Readers of this byline may find my general characterization of the Regime Media’s coverage of the Trump business records trial in New York City, “onanistic”, to be too harsh. After watching MSNBC’s coverage of the trial today, I may need to reconsider- but in the other direction.

Watch as Andrew Weissman, former Mueller prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst, openly and unabashedly declares his undying prosecutorial man-love for Judge Juan Merchán, as aired during ongoing Trump trial coverage on Wednesday, May 29th, 2024:

ANDREA MITCHELL: And describe the rapport between the judge and the jurors in this case, in many cases.

ANDREW WEISSMANN: Yeah, I mean- almost all jurors, unless you’ve got a really erratic judge, develop a real bond with the judge. There, you know- the judge, he or she is looking out for the jurors. They’re paying careful attention to their time, it’s making things move along. Um- and with, as you noted with respect to judge Merchán, I mean, I am like now -- you know, I have, like, a man crush on him. He is such a great judge that it's hard to see that the jurors wouldn't have the same impression. And he’s just- you just keep on thinking, if you looked in a dictionary for, like, judicial temperament, that's what you would get. And just remember, he has had to put up with a defendant who committed ten acts of contempt, who’s threatened not just him but his family. And in spite of all of that, you would not know for a second that that is in any way weighing on him, because it has just been such an impeccably fair trial.

MITCHELL: Which is, you know, just a fascinating context here, especially given all the ruckus in social media and in- outside the courtroom.

One half-expected Weissmann to fawn forever here, going on and on about Merchán’s judgely intonations and the stately flow of his robe in an attempt to emulate a David Brooksian Niebuhr-and-pants-creases type of smart fangirling.

But Weissmann’s fangirling comes off as crass; as the admiration for a process of weaponization of government against the sitting president’s chief political opponent by one who specializes in the application of such weaponization. It is vulgar and unseemly, even by MSNBC’s standards. 

Watching Weissman fangirl to Merchán evokes imagery of some Saudi cleric doing TV analysis of the state head-chopper, expressing awe at the manner in which the head-chopper wields his sword and oohing over his head-chopping technique. It is all grotesque, and just one in a long parade of grotesqueries that we watch (and cover) so you don’t have to.

You may be tempted to feel some sort of sympathy for us for watching this nonsense but remember that, as Hyman Roth said to Don Michael Corleone: this is the business we’ve chosen.