It has been three days since the jury awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in the defamation suit brought by her against serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) and you may have noticed something strange. It is silence from SSAT. He has not mentioned her by name since the verdict. SSAT’s typical reaction to anything adverse is to fire off a series of angry posts on his social media site at everyone and everything he perceives is against him, and use those attacks to raise money. But not this time. Even many of his most his vociferous allies have gone quiet.
Some of Trump’s critics said they weren’t surprised that many of his defenders chose to keep an arm’s length from the fallout. This wasn’t a case about classified documents, or an effort to keep him off the ballot. The jury’s award came for remarks Trump made about Carroll in response to her rape accusation.
“It’s his one legal case that no Republican gives a damn about because it doesn’t fit with their narrative that the Democrats are using the justice system to prevent him from running for office,” said former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh — who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020. “Which is bullshit. But this one is just about Trump’s personal behavior. It’s separate.”