The Degradation of Donald Trump Attorney Todd Blanche Is Already Complete

This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.

“This one says: ‘Oh, Von ShitzInPantz. Keep whining, crying and violating the gag order you petulant defendant!’ ” —Donald Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche, referring to a social media post by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, a witness in the ongoing hush money trial

The former president is almost three weeks deep into his first criminal trial and, as ever, he’s staying true to his brand. He has been publicly posting about witnesses, violating a gag order that led to a $9,000 fine. And Thursday, a judge considered even more potential violations, revealing that Trump’s legal team is fighting an uphill battle here.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, overseeing the ongoing hush money trial brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, gagged Trump back in March, prohibiting him from publicly commenting on witnesses, jurors, court staff, or families of prosecutors and the judge himself in a way that could reasonably lead to threats. However, Trump seems to have a penchant for violating gag orders—during his civil fraud trial, he earned $15,000 in fines. In the hush money case, he’s still been openly posting about Michael Cohen, an ex-attorney of his and a crucial witness for the prosecution.

In fact, Trump’s penchant for bashing anyone who turns against him is so strong that last week, right before entering court for a separate hearing that also investigated a set of gag-order violations, he gave an interview to a local news station in which he went off on Cohen.

“Michael Cohen is a convicted liar, and he’s got no credibility whatsoever,” Trump ranted.

Cohen watched the interview and took to X to offer his reaction. “Oh … Von ShitzInPantz. Keep whining, crying and violating the gag order you petulant defendant!”

Now Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, is tasked with defending Trump’s impulsive behavior. He has tried arguing to Merchan that his client’s comments fall under First Amendment free speech and also that he must say something! He must defend himself against “Von ShitzInPantz”! And, yes, Blanche did directly quote Cohen’s colorful vocabulary in court.

Blanche added that Cohen has consistently been provoking Trump online, taking to TikTok to trash-talk the former president, giving interviews to the media, and posting on X. It’s all been too much for Trump to handle, and comments Trump has made about Cohen since the gag order was issued have merely been “responses to repeated and persisted attacks on him,” said Blanche.

Merchan did appear to credit Blanche’s defense as it comes to Cohen’s provoking Trump and not needing protection under the gag order, but it’s unclear how the judge will rule. After returning from lunch Thursday afternoon, Trump attorney Susan Necheles asked the court for “clarification” and preclearance for Trump to repost media pundits criticizing specific witnesses. “I’m not going to argue this with you, Ms. Necheles,” the judge told the attorney, saying there was “no ambiguity” in his gag order. “The best advice you can give your client is ‘When in doubt, steer clear.’ ” We’ll see if he follows it.