NEW YORK (AP) — He seems “selfish and selfish,” one woman said.
The way he behaves in public “leaves something to be desired,” said another.
His “negative rhetoric and prejudice,” another man said, is what is “most harmful.”
Last week, donald trump was forced to sit inside a freezing New York courtroom and listen to a parade of potential jurors in his secret criminal trial share their naked assessments of him.
It was a dramatic departure for the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, who is used to spending his days in a cocoon of enthusiastic crowds and constant adulation. Now criminally charged, Trump will spend the next few weeks subject to strict rules that deprive him of control over everything, from what he is allowed to say to the temperature of the room.
“He is an object of derision. It’s his nightmare. He can’t control the script. He can’t control the cinematography. He can’t control what is being said about him. And the outcome could go in a direction he doesn’t really want,” said Tim O’Brien, Trump biographer and critic.
Although Trump is occasionally confronted by protesters, he generally lives a life shielded from criticism. After leaving the White House, Trump moved to his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is surrounded by dedicated staff and paying members who have shelled out tens of thousands of dollars to be close to him.
Many days, Trump heads to his nearby golf course, where he is “surrounded by people who want to shake his hand, take pictures of him and tell him how amazing he is,” said Stephanie Grisham, a senior adviser. long-term leader who broke with Trump after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
When he returns to Mar-a-Lago in the afternoon, members eating lunch on the patio often stand and applaud. He receives the same standing ovation at the dinner, which often ends with Trump DJing on his iPad, playing favorites like James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.”
Grisham, who spent extended periods traveling with Trump and at Mar-a-Lago during his 2016 campaign and as White House press secretary, described the team constantly serving as cheerleaders and telling Trump what he wanted to hear. To avoid angry outbursts, they requested motorcade routes that avoided protests and left a stack of positive press clips every morning at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
Now, Trump faces a trial that could result in criminal convictions and possible prison time. And he will have to listen to more criticism, without being able to respond verbally – something he loves to do.
Among the witnesses expected at the trial are his former lawyer and mediator, Michael Cohen, and the porn actress who claimed to have had sex with him, Stormy Daniels. Both attacked him in interviews and books, as well as on social media.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump proved during his first week in court that “he will remain defiant in the face of this unprecedented political warfare” and said: “It is clear that the support of the American people will only increase as let them watch Joe Biden, Alvin Bragg and the Democrats stage this fake show trial six months before the election.”
New Yorkers who said they could not approach the case fairly were dismissed during jury selection. But one of the women with the harshest assessments of him will be among those who will determine her fate based on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“I don’t like his personality, how he presents himself in public,” said the woman, who has lived in upper Manhattan for 15 years. The woman said she did not agree with some of Trump’s policies, which she called “outrageous.”
“He seems very selfish and egotistical, so I don’t really appreciate that in any public official,” she said, adding that although she doesn’t “know him as a person,” how he “portrays himself in public, it seems to me that it’s not my beach.”
Trump’s legal team questioned his responses, but had run out of challenges by the time it was considered.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan withheld the names of potential jurors for security reasons.
On Friday, a potential juror, who said she participated in the 2017 Women’s March to protest Trump’s inauguration, complained about the influence he has on his base.
“I think his rhetoric sometimes allows people to feel like they have permission to discriminate or act on their negative impulses,” she said, citing people she has heard make homophobic or racist comments. Still, she said she did not have strong feelings toward the former president and was unsure of his current political positions.
Another man said he grew up admiring the former president and business mogul’s real estate portfolio and even thinking he might one day live in Trump Tower. But he went on to oppose Trump’s “negative rhetoric and prejudice against the people he speaks about.”
Other times, lawyers read aloud social media posts from potential jurors mocking Trump and celebrating his defeats.
One potential juror, an older white woman, was excluded from the jury by the judge after Trump’s legal team discovered old social media posts that described Trump as a “racist and sexist” narcissist.
One of Trump’s lawyers called the posts “aggressive.”
“She harbors a deep hatred for him,” said attorney Susan Necheles. “She said that ‘I wouldn’t believe Donald Trump if his language was authenticated’” and that he was “anathema” to everything she had learned about love.
Confronted with the posts inside the courtroom, the juror said she understood why they would be concerning to the defense, but her opinions had evolved. “Electoral politics can get very spicy and Mr. Trump can get very spicy,” she said.
Merchan, the judge, also fired a man who in 2017 shared a Facebook post celebrating the defeat of one of Trump’s policies in court. “Get him out of here and lock him up!” read in part.
Court rules require Trump to be present throughout the trial. He cannot storm out of court as he did during a recent libel trial. He is also prevented by a gag order from attacking any of the jurors, including on his Truth Social platform.
He was previously admonished by Merchan for audibly uttering something and gesturing while a juror answered questions.
“I will not tolerate any juror being intimidated in this courtroom,” said Merchan, who previously warned Trump he could be sent to prison for engaging in disruptive behavior in the courtroom.
However, Trump’s evaluations in court were not all bad, with a perhaps surprising number of potential jurors saying they did not have strong opinions about one of the best-known and most controversial men on the planet.
In fact, the process appeared to reveal more supporters than would be expected in a neighborhood where President Joe Biden won 87% of the vote in 2020.
One potential juror on Thursday who spoke of Trump in glowing terms said he was “impressed” by Trump’s career as a successful businessman.
“I mean, he was our president, amazing. He is a businessman in New York. He paved his way, you know, he made a kind of history in terms of where he started and where he became,” said the man, who said he sees his own story in a similar way.
On Tuesday, another man regretted not being able to balance the trial with his work.
“Your Honor, as much as I would love to serve for New York and for one of our great presidents, I could not give up my job for more than six weeks,” he said.
Many said they had read his book “The Art of the Deal”.
Even the woman who criticized his personality and ended up on the jury recognized his appeal to voters.
“Sometimes the way he behaves in public leaves something to be desired. At the same time, I can relate to the fact that sometimes we are unfiltered,” she said. “I see him talk to a lot of people in America. I think there’s something to be said for that.”
___ Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.
