Former President Donald Trump is often criticized by commentators who accuse him of “punching down.”
The term refers to when a powerful person attacks or confronts less powerful individuals. For liberals, Trump is “punching down” simply for defending himself by offering candid critiques about other celebrities and politicians who challenge him.
In a deposition unsealed Friday, Trump made dismissive comments regarding E. Jean Carroll, an author and former magazine columnist who sued Trump for defamation after he denied her charge that he’d raped her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s.
Criticism from world leader and billionaire Trump aimed at such a little-known figure can be seen as “punching down,” even if it is against a woman who made terrible accusations against him. The establishment media certainly presents it that way.
But in the same deposition, Trump also landed a harsh but accurate assessment of Joe Biden, evoking in one sentence serious doubts about Biden’s abilities and authority.
In 2019, Carroll released a book in which she described the alleged rape. When Trump disputed the story, declaring that Carroll was “totally lying,” Carroll sued him for defamation.
Then in November, as CNN reported, Carroll sued Trump a second time for battery under the Adult Survivors Act. The New York state law, signed in May, established a one-year “lookback window” for alleged sexual assault victims to sue alleged perpetrators, even after the statute of limitations ran out.
A September court ruling had determined Carroll could not sue Trump personally for actions he took while president.
Fortune notes the judge in the case, who approved unsealing the transcript over Trump's attorney objections, is Bill Clinton appointee Lewis Kaplan. This same judge was assigned to the mega-scandal of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency giant FTX and a huge donor to Democratic politicians.
Earlier, according to Fortune, Lewis presided over sex abuse cases regarding Kevin Spacey and Prince Andrew.
The unsealed deposition in Trump’s case was from December. In it, Trump makes his opinions of Carroll clear when he refers to her on the page as “a wack job” and “sick, mentally sick.”
Starting on page 132 of the deposition, an attorney read Oct. 12, 2022, message Trump posted to the social media platform Truth Social full of powerful content, railing against the accusations, harassment, and corruption Trump continues to endure from Carroll, the legal system, politicians, and the media.
“Great statement, yeah. True, true,” Trump said in answer to a question. “I wrote it all myself. All myself.”
When the attorney pressed Trump on page 134 if he had to discuss the statement with anyone, Trump stated, “No. I didn’t need to. I’m not Joe Biden.”
In that dig Trump voiced what many believe: that Joe Biden is incompetent, he does not have the capacity to be president, and he is not actually the one in charge of his own administration.
Over and over Biden performs like he does not know what he is saying or doing.
Recent Biden embarrassments include forgetting the name of Martin Luther King III’s wife while trying to sing her “Happy Birthday” at an MLK breakfast, mixing up the Salvation Army with the Secret Service, forgetting the date of the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion, and lying about the events around surrounding it.
Having such an obvious puppet in the role of chief executive of the United States has destabilized the world. The deposition released last week shows Trump has the guts to address the reality of the situation, and acknowledge out loud, under oath, what so many are thinking.
Even when Trump criticizes Biden, the man who was placed into the presidency of the United States, he is still “punching down.”
via westernjournal