Of the Trump trial’s sleazy cast, one actor performed best

There was quite an array of louche figures both inside and outside the courtroom where Donald Trump has been on trial in lower Manhattan over the past five weeks, and they have both testified about and extravagantly exhibited all sorts of louche behaviour. With closing arguments now under way and the jury expected to be sent off to deliberate, we have a moment to savour some of the overlooked features of this bizarre moment in American political history.

Clockwise from bottom left: Robert De Niro, Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, David Pecker, Michael Cohen. Credit: Marija Ercegovac

You had Trump himself bellowing in the hallway outside the courtroom, earning himself a gag order from the judge. You had various right-wing poltroons puffing their chests on the street next to the court building in colourful displays of obsequiousness, like preening pigeons in the nearby parks. The Biden campaign got into the mix as well, dispatching Robert De Niro and some of the police officers who defended the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection to the courthouse scene to call attention to Trump’s assaults on democracy.

Inside, a tin-hat rogue’s gallery of witnesses testified to appalling behaviour. There was David Pecker, the delightfully named proprietor of the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid. Leaving aside the testimony he gave relevant to the state’s case, he also portrayed a grotesquely unethical arrangement he had with Trump for the latter’s presidential campaign in 2016. He would publish outlandish stories favourable to the candidate, and (often ridiculous and false) stories about his opponents. Worse, he would let Trump’s goonish henchman, Michael Cohen, revise and contribute to the stories before publication. (You will remember that it is a Trump refrain that the media and his opponents conspire against him. Here’s the reality of how such a thing would work in practice.)

Cohen, who testified, has been such a no-goodnik that accounts of his doings are at a loss to include it all, just as the tsunami of terrible behaviour of Trump and so many of his cronies has swamped many less disturbing tales. For example, a New York Times investigation into Cohen’s background a few years ago detailed a slew of mob affiliations, criminal-adjacent behaviour, insurance fraud and mysterious financial deals, like buying a few pieces of NY real estate for $8 million – and selling them for $32 million a short time later. This background – key, one would think, to understanding the man and certainly material for some pointed questions – are rarely, if ever, probed in press coverage of Cohen or in the fawning interviews he conducts with anti-Trump TV shows and podcasts.

Another facet of Trump world came clearly into focus over the course of the testimony. There’s an American slang term, “chiseler”, for someone who swindles in a particularly crude way. At the trial, we heard story after story of two-bit chiselers chiselling. Cohen and Trump, for example, met cute after a strata dispute in a Trump building. Cohen ended up doing some legal work for Trump – and Trump stiffed him on payment. Nevertheless, Cohen went to work for him.

They ultimately cut the now-notorious deal to pay off Stormy Daniels, a porn actor, so she wouldn’t talk about her sexual encounter with Trump. It turns out that the actual plan was to posture that a payment was coming, but to delay it until after the approaching 2016 election. Then Trump could renege on the deal and not cough up the money. Note the pattern here.

One more delicious behind-the-scenes twist. Ultimately, Daniels’ attorney forced the issue. Cohen advanced her the money, and was then compensated for the payment and taxes he would accrue because of it via a series of payments over the ensuing year. Here’s the delicious part: Cohen insisted that Trump also add additional money into the deal, so Cohen could pay someone else Trump had stiffed, a disgruntled vendor who was dunning Cohen for the money. That got thrown in with the Daniels reimbursement – and then, rather than passing all the money on, Cohen pocketed most of it. “I just felt it was almost like self-help,” he testified.

Just as a reminder, this is a story about a US president and two of his closest associates. Amid this parade of sleaze, one character stood out, and emerged with reputation intact and even burnished. One witness exemplified a great American story of overcoming a difficult childhood and becoming a success; spoke forthrightly; and took responsibility for her actions. This was Stormy Daniels, who told the tale of her assignation with Trump and the degrading aftermath, which included among other things having Trump describe her as “horseface” on social media.

Her story was bleak, but she refused to describe the encounter as something more than what it was, her own personal bad decision. It was her “own insecurity that prevented me from saying no”, she testified.

Trump and his associates now all point fingers at each other and mewl about how unfair it all is, despite the fact it’s all of their own making. During this historic trial, for a day or two at least, one person present exhibited a strength of character they all plainly lack.

Bill Wyman is a former arts editor and assistant managing editor of National Public Radio in Washington. He teaches at the University of Sydney.

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