Obviously it’s true that woman are judged more harshly for their physical attributes, and that misogyny is ever present, but the riffing in this thread was initially driven by Habba’s claim that she’d rather be pretty than smart.
Yes and look where that led
If a male lawyer had said something similar, there’d have been several posts for the next day or so mocking the statement and his appearance, and then we’d move on, with the thread dying or onto the next stupid thing he said or did
That did not happen here. Instead, her actual appearance was and continues to be debated over the course of weeks. Sure, some new bits of news became the focus for a while but then her personal attractiveness became a focus topic again
So, sure, she brought some of this on herself, but the fact that posts continue to focus on it rather pointedly shows that misogynistic dynamic in play. Worse, it’s being used as an excuse for such behavior, as if endemic misogyny is somehow less bad when somebody asks for it
For those keeping track of the ledger:
Trump attorney Alina Habba’s firm Habba Madaio & Associates, which represents Trump in cases including his civil fraud trial and E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him, was paid $4 million—and Trump still owes the firm $534,361, the PAC reported in its February filing
SOURCE: Forbes
Crazy like a fox.
I agree with @puzzlegal it is misogynistic, and I feel guilty for joining in with my fish comment, but sadly I can’t un-think that reaction to her. Would I have the same reaction if it was a guy with big lips? I don’t know.
I don’t think we’re “oversensitized” 'cause this crap has gone on for centuries, and it will keep going on 'till it’s called out enough for it to stop. Yes, many gouliani posts point out his looks, but that is because he is so beyond the pale in repugnant appearance it’s hard to ignore. Do you supposed his appearance has sort of mutated in to his repugnant character? Ms. habba is an attractive woman. I don’t know if she’s drop dead gorgeous or what, but if it was a hot guy lawyer, I doubt we’d be having this chat.
If anyone could point me to the 300+ BBQ Pit post about literally any other Trump lawyer, I’ll entertain there’s no misogyny involved in this thread.
GLUB GLUB!
Add these up, that’s more than 300 posts.
The second one alone is nearing 300.
There are 3 older threads devoted to Rudy but they are more than a decade old so I didn’t count them. Plus, he wasn’t Trump’s lawyer back then anyway.
She has been the main public spokesperson for Trump basically since Giuliani disappeared (and he had at least one thread), so I have no problem with a long thread making fun of her and detailing her “exploits”. I do also think, however, that the comments did spread over into clear misogyny.
I’m thinking Liberace.
The Pit isn’t fair. I see few threads about Sidney Powell’s relative hotness.
As krackens go, she’s a smoke show.
And yeah, when I call her “Lucky to be pretty”, I’m not really calling her pretty. I’m calling her stupid.
It’s not that she’s pretty, it’s that she values attractiveness over being intelligent.
This is a PIt thread, after all. As far as I’m concerned, she’s actively engaged in evil. Ol’ fishlips and her orange-faced, stupid-haired, scumbag client can both go fuck themselves.
I think the distinction (and I agree with it) is the focus on her appearance rather than her evil. I mean, we often mention Mitch’s resemblance to a turtle, but rarely with the locker room sniggering and normally without tying it to his value as a person.
Devil’s advocate though, when Alina Habba has, herself, showed that her value as pretty is more important to her and her kind than her intelligence, it’s probably fair game. But I’ll avoid it even in the Pit, because I want to vent about Habba without making my fellow posters share discomfort.
So look at it as a courtesy to your fellow Habba-haters in the thread, rather than doing HABBA any courtesy perhaps?
What’s your favorite Alina moment? Mine is when she told the press outside the courthouse that she was yelled at by the judge. She doesn’t take that at home, and she won’t take it in the courthouse! Close second- complaining that the judge’s clerk was rolling her eyes at her. Damn, I wish that had been televised.
I think I read once that Trump values appearance over substance. (Hence, gold-plated everything.) ISTR reading that he likes his ‘people’ to be people who look good on TV.
Oh, agree 100% that Trump values someone for their Reality TV potential more than actual skills!
And if we were evaluating WHY Trump values someone else, it would likely be a valid discussion topic on why he picks X/Y/Z for sexual assault targets/lawyers/VP candidates. But it would be a criticism of Trump’s values rather than the value of the person themselves.
That’s why I feel that there are degrees of “ick” on the subject, but my concern (again) is not the hurt feelings of some hypothetical Trump/Habba sock on this board, but other current, valued posters on this board (or hopefully non-hypothetical future new posters) feeling driven away by an excessive focus on the physical aspects of said horrible individuals.
Mine is the time she attempted to ask Jean Carroll about something that had not been introduced into evidence, and the judge called a break and asked her to take the opportunity to refresh herself on the rules of evidence.
Even better.
“But I was told to sit down today, I was yelled at, and I’ve had a judge who was unhinged slamming a table. Let me be very clear, I don’t tolerate that in my life, I’m not going to tolerate it here. And you know what? You shouldn’t either, because not every American citizen gets a camera and a microphone. And what I’m seeing is such a demise of American judicial system and democracy.”
He was “unhinged slamming a table”. It’s called a gavel you ignoramus. It’s a standard tool that judges use to call attention, particularly when trying to bring a trial back on track. It’s like complaining that a referee in a sports event was unhinged for blowing a whistle at people.
It’s almost as if Alina has never been in a courtroom before and doesn’t know how they work or what a judge does. I mean, it’s possible that her previous work as a lawyer involved filing paperwork and talking to people on the phone. She’s just so bad, it’s almost incomprehensible.
She just seems so cold and reptilian… like most of the MAGAs around Trump.
What’s particularly fun is that a few weeks later we learn that Habba endured this kind of behavior from Trump. When Carol’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan met with Habba at Mar-a-Lago, Trump tried to pull some sort of power play by asking Kaplan where she planned on eating lunch. Unbeknownst to Trump, Habba had extended the common courtesty of offering to provide lunch to Carol’s legal team and was incensed when Kaplan told him. Kaplan claims that an enraged Trump shouted at Habba over this.