that the jury can't deny the facts no matter how ugly the drama from the judge.

Trial is a farce.

Here's a good article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/he-has-torn-my-head-off-manafort-judge-known-for-being-tough/2018/07/31/f604e25a-6f28-11e8-afd5-778aca903bbe_story.html

He sounds mean and he may be "fair" but that type of behavior isn't necessary. It is just intimidating and he knows it. He may not be biased but he is a mean bastard.

The paper trail is unquestionable. Dude is going to jail.

A couple of dumbass remarks by the judge (who the jurors by now think is an asshole) is not going to unring all the bells. It's a paper case.

guy's a human being, not a robot.

“Manafort in my opinion kept fairly frequent updates,” Gates said, after a discussion of movement between their consulting firm’s offshore accounts. “Mr. Manafort was very good at knowing where the money was and where it was going.”

Judge Ellis, as he has repeatedly, interjected.

“He didn’t know about the money you were stealing,” Ellis said, “so he didn’t do it that closely.”

…but when the defense brought up Gates's spending habits -- something that is much less consequential to this case than Manafort's spending habits -- he remained silent.

I don't buy the "oh, he's just trying to make sure the defense has no avenue for appeal" argument. He's clearly biased in favor of the defense and the defense will almost certainly appeal regardless. His childish behavior is only hampering the prosecution.

that most of them are egomaniacs and petty tyrants. I participated in 18 trials as case agent, and I saw it first hand. Usually they treat both sides badly, as if the trial itself is a failure (they'd rather have a plea and never see the case except at sentencing).

The judge is convinced s/he is the smartest person in the room and feels a need to demonstrate her/his superior intellect.

It goes to their heads.

I've come closest to being jailed for contempt by elected State Court judges who were intent on trying the other side's case for them and didn't appreciate my objections.

Not all are like that, but they're out there. You can't call yourself a real lawyer until a federal judge yells at you.

That judge is an asshole for interjecting his comments. I'll give you that for sure. But it comes down to the jurors.

assholish, even though they are not legal experts. It's Alexandria. I predict they will do a great job focusing on the evidence.

he's also making sure Manafort won't have any claim on appeal that the judge was treating him unfairly. Because he's being a jerk it will be really hard for the defense to argue to the appellate court that the judge unfairly favored the prosecution - although his rude behavior toward the prosecutors probably won't play well with the jury and they might end up feeling sympathy for them (but let's see how he treats defense counsel for the next few days). I don't think he's being especially political - he's probably just those judges who likes making lawyers dance to his tune. I've seen a few judges who, after a long time on the bench, get to be pretty full of themselves.