President Donald Trump’s non-farewell speech at Valdosta was a thoroughly delusional denouement for America’s worst president. The maskless crowd heard Trump’s regular grievances, many threats, plus preposterous new conspiracy theories.
Charlie Daniels’ song makes me think we just witnessed a new devil go down to Georgia, lookin’ for a vote to steal. Trump came up way short. Just like his legal team in court. When will this president bow his head and acknowledge his beating? When he runs out of lawyers. As in never.
Saturday was the night Trump’s lights went out in Georgia. Our president’s no innocent man. Unless his self-pardon constitutes absolution. Some believe Trump is the Chosen One. Thank goodness most people disagree.
How many times can a candidate lose the same state? Georgia was Trump’s Waterloo. Trump’s Valdosta diatribe delegitimizing democracy was malicious, seditious and scatterbrained.
For attorneys, words matter. So do mentors. Trump was mentored by his personal attorney, Roy Cohn, a corrupt, red-baiting agitator. Cohn’s demise came via disbarment, dementia and a deadly virus.
No way could Trump be an attorney. At least not for long. We have rules and professional ethics Trump could never follow. Bill Clinton found that out. So did Richard Nixon. Both lost their law licenses.
Trump will keep yapping. So will his echoing lawyers until they exit due to disbarment, prison and/or mental breakdown. More lawyers can be found. Not the best lawyers, mind you, but ones with law licenses. Enter Colorado attorney Jenna Ellis.
Licensed lawyers presumptively receive my respect and courtesy. Craig’s Lawyers’ Lounge has welcomed prominent lawyers to my broadcasts hundreds of times. Jenna Ellis was also my guest. I enjoy debating social conservatives.
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I appreciated Ellis’ unrestrained takedowns of Trump, whom she called treacherous prior to his 2016 nomination. Listen to Ellis (at 24:00 of this 2-29-16 podcast), ripping Trump as an idiot who threatens America’s rule of law and democracy.
Ellis changed completely post-convention and backed Trump. But it was 2018 when the president tweeted precisely into Jenna’s heart. I was there! When Trump’s Ellis-praising tweet dropped, I direct messaged her instantly. Jenna was thrilled, typing right back “Omg!!!”
The relationship between Trump and Ellis has led now to her being the president’s personal attorney, just like Giuliani. While imprisoned, Michael Cohen wrote a captivating book about that job. Now, old Rudy is hurting. That leaves young Jenna.
Rudy and Jenna may have been worthy adversaries for Borat and Tutar, but they’re overmatched in courtrooms by scores of sharp election law attorneys. Trump fans produce money, conspiracy theories and affidavits galore, but no persuasive case.
GOP election law guru Ben Ginsberg says Trump’s claims are baseless. Even Rush Limbaugh is calling Trump’s legal efforts kooky. Chris Christie called Team Rudy and Jenna a national embarrassment.
If only this was just a court battle. Horrifically, the GOP has surrendered to Trumpism. By virtue of her Colorado law license, Ellis has the status to magnify and dignify Trump’s Big Lie about election rigging. Millions of Trumpsters are now frenzied by this phony claim of stealing.
Thank goodness Ellis was fired as a Colorado prosecutor. False criminal accusations are terrible. Ellis tweeted this ridiculousness last month, “No one really believes this election was honest. It was STOLEN and we all know it. That’s why they’re scared.” Trump and Ellis both proclaim he won in a landslide.
This is crazy and dangerous. I warned Ellis I’d critique her if she persisted. She responded with a DM asking me to be a true friend like Dan Bongino. I am definitely no Dan Bongino. I was unaware several major media outlets were already working on Ellis exposés.
Quoted along with me in the New York Times’ article was an accomplished Greeley attorney I’d never met. Stephanie Stout was Ellis’ Weld County mentor, who discussed with me Ellis’ numerous jobs and peccadilloes during Saturday morning’s sensational session of Craig’s Lawyers’ Lounge.
Ellis mean-tweeted that Stout and I were “two of the most vocally (sic) Trump-hating lawyers in Colorado (one is an extreme liberal Democrat feminist and the other a podcast host who lost his radio show and most of his audience due to his hatred of Trump).”
Guilty as charged except my mama taught me not to hate anybody. I’m not a fan of Trump. Or Ellis. My fans and sponsors love my podcast. Does the New York Times have an audience?
Brooke Wunnicke was my extraordinary legal mentor. Brooke was renowned for her talent, wisdom and ethics. Brooke expected courtesy toward other attorneys, but wrote, “I urge lawyers not to be tolerant of their peers who demean the profession that they have been privileged to join.”
Team Trump’s grifting, brazen effort to sully an election Trump lost undermines democracy. Good lawyers stay away. Ellis demeans the Colorado bar. Her outrageous assertions on behalf of Trump should be condemned. Colorado lawyers should be better than this.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA who also has worked in the media for decades. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun. He practices law at the Denver law firm of Springer & Steinberg, P.C. and is host of The Craig Silverman Show podcast.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
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