On the second day of the former president’s New York criminal trial, the defense argued against seating jurors who had posted negatively about him online

Donald Trump, a man renowned for craving adulation and approval, has this week been confronted with the disdain of Manhattanites called as prospective jurors in his New York criminal trial for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. No wonder he’s apparently trying to sleep through the proceedings.

While no jurors were selected on Monday — with dozens excused after indicating they could not be fair and impartial in weighing the 34 felony charges against Trump — seven made the cut on Tuesday. (The court will need 18 people to qualify in all: 12 jurors and six alternates.) However, more were dismissed after questions arose about content they had shared on social media that disparaged the former president, and Trump himself was not spared from hearing what they had posted.

One potential juror ruled out on Tuesday was a man who recently shared an AI-generated video of Trump saying “I’m dumb as fuck,” according to reporter Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo. The man had evidently tried to conceal his opinion of Trump during earlier questioning, per The New York Times, and protested that the video was only something he “reposted,” but Judge Juan Merchan dismissed him.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    One potential juror ruled out on Tuesday was a man who recently shared an AI-generated video of Trump saying “I’m dumb as fuck,” according to reporter Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo.

    That is like the least offensive criticism of Trump I’ve ever heard of. In fact, the most offensive part of it is what a waste of AI it is to make such a stupid video.

    • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I was actually about to to comment about how that’s the only acceptable use for AI. It seems we’re at… loggerheads

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Have you seen the video of the AI generated Trump/Biden debate? Parts of that were hilarious.

        You can also use it to write custom heartfelt notes for birthday messages for coworkers. And you can give it the ingredients in your kitchen and ask for a recipe that uses them up.

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    The notion that Trump might walk for his dozens of crimes because the sheer breadth of his infamy precludes a fair trial is some perverse irony.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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      7 months ago

      Not really how it works. The defense and prosecution do have an unlimited number of challenges to jurors who admit they can’t be impartial or can be proven to have such bias. They have a set number of challenges they don’t need to justify.

      Even if you run out of jurors, the mistrial doesn’t trigger double jeopardy.

      • Phoenixz
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        7 months ago

        No it won’t indeed. It will just further delay the trial which is exactly what Trump wants. He either becomes president, maybe he’ll die, but as long as he can push this ahead of him, he’ll be fine

  • ramble81@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    I would be so torn between my civic duty as a juror on this trial and being able to belittle him right to his face while he’s in earshot and has to listen.

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    7 months ago

    I fucking love this, mostly because he isn’t insulated by his “yes” men and gets to see what a real random sampling of people actually think about him.

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    Has his staff managed to insulate him from memes like this or is he just realizing that they’re not going to be able to weed out everyone who thinks that way? Surely not every potential jurer who dislikes trump has publicly posted memes about him.

  • No One Here@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    This entire situation feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone you’d half-remember at two in the morning.

  • fubarx@lemmy.ml
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    SNL skit: Trump sitting through progressively worse memes. First time out of his bubble. He’s so horrified, he passes out. Reporters say he’s napping.

    It just writes itself.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
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    7 months ago

    I’m more concerned that ethical people will be the ones who won’t blindly defend him and they will be the ones to “out” themselves. The pieces of shit that worship him might cover that up well enough so they get chosen and can get him the best outcome possible…

    This is NY, and for those not from here we’re only “blue” because of NYC. Despite Staten Islands existence.

    Everywhere else is trumpland…