'Sleazy tale' of Trump relationship with key witness should sink his 2024 chances: op-ed

Donald Trump's penchant for spreading fake news is a specialty of his that goes back decades, as revealed in testimony during his New York hush money criminal trial.

During court proceedings this Thursday, Trump had to face witness and longtime associate David Pecker, who was once the publisher of the National Enquirer. Salon's Heather Digby Parton writes that the "sleazy tale of the arrangement Trump made with Pecker and his relationship with this extortionist gossip monger alone should be enough to sink Trump's chances of ever being elected again to the presidency."

"Over two days of Pecker's testimony, the prosecution has laid out the details of what they say was a conspiracy to 'promote or prevent' the election of any person under state law. (Trump is actually charged with falsifying his business records to cover up the violation of that law, which is what makes his conduct a felony.) It's hard to argue that it isn't exactly what they were engaged in doing. Pecker admitted it repeatedly and Michael Cohen previously pleaded guilty to the same thing and will presumably testify to that effect when he's called in this trial. They were paying people off who were trying to come forward with negative information about Trump and then Trump and his company tried to hide the paper trail," Parton wrote.

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Parton acknowledged that Trump won in 2016 despite the scandal of the Access Hollywood tape where he describes sexually assaulting women and noted that his "squalid character seems to be a selling point."

She goes on to write that Trump has bee getting away with "corrupt, unethical behavior and skirting legal accountability" his entire life and he probably thinks he'll emerge unscathed from his current criminal trial.

"Trump reportedly spent much of the day listening to the testimony with his eyes closed, not reacting to what he heard. But he did seem a little bit rattled when he emerged, calling the day's event 'breathtaking' and for some unknown reason telling the gathered press that the Charlottesville Nazi protest was 'a little peanut.' He should probably get some rest."

Read the full op-ed over at Salon.