Swear him in

To the editor:

The trial of Donald Trump has just begun and already many are wondering if the former president can survive an eight-week trial without “losing it,” either physically, emotionally or both. There is a great chance that Trump will explode when a witness he really hates testifies to something that gets under his skin.  

Forget the gag order which is costing him $1,000 a violation, an amount of money that a donor will give him for the asking. He may want to get the judge to jail him (home confinement, no doubt), something that will let him stay home while the trial goes on — until he’s ready to return to the battle. 

Some of the talking heads in the media, even the attorneys, speculate on whether Trump will take the  stand to defend himself. That may seem like a self-destructive impossibility, but there is a chance Trump can make his testimony work for himself if the witnesses before him didn’t prove conclusively that Trump’s payoff to Stormy Daniels was done for political reasons (to corrupt the election).  

It may seem ridiculous for Trump to say the payoff was so his wife wouldn’t find out about his fling with Daniels, but he only needs one juror to think the payoff may not have been primarily for political reasons.  

This is not as easy a trial for prosecutors as many think, and Trump’s motives (in his testimony) can be embarrassment, anger, revenge and simply a payment for privacy. Proving pure political motivation (to corrupt the election) is not a sure thing regardless of the evidence from other witnesses.  

My bet is that Trump testifies.  

Michael J. Gorman