For Donald Trump, the Recriminations Will Be Televised in NewYork

 The $355 million fine in the civil fraud case against Donald J. Trump's New York enterprises was not broadcast on television.Donald J. Trump's New York enterprises was not broadcast on television. His civil trial for E. Jean Carroll's defamation was also not successful. Nor will his impending federal election-interference prosecution be, without an implausible shift in federal court policy.

However, the performance continues outside the courthouse.

In every instance, Mr. Trump has actively sought out cameras, or brought his own, to deliver a rambling tirade of legal grievances and reasons for reelection. The current presidential contender and former reality TV host has converted his numerous court cases into biassed television shows and political advertisements during this process.

Given that Mr. Trump is a candidate, a former president, Given that Mr. Trump is a candidate, a former president, On Friday evening, after the civil-fraud ruling, he spoke to the cameras at his home and private club Mar-a-Lago, claiming that the case (brought by the New York attorney general) “all comes out of Biden,” accusing the judge of corruption, citing his election poll numbers and lamenting that “the migrants come in and they take over New York.”

Some of his appearances have been art-directed to look even more like the campaign messages that they clearly double as.

After closing arguments in the fraud case, Mr. Trump took questions and reiterated his complaint in front of a wall of flags at his property 40 Wall Street, wearing a red tie and flag pin, as though he had just walked out of a summit meeting. Before the verdict in the Carroll trial, he appeared in a video on his social media platform Truth Social to declare, “I don’t even know who this woman is,” from a stately, wood-paneled room, flanked by two more American flags. (The video closed with a plug for his campaign text number.)

Mr. Trump’s star-spangled tirades exploit a void in TV imagery, at a time when Americans have become used to seeing everything from police-violence cases to celebrity defamation trials live on TV. (Not to mention the conflict-of-interest hearing into Fani Willis, the district attorney bringing charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election against Mr. Trump in Georgia.)