The New York Times reported that Trump was “evidently not happy” when few followed his directive, ignoring the fact that “he wanted a circus to accompany his trial.”

The scene that confronted him as he approached the dingy courthouse at 100 Centre Street was underwhelming. Across the street, at Collect Pond Park, the designated site for protesters during the trial, only a handful of Trump supporters had gathered, and the number would not grow much throughout the morning. ... [T]he streets around the courthouse on Monday were chaos-free — well-patrolled and relatively quiet.

The article added that there were some Trump supporters gathered in the park across from the courthouse, but they were “outnumbered by Trump detractors.”

To the chagrin of the former president, this keeps happening......

Yesterday, the turnout was, once again, largely a joke. So much for “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”

As for why, exactly, these demonstrations have failed to materialize, there are plenty of competing explanations, starting with the fact that the Justice Department’s extensive prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters have not gone unnoticed among the former president’s most ardent backers.

But I’m also reminded of an analysis my MSNBC colleague Zeeshan Aleem wrote last year.

“It may have to do with post-Jan. 6 wariness of getting in trouble if a pro-Trump protest spirals out of control,” Aleem wrote. “Perhaps conspiracy theories about the government laying traps for peaceful protesters scared them out of showing up. Maybe Trump finally has exhausted his base with his constant hysteria. ... Whatever the reasons may be, Trump is looking weak.”

Shareholders will soon reveal whether Tesla is a corporation or a cult by voting on whether to make Elon Musk the highest-paid part-time CEO in history despite the stock price collapsing 40%, the company laying off 14,000 workers and a judge calling his hand-picked board’s decision-making deeply flawed.

Musk and Tesla’s directors are spending millions to convince shareholders to give up $56 billion after the company missed sales targets and failed to launch the new Model 2 on time, if at all. Analysts at Houston investment bank TPH Energy Research expect the stock to drop another 17% before bottoming out.

Tesla’s biggest retail shareholder, Leo Koguan, told the energy transition website Electrek that he would vote against the deal in June. “Tesla is a family business masquerading as a public company,” he explained......

Yes, let’s compare Tesla to General Motors. Tesla is valued at about $460 billion with an extraordinary price-to-earnings ratio of 34, which means investors think it is worth $34 for every dollar the company earns.

General Motors is worth $48.82 billion and has a standard price-to-earnings ratio 5.78. The stock yields a dividend of 1.14%, while Tesla yields nothing. GM generated $171.84 billion in revenue in 2023, compared to Tesla’s $96.8 billion.

“I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned,” he posted on X. “Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla. You don’t seem to understand that Tesla is not one startup, but a dozen. Simply look at the delta between what Tesla does and GM.”

UKRAINE (The Borowitz Report)—After six months of what seemed at times an unwinnable battle, on Saturday the Ukrainian army scored a stunning victory over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Jubilant Ukrainian soldiers cheered as news spread that their despised foe from Georgia’s 14th congressional district had been dealt a humiliating defeat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who greeted his front-line troops with a flurry of high fives, declared, “This is a war between freedom and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Ukraine chooses freedom.”

Answering a reporter’s question, Zelensky signaled that he might be open to direct talks with Greene, but added, “We would need an interpreter since only I speak English.”

On Sunday, Greene was still fuming about Ukraine’s win, telling Fox News, “I don’t see why Zelensky needs more weapons when he already has space lasers.”

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron reportedly appeared "dubious" Monday about a scheme to raise a $175 million bond so that Donald Trump could appeal a fraud ruling against him.

Engoron ordered the hearing after New York Attorney General Letitia James asked to revoke the bond because she had doubts that insurance company Knight Specialty Insurance could legitimately put it up. Engoron indicated that Knight Specialty Insurance Company would have to prove it could assure bond payment.

"Engoron seems dubious of relying on Charles Schwab to maintain $175M of collateral," Law360 reporter Rachel Scharf noted on X, referring to Trump using a Charles Schwab account as collateral and James' concerns that Trump still had access to the account.

"What if they break the agreement?” Merchan asked.

"Your hypothetical is calling into question the veracity of one of the largest financial institutions in the world," Trump attorney Chris Kise pleaded.

Now, Judge Merchan announces his ruling from the bench on the People's Sandoval Notice:

If Trump takes the stand the people can inquire about the following six determinations, in four separate proceedings:
-Feb 16, 2024 he violated the law by fraudulently misstating the value of his assets
-Oct 28, 2022 he failed to remove an untrue personally identifying post about law clerk and was fined $5000
-Oct 21, 2023 he intentionally violated court order by continually attacking court clerk & fine was $10,000
-Carroll v Trump the defendant defamed E. Jean Carroll by making false statements
-Carroll v Trump II the defendant made false statements about Carroll with actual malice
-NYAG v Trump Donald J Trump Foundation engaged in repeated and willful self dealing transactions