Trump’s Annus Horribilis:
the sequel
Capitol police and Dominion Voting lawsuits, an unsavoury acolyte and narcissistic wedding crashing
By Byron Toben
Borrowing Queen Elizabeth’s 1992 complaint about her annus horribilis, I applied that to Donald Trump’s obstacles in 2020. Sort of a “You think you’ve got problems” approach to a growing series of Trump setbacks. (Readers can recall my reports along those lines by simply Goggling Donald Trump Archives Westmount Mag, which will summon up 48 articles in reverse chronological order in 4 segments of 12 each. I wrote 27 of them.)
With his dramatically leaving office in 2021, I felt that the worse of his setbacks was over. But just as COVID-19 has successive waves, Trumpian annus horribilis has more to offer in 2021.
Earlier, I had listed the tax and fraud investigations, the foreclosures on his various real estate holdings, the sedition/insurrection investigations, the sexual lawsuits, the land zoning and municipal security reimbursement claims, and the music royalty claims. Now comes new setbacks in 2021.
With his dramatically leaving office in 2021, I felt that the worse of his setbacks was over. But just as COVID-19 has successive waves, Trumpian annus horribilis has more to offer in 2021.
Legally, these involve new civil lawsuits by capitol police officers and embarrassing admissions by lawyer Sidney Powell.
Image wise, the peril his leading minion in the House of Representatives, Florida congressman Matthew Gaetz finds himself in and Trump’s buffoonery in crashing a wedding at Mar-A-Lago.
Sidney Powell admission: “Kraken “ claims were a lie
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell gained notoriety as a member of the Trump legal team, which lost over 50 contestations of results of the 2020 presidential race. She then added her own “Kraken” lawsuit, claiming that Canadian-invented now U.S.-owned Dominion Voting’s counting machines were rigged to convert Trump votes to Biden. She included 15 affidavits of various computer academics that this could be done, (My review of some of these affidavits did not offer proof it had been done.)
Dominion has since sued her for over 1 billion dollars for defamation. In defence, she claims that her claim was a ‘standard’ political exaggeration, protected by the First Amendment! As reported in the Chicago Sun-Times of March 26, she then makes the incredible claim that “no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact”. (To me, this ranks with the definition of chutzpah. A man kills his parents and pleads for mercy, as he is an orphan.)
Sidney – some advice: A lawyer who represents herself has a fool for a client.

The Bidens pay tribute to policeman Brian Sicknick, who died after being attacked during the January 6 Capitol uprising – Image: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Capitol Police sue Trump personally for damages.
In the aftermath of the January 6 riots, both the Capitol Police and the D.C. Metropolitan police state, as reported in the New York Times on March 31, that at least 138 of their officers were injured during those events. A few were minor bruises but some were concussions, rib fractures and burns.
Two of the capitol police have filed personal lawsuits against Trump claiming that he “inflamed, encouraged, incited, aided and abetted” the mob. The two, James Blassingame (a 17-year veteran) and Sidney Hemby (an 11-year veteran), each claim $75,000 for compensatory damages plus punitive damages (amount to be determined). Other injured members may file similar suits.
Matt Gaetz facing major charges

Matt Gaetz at Trump event in June 2020 – Image: Gage Skidmore CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Matt Gaetz, Republican member of Congress for the First District of Florida, well known as Trump’s most ardent acolyte there, is now facing up to life imprisonment for allegedly transporting underage girls across state borders. Evidence is reputed to include the girl’s testimony, e-mails, credit card statements and the likelihood of his friend, the former state tax collector of Seminole County “flipping” on him to reduce his own time for similar and many other unrelated fraud charges.
Perhaps Mr. Gaetz can persuade Rudy Giuliani to defend him. No, wait, Rudy will be too busy defending himself as he was also joined in as an additional defendant in the Dominion Voting Machine billion-dollar defamation lawsuit.
Trump crashes a wedding to talk about himself
Though not bearing legal or economic penalties, I cannot resist adding this bit of how Trump is going off the deep end as he descends into madness.
A wedding booked his Mar-A-Lago for its reception. Though not invited, as the owner of the premises, he crashed the event, grabbed a mike and babbled for several minutes, not about wishing the newlyweds well, but about his favourite topic – himself.
This was captured on a guest’s smartphone and can be tracked down on the Internet.
Feature image: Elvert Barnes via StockPholio.net
More articles from Byron Toben
Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated web sites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.
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