Ron DeSantis, made a play for publicity minutes after the Trump indictment was announced:

Ignoring the antisemitic dog whistle about George Soros, the key words in his tweet are that Florida will not assist in an extradition request. 

The procedure and process for extradition is spelled out in detail here. It is in the US Constitution:

Extradition Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV Section 2) requires that:

A person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

This is how Business Insider addresses what DeSantis tweeted: 

There are two ways that someone can be extradited from Florida to another state. These are described below.

Excerpt from Business Insider:

In the more common method — which DeSantis appeared to refer to — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul would send an extradition demand to the Florida governor. The governor's only role is making sure the demand meets all the legal requirements before ordering the extradition, legal experts told Insider. The demand would have to include a copy of the indictment, proving there's a warrant out for Trump's arrest.

If DeSantis wanted to slow the process he could ask his legal affairs office or a prosecutor to review Hochul's extradition demand and write a report before signing off on it. If the extradition demand is legitimate, however, he'll have to sign it within 60 days, legal experts said. He could also delegate and let another member of the Florida executive branch sign off on Hochul's extradition demand.

In the second extradition method, Manhattan prosecutors could bypass the governors entirely and ask a Florida court to order Trump to show up in New York court.

This Newsweek article also explains why DeSantis couldn't block an extradition request.

I can't imagine Donald Trump doing anything that might make it appear to his supporters that he is in any way, shape, or form accepting a favor from Ron "DeSanticomious". As I write this someone on MSNBC just agreed with me saying that there's no way Trump would want to make DeSantis look like the alpha dog. Jonathan Lemire just called it political theater coming from DeSantis. The MSNBC panel is agreeing that this matter has become a clown show.

None of this matters to DeSantis. He is competing with Kevin McCarthy for headlines:

DeSantis is threatening to do something that won't happen. McCarthy is threatening to do something, absurd as it is, which he can actually do. Still, DeSantis with his rhetorical flourishes has the more buzzy tweet.

Of course nobody's tweets can compete with the often all caps "truths" coming from Trump on his Truth Social platform.  

Unless the judge in Manhattan restricts what he can post or say about his indictment, or his lawyers convince him to put one sock over his fingers and another into his mouth, I expect Trump will continue to rant and rave. 

I predict that this posturing about horrors of Trump's indictment by DeSantis will pass since in his black heart I am certain he wants nothing but a shitload of bad for Trump.

Update: 

"Empty posturing": Experts rip DeSantis' "cheap and performative" threat to block Trump extradition

"It shows a real contempt for the rule of law in this country"

By SAMAA KHULLAR

PUBLISHED MARCH 31, 2023 1:21PM (EDT)

Addendum:

Watch Rachel Maddox discussing what DeSantis tweeted:

At the end of her show when she did the handoff to Lawrence O'Donnell she invited Stormy Daniels to appear on her show and wished her the best in making money off of this new development..

More:

It seem as if all the pundits predict that DeSantis is biding his time before announcing that he's going to run against Trump. Heather "Digby" Parton is the first person I've read who questions the inevitability of this:

Count me among those who think it's quite likely that instead of harming his chances of winning the Republican nomination, this indictment and any that follow, will almost guarantee it. As we can see by the reaction from the elected officials, it's not just the MAGA hardcore who feel compelled to rush to defend him. This is an organizing tool and a fundraising vehicle for the whole party and it may just vault him to the nomination without much competition. It's even possible that DeSantis might decide not to run after all. Article

---------------------------------------------------

On an only slightly related subject, yesterday I was wondering what the covers of the New York City tabloids would look like this morning. The New York Daily News has had a number of snarky covers featuring Trump so I was hoping to see one today. However they played it straight. It was the Murdoch NY Post which went with a snarky cover.

Click above to enlarge. Old Trump and Stormy cover upper right.

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You ain't seen nothin' yet 'til you've seen the J6th Prison Choir video

 By Hal Brown

Above, screen grabs from the first two seconds of the J6 Prison Choir video with a somber musical background.

Click above to enlarge these screen grabs from the J6 Prison Choir video

Watch the entire video, with the last frame shown below, here:

Click above to watch video

Republished on MSN the following is from Snopes. 

The J6 Prisoners Choir is a real group, but they did not perform live at the rally. A recording of the group singing the song was played as screens indeed showed footage of the Jan. 6 capitol attack. Video evidence from the event also showed the former president put his hand over his heart during the presentation, and the audience was asked to rise and place their hands over their hearts as well.

The J6 Prisoners Choir consists of approximately 20 men who are currently incarcerated in Washington, D.C., for crimes associated with the Jan. 6 capitol riots. 

The recording played at the rally was called "Justice for All." It cut between the choir singing the Star-Spangled Banner and Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. At the end of the recording, the men chanted, "USA! USA!" There were no original lyrics in the song, and no explicit references to the insurrection in the song itself. 

The elevation of a choir of talentless imprisoned insurrectionists to national prominence is wack-a-tune (pun intended). 

Now to my review of the video, the short version:

Holy freaking shit!

---------------------------

Insert:

I wrote the above before using the J6 choir was mocked on Morning Joe. Their reaction pretty much mirrored mine without the expletive.

------------------------

The video features clips of supposed prisoners - although it isn't clear whether these are real J6 prisoners which I doubt it is - with lots of clips of Trump's greatest hits, insurrection videos clips, and Trump looking like the ruler of the world. Without any sense of irony there's a video clip of the widely mocked flag hugging.

There is no substitute for actually watching the video which I bet many of you have resisted doing until now. Here's one more opportunity to do so. 

Okay, okay, even though it is less than two and a half minutes out of your life my hunch is most of you won't watch it. Therefore here are a few more images. Note that the video also includes his also ridiculed upside down Bible photo op and a clip of his inauguration crowd.

Click above to enlarge.

Here's Trump bragging about this and praising the choir to Sean Hannity.

Related articles:

Trump supporters' obsession with making Ashli Babbitt an innocent 'martyr' explained by author

Babbitt being shot is featured, albeit very briefly but nobody can miss it, in the J6 Prison Choir video (screen grabs below)

You read it here.

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