David Frum: The Incompetence Lasted to the Very End

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
David Frum
@davidfrum
Latest in @TheAtlantic

Wow did Trump's lawyers suck

The Incompetence Lasted to the Very End
The former president’s lawyers were bad—but that was all too typical.
theatlantic.com
7:16 PM · Feb 12, 2021

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/the-trump-crews-incompetence-lasted-to-the-very-end/618022/

If future generations of law professors want to teach a class in what never to do, the belligerent and self-indulgent performance of Michael van der Veen, one of Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyers, could provide a lot of the video content. Deep into his defense of the former president today, van der Veen broke into a highly personal complaint. More than 140 law professors—including President Ronald Reagan’s solicitor general and a co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society—had signed a letter condemning the Trump team’s arguments as “frivolous.” This letter badly hurt van der Veen’s feelings. The letter, he said, represented, a “direct threat to my law license, my career, and my family’s financial well-being.”

A few hours later, van der Veen erupted in the well of the Senate about the day he was having. “We aren’t having fun here,” he said. “This is about the most miserable experience I’ve had down here in Washington, D.C.”

I watched this self-pity party from my own house, only a few miles north and west from the Capitol attacked by a Trumpist mob on January 6. And I thought: How on earth could a former president of the United States possibly have hired a team of boobs this bad at law?

Trump advertises himself as a billionaire. Certainly he has raised tens of millions of dollars for his legal-defense fund. Why did he not have good lawyers at his second impeachment trial? Yes, he is an unattractive defendant in many ways. But good lawyers regularly accept unattractive defendants.

The problem seems to be that Trump affirmatively prefers bad lawyering. Or rather, that he values good lawyering less than he values aggressive and truculent lawyering. And after all, Trump did not particularly need good lawyering at his impeachment trial. He can count on sufficient Republican votes in the Senate to acquit him almost regardless of what his lawyers do or say. So it probably will not matter much to Trump that his lawyers often seemed baffled or ignorant or untruthful or incompetent. The former president is focused on the result, and that result was fixed in his favor before any proceeding began.

*snip*

[abqtommy]

1. Well Michael, it's too late for you to worry about any "direct threat to my law license,

my career, and my family’s financial well-being.” You made your decision, your chickens have
come home to roast and you and yours are toast.

[Oldem]

2. Rachel had a lot of fun, tonight,

comparing these bozos to Gilda Radner's Emily Litella. "Cavelry" is "calvary." "Censured" is "censored." Bwaaahaha.

[crickets]

4. I saw that. "What's all this I hear about violins on television?"

That segment was great. I loved Emily Litella so much.

[Hekate]

3. "The administration's incompetence frequently arose from its malice": EXACTLY what I've been saying

There is a broad streak of malice all through this administration and Trump himself, shading right into actual sadism.

Excellent read. Thanks.

[Yoyoyo77]

5. It's hard to get a good lawyer to work for free lately, who knew?

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. Well, hopefully, he'll keep the same legal team for his criminal trials. Nt

[struggle4progress]

7. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury! If you convict my client, this week will be the shizziest

of my entire professional life! Please don't do that to me! The prosecution is asking you to think of all the people injured by my client's depraved indifference. But it is just hateful of them not to take me and my family into account. I know that you all want to be great senators! So -- what about me? Don't be cruel! Thanks!"