American hating car vandal Jay R. Grodner is not only a horrible person, but apparently a terrible lawyer. It seems Jay showed up to court for his first appearance late and got a stern warning from the judge about respect for the court. At this point any lawyer worth his salt would ensure that his client was on time to his next appearance.

But we’re talking about Jay R. Grodner here.

Grodner, who was representing himself, showed up to court late again, this time calling one of the prosecutors to say that he wanted to wait for the press to clear out. The judge was unamused, and issued a warrant for Grodner’s arrest.

There’s a transcript of the proceedings provided by Kabuki Village. It’s an amazing display of arrogance on Grodner’s part, and an amusing look at the high price of arrogance.

Grodner sounds, by all accounts, like people we’ve all met. A 55 year old adolescent who seems perpetually shocked that people would want to hold him responsible for his actions. I’ve met dozens of people like this on University campuses (one of the reasons I ended my academic career early, I couldn’t imagine staying on a campus forever surrounded by those people) and in New York. Imagine the thought process of a 55 year old man, an attorney, who keys cars of people.

Stunning immaturity at best, but more likely Grodner is pathologically hateful of those who make him feel less than a man through their own accomplishments. Veterans are often targeted by people like Grodner whose identity is tied deeply into political activism and see the attention veterans get, the praise for their noble service, as reflecting poorly on the small and unimportant lives they’ve led.

So here’s Jay R. Grodner. A small man finally getting the attention he craved all his life. Handcuffed, humiliated and penalized let’s hope this attention has changed him for the better.

But I doubt it.