Can a week be any worse than what the Republican Party and its torchbearer, Donald Trump, has endured this week?

The Trump organization has been ruled to have deceived insurers, bankers and others by overinflating assets and his net worth in order to make deals and secure financing. Furthermore it was ruled Trump, his company and executives lied on financial statements to secure financial loans.

As per Judge Arthur Erdogan,

In defendants’ world: rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party’s lies. That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”

Stinging, to say the least. This was a ruling. The trial starts on Monday, covering other issues, including the amount that Trump Org. will have to shell out. A figure of $250 million has been tossed around. But, as per former Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, that figure should be considered a baseline amount, with the final amount potentially topping $600 million. You will remember that in the deposition, Trump took the 5th over 450 times. He and his kids may be called to testify at the trial. The only saving grace is that this is a civil case where charges will not be laid.

Trump also indicated this week that he has given up his fight to have the Georgia fake electors case held in a federal court. As per a Trump lawyer

“This decision is based on his well-founded confidence that this Honorable Court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and guarantee him due process of law throughout the prosecution of his case in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia.” 

In reality, the Trump team saw how other attempts to have the trial be in federal court instead of state court, did not fare well. This includes the attempt by Mark Meadows who testified at his hearing and got himself in more trouble. This means that Trump’s trial will be televised. Buy popcorn. It will be must see tv.

Ass for the Republican Party, they are barreling towards a government shutdown of their own making. McCarthy and Gaetz are fighting in public likes and dogs with very colourful language. McCarthy will probably end up losing his Speakership. The Republicans will prove, once again, that they can not govern.

Finally, the Republicans, in the midst of the shutdown crisis, held their initial day of the Joe Biden impeachment inquiry hearings. How did that go? Neal Cavuto if Fox entertainment summed it up as follows,

“For the better part of six hours, I have been following these hearings, talk an hour off to do my fox business show earlier today. I don’t know what was achieved… None or the witnesses provided any proof for impeachment. The best they could say now, after this six-plus hours of testimony, back and forth, is that they’re going to try to get more bank records from Joe Biden and his son. Even though this occurs after months of Republican probes that failed to provide anything resembling concrete evidence.”

What a nightmare.