On opening night of the Republican National Convention in 2016, Donald Trump came out onstage like a pro wrestler, amid clouds from a smoke machine and dramatic shadows. It was the kind of image he likes to project of himself: grandiose and imposing, like the floating head of the Great and Powerful Oz ordering Dorothy to bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch. But eight years later, the real Trump has been revealed before the world in a courtroom in lower Manhattan.
In court testimony, Pecker detailed the steps he took to fabricate actual fake news against Trump’s political opponents and “catch and kill” damaging allegations against Trump during the 2016 election. The details have truly been stunning. I lived and worked through the 2016 presidential election, and even I learned new things when I read Pecker’s testimony.