Trump Trials & Tribulations
Trump Trials & Tribulations
The day after the historic guilty verdict Trump continues to cry foul, prompting Biden to term such talk reckless, dangerous and irresponsible.
Both Donald Trump and I have been out of the White House for more than a few years, but I can’t evade reporting about him.
Just hours after the verdict, I was speculating about what President Joe Biden would say regarding the historic criminal conviction of his predecessor and when he would say it.
Biden had a couple of scheduled events on his Friday public schedule at the White House — a meeting with the visiting Belgian prime minister and a celebratory welcome back to the Super Bowl victors, the Kansas City Chiefs. (Yes, Travis Kelce attended and even made a joke but, no, he didn’t bring his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, dashing C-SPAN’s hopes for a ratings blockbuster).
Reporters were certain to yell questions at Biden at both of events. The president pre-empted the pent-up demand for reaction to the Trump verdict when he used the first minute of hastily announced remarks about a potential Israel-Hamas peace deal to address the elephant in the room.
Biden was blunt, as I reported in a VOA News story, in his remarks beamed from the State Dining Room, warning“it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”
Trump had just finished doing precisely that. His latest ad-libbed tirade, live from New York, against Judge Juan Merchan, Michael Cohen (whom he said he couldn’t name because of the judge’s gag order) and Biden, lasted 33 minutes in front of a modest audience of reporters and supporters who were permitted in the Trump Tower lobby just below those famous escalators which started it all. Even Reuters characterized his remarks as “rambling.”
Never before in American history has someone who held the highest office in the land become a convicted felon. Trump will be able to appeal the jury’s unanimous verdict on the 34 counts after his July 11th sentencing. In the meantime, most news stories about his 2024 presidential campaign will reference that sword of Damocles hanging over the presumptive Republican nominee’s bouffant hair.
Trump’s conviction is big news globally. I was on ABC’s ‘The World’ program Down Under early this morning (prime time in Australia) to discuss.
The newscast’s presenter, Yvonne Yong, was kind enough when introducing me to plug my book, Behind the White House Curtain: A Senior Journalist’s Story of Covering the President — and Why It Matters, officially being released next Tuesday. Alas, no publisher has yet bid on the rights for an Australian edition.
We’re focused on the domestic debut of the hardcover first edition, which I’ll be delighted to sign if you’re attending any of our initial book tour events in June. That’ll commence next Wednesday evening at the National Press Club in Washington.
We’ll have a more laid-back book signing at the Winchester Book Gallery a week from Saturday. The newspaper covering the Shenandoah Valley did a lovely writeup in today’s edition about the book.
In addition to a number of podcast and radio show appearances, which I’ll link to as they go online, I’m especially excited to be a return speaker on June 13 at the National Voice of America Museum between Cincinnati and Dayton. Another event I’m pumped about is in Santa Fe, New Mexico on June 20.
More in-person and online events are to come in the weeks and months ahead. In the interim, if you’ve not already ordered the book, you can inquire if your favorite independent bricks & mortar store plans to stock it or order through them online. This QR code should also do it:
Most readers have been ordering, no surprise, through the big boys — Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I don’t mind and that helps create some buzz, such as when the book briefly peaked in Amazon’s journalism category as the “Top New Release,” #3 in the genre and adorned with that label every author dreams of hearing — “Best Seller.”
I have no clue, however, how many copies have actually been sold. I’ll wait until after the official release date to try to find out.
It really does take a village to publish a book and mine is at Kent State University Press. The publisher kindly stepped out of its comfort zone (Civil War and Ohio history, mainly) to gamble on my manuscript — which does contain some Ohio material and I am, after all, a native Buckeye.
A special shoutout to Derek Krissoff, who has been doing the heavy lifting on the publicity. He has quite the background in academic book publishing and I pester him with questions and suggestions daily. He’s also a Substacker and you should subscribe to his insightful letter if you like books and want to know how the kielbasa is made.