ANNA MARKS: Trump's self-inflicted $83.3 million verdict

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 -- The $83.3 million judgment that Donald Trump was ordered to pay to the writer E. Jean Carroll on Friday evening was entirely avoidable. All he had to do, after earlier being found guilty of sexual abuse and defamation, was just ... keep his mouth shut.

Posted 10:00 a.m. Jan 27 — Updated 10:00 a.m. Jan 27

EDITOR'S NOTE: Anna Marks is an editorial assistant in the opinion section of The New York Times.

The $83.3 million judgment that Donald Trump was ordered to pay to the writer E. Jean Carroll on Friday was entirely avoidable. All he had to do, after earlier being found guilty of sexual abuse and defamation, was just … keep his mouth shut.

Instead, he continued to defame her, and he was ordered to pay for it. You might have hoped that after today — finally! — Trump would have had reason to learn that his actions have consequences. Perhaps he would choose to return to Mar-a-Lago in sweet court-mandated silence. But his delusions of impunity are too strong.

Mere moments after the verdict from a federal jury in New York, Trump’s Truth Social account declared the judgment “Absolutely ridiculous!” and cast the entire trial as a “Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party.”

It was Trump’s response that was absolutely ridiculous. He was the one who chose to sexually abuse Carroll. He was the one who chose to attack Carroll in news conferences and on the campaign trail after he was found guilty. He was the one who chose to post repeatedly about the case on social media, fomenting his followers’ outrage. In this case, if Trump is the target of the “witch hunt” he claims to be, then he built his own pyre.

His false accusation that the ruling was motivated by partisan politics demonstrates his deep concern about the four other cases looming against him in federal and state courts. But it also reveals, better than any crime the former president is accused of committing, the vacuousness of his character.

A man who takes no responsibility for his actions will dodge and deflect when he is found wanting. A man who takes no responsibility for his actions will not hew to higher powers designed to hold him accountable.

Fortunately, the law was not designed to service Trump’s fragile ego. Voters should remember that they don’t have to do so, either.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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