Seasonal heat fills this way-warm late-afternoon Wednesday here in California’s Central Valley — this might be the actual, real first day of summer, though, the official first day is still an exact week away.
Temps going up from here on out — that’s the start mark.

Also on the mark, the aftermath of T-Rump’s arraignment yesterday in Miami, and there have been reports the asshole might be afraid of the upcoming court fight. Supposedly he appeared in court oozing an ‘up shit creek without a paddle’ ambiance:

I am continually reminded that the witnesses against Trump are almost exclusively his former staff and loyalists. https://t.co/i1mttkNdmz

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) June 14, 2023

Bolting John Bolton further on the T-Rump’s possible, maybe, hopeful future (The Hill on Monday): ‘“This is a devastating indictment … I speak here as an alumnus of the Justice Department myself, because not only is it powerful, it’s very narrowly tailored. They didn’t throw everything up against the wall to see what would stick that this really is a rifle shot. And I think it’s, it should be the end of Donald Trump’s political career.”‘

Not alone in former T-Rump workers — via The New Republic this morning:

“He’s scared shitless,” John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, told The Washington Post. “This is the way he compensates for that. He gives people the appearance he doesn’t care by doing this. For the first time in his life, it looks like he’s being held accountable. Up until this point in his life, it’s like, I’m not going to pay you, take me to court. He’s never been held accountable before.”

And while Trump faces 37 counts of mishandling secret government documents, the overcompensation is certainly evident. Inside the courtroom Tuesday, Trump reportedly remained silent, with special counsel Jack Smith’s eyes trained on him throughout the entire arraignment.

[…]

“It’s part public relations and part babysitting,” Stephanie Grisham, one of Trump’s former White House press secretaries, told the Post. “He wants people to see the cheering crowds so they don’t think anything is going wrong. It’s also because the staff around him want to keep him busy and wants to have people cheering for him and giving him the ego stroke that he’ll need so they don’t have to deal with him being completely pissed.”

And his time yesterday in court was indeed a wondrous, silent clap, maybe he’s truly finally scared (The New Yorker):

For long stretches during former President Donald Trump’s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday afternoon, the only sounds in the courtroom were the creaks of the wooden benches in the spectators’ gallery and the hum of the air-conditioning system. Trump, wearing a dark suit, sat between his two lawyers, Todd Blanche and Chris Kise. From time to time, he leaned to his right to whisper to Blanche. Blanche would cover his mouth as he replied, pressing his face into Trump’s shoulder, practically snuggling.

Every American should be afforded the opportunity to observe Trump sitting silently for an hour. As it was, a half-dozen members of the public and a few dozen representatives of the press had their names drawn out of a hat by the clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In April, at Trump’s arraignment in Manhattan on thirty-four counts of falsifying business records, the former President said fewer than a dozen words. On Tuesday, facing federal charges—including willful retention of national-security defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice—Trump said absolutely nothing. His lawyers did the talking for him. “Your honor, we most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Blanche said, a few minutes into the proceeding.

Despite all we can do, the T-Rump will lie, cheat and steal his way out of this hopefully, airtight predicament in which there’s no escape. He’s already babbling weird, dangerous and frighting shit — for instance, last night at his nasty New Jersey golf club (CNN): ‘“Today we witnessed the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country. Very sad thing to watch, a corrupt sitting president had his top political opponent arrested on fake and fabricated charges of which he and numerous other presidents would be guilty, right in the middle of a presidential election in which he’s losing very badly.”‘
Or you’re so scared shitless you croak.

And to close us out, Johnny Cash with a topical tune:

Piss-in-his-pants scared, or not, yet once again here we are…

(Illustration out front: ‘President Trump,’ by Jonathan Bass, found here.)