The Past Week Has Pushed Trump To Levels Of Fury That Are "Maxed Out, Even For Him", Three Sources Say
Nothing much of consequence has happened - a jury was selected - but Trump is raging non-stop behind the scenes. He's even asking people if they think the courtroom sketch artist is out to get him.
Rolling Stone reports:
[T]hree sources with knowledge of the matter [say Trump] has privately raged over everything from reports that he can't stop dozing off, to how the court sketch artist is rendering him, to late-night talk show hosts joking about his legal troubles. [Trump] is reaching levels of fury . . . that are “maxed out, even for him,” says one source who has had to personally endure Trump’s recent rantings about his trial. . . .
Among the heavily recurring topics in Trump’s private sniping this past week . . . is [Trump]'s bitterness towards New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who reported in print, online, and on CNN that Trump was visibly nodding off while in court. . . . provoking an irate denial from Trump’s campaign and reigniting [his] antipathy towards Haberman . . .
The resentment lasted the entire week . . . It did not help Trump’s denial that he continued to doze off . . . throughout the rest of the week. . . .
Trump has repeatedly torn into Haberman and her CNN appearances, attacked her journalistic credentials, and bizarrely insisted that she was wrong about him falling asleep. . . .
Trump has also privately asked people close to him if they agree that the courtroom sketch-artist must be out to get him . . . Trump has critiqued the sketches of him that have circulated in the media this week, and insisted some of the images were likely drawn to make fun of him. . . .
[Trump] has also voraciously monitored the media and entertainment coverage of the trial. He appeared especially upset with Jimmy Kimmel . . . whom Trump has long despised [and] tried to get his White House staff to pressure Disney, which owns ABC, to force Kimmel to stop making fun of him. . . .
Trump, sources recount, has also been savagely annoyed about some of the rejected jurors – and the memes and social-media mockery that they posted that he was forced to engage with in court. . . .
Trump has also, of course, been publicly wailing about several aspects of the trial, including the “freezing” temperature in the courtroom . . . he ranted to reporters outside the courtroom . . . calling the people who continue to talk about him “real scum.” . . .
#sad
I’m sure things will get much better for Trump once the actual trial starts on Monday.
AND:
Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary:
I was actually just thinking this morning about how cold [Trump] kept complaining to be yesterday. In his normal world, someone would have jumped up and run, not walked, to get the temperature perfect for him. This entire experience must be beyond uncomfortable for him, not just the fact that it dives into such personal details, but he has absolutely no control for probably the first time since he was a young child. . . .
[This past week] reminded me that not only in the White House, but every facet of his life — be it at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower or Bedminster — he has a group of people that cater to his every whim. At Mar-a-Lago, people literally stand and applaud him just for walking into the room, and in court, he has to sit there quietly while some people talk about how much they don’t like him. I can’t imagine how hard it has been for him not to get up and storm out of the place like a five-year-old.