Trump biographer explains what was going through ex-president's mind after Carroll verdict

Former President Donald Trump went into the E. Jean Carroll defamation case thinking he could "performance art" his way out of trouble, said biographer Tim O'Brien on MSNBC Tuesday.

Instead, he added, Trump got a rude awakening and an $83.3 million damages bill.

"What's got to be going through the former president's head?" asked anchor Alicia Menendez.

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"$83.3 million is a lot of money," said O'Brien. "That's what's going through his head, his head is basically a cash register, he sees everything in the world through the prism of money. Only two lenses that he understands things through."

"In this case, in which three women took him and his lawyer to the cleaners, through a very effective judicious and determined use of the court system, has got to utterly rankle him," O'Brien continued. "As was noted, they didn't know how his court antics might play out, but it ultimately didn't convince the jury, The ultimate jury that's going to be dealing with Donald Trump this fall are voters, and I think if voters have the fact pattern put in front of him, the history put in front of them, the dangers he presents, in this case to women and in other cases the national security and the democracy and the Constitution, juries will go the right way. It shows the rule of law does matter."

"You know, Donald Trump has historically been a skirt-chaser of the most ruthless and vicious sort," he added. "There's been talk about how he empowers women in his businesses, but most of his life he treats them like arm candy and sees them as dispensable. He probably went into this case thinking that he could power through it with bravado and performance art. And they schooled him and it rankled him and his sense of self, and I don't see him keeping quiet for any meaningful length of time. Every time he opens his mouth in coming months and years, she can sue him again and it can continue to fund her retirement and keep people on notice that Donald Trump shouldn't be allowed to get away with that."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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