The Slatest for Sept. 15: Donald Trump Goes on Trial March 4. Guess What March 5 Is?

So Donald Trump is going to be on trial right in the middle of primary season. Wild!

That begs many questions about how this is all going to play out. Questions like: Will legal restrictions on Trump’s movement prevent him from holding campaign events? What if he won’t stop interrupting witnesses and the judge, or calls on his supporters to disrupt the trial?

How much can Trump’s lawyers use the timing to their advantage in court? Can they suggest that jurors vote not guilty because they’re uncomfortable with the timing of the trial or its potential effect on the election?

Ben Mathis-Lilley takes on these questions and more.

Plus: Dennis Aftergut unpacks a new judicial trend that bodes terribly for Trump.

Everybody hates Mitt Romney and also, everyone loves Mitt Romney. Where do we put him in the GOP’s daisy chain of weakness? Dahlia Lithwick reflects on his legacy and the state of the party he’s leaving behind.

Conservatives who like to complain that Hunter Biden is getting special treatment have it the wrong way around. “Hunter Biden is a deeply flawed man who made many bad decisions, but it is improbable that those decisions would have triggered prosecution if he weren’t the president’s son,” Mark Joseph Stern writes. He looks at the case against the younger Biden and concludes that Supreme Court precedent seems to be in his favor.

Walter Isaacson’s got a 600-page biography of Elon Musk out. Laura Miller read it, and she’s here to report that it doesn’t tell you all that much about Musk himself—but it does tell us about someone even worse.

Nadira Goffe has a bone to pick with Hulu’s new show The Other Black Girl. The series flattens a complex subject into a caricature, much like the recent Black horror films Bad Hair and They Cloned Tyrone. Goffe explains why it’s time to retire the Black woman hair trope in film and TV.

Want Natasha Lyonne to help you solve the New York Times crossword? John Lithgow to paint your dog? Now it’s possible! Jenny G. Zhang ranks every dream offer from Hollywood’s Union Solidarity auction.

Wait, were those actually dead aliens that were presented in front of the Mexican legislature? Ben Mathis-Lilley tries to get to the bottom of it.

… much like, er, Mitt Romney? Luke Winkie shares the results of his quest to “internalize the dark essence” of the outgoing senator—by replicating his cursed culinary creation.

We hope you have a great weekend, no matter how you feel about large bodies of water! Thanks so much for reading, and we’ll see you on Monday.