The Penny-Ante Ham Sandwich
Despite a deluge of warnings, including backfire, pride goeth before the fall, unintended consequences, reap what you sow, and more, Manhattan District Attorney went ahead and got his indictment of the Great Orange Whale. I don't yet know what's in the indictment, so I reserve the right to amend my opinion, but based on what I've seen so far, it's a passel of picayune.
As in, thirty-something counts of some sort of bookkeeping impropriety, reportedly based on an assertion that hush money (in and of itself not criminal) was paid at a time, in a fashion, and with an intent that constitutes campaign spending.
To channel Shania Twain, the indictment don't impress me much. As was repeated more times than I could count on the original Law and Order, a competent DA could indict a ham sandwich. All an indictment is, is the majority of a group of citizens being presented with one side of a case agreeing that there's enough "there" there to warrant going to trial. It's not a conviction, nor is it legal proof of guilt. And, with a truly motivated DA who appears hell-bent to be the one to claim the orange scalp before anyone else, coupled with the complexities of financial disclosure rules, it should be no surprise that he managed to convince at least twelve of the typical twenty-three person grand jury - a grand jury consisting of Manhattanites (you can infer the average politics therein) - to return an indictment of DJT.
The ball has started to roll. After Trump appears for fingerprinting, booking, and arraignment, we will witness months - perhaps years - of legal jockeying. At any point in time, this could all evaporate in a puff of judicial smoke - all it takes is a judge to rule that the law is being improperly applied. Or, Trump may want the process to stretch out so that he can leverage the martyr angle.
A mid-article caveat. I repeat - I don't know the charges yet. Nor have I seen the evidence. I make no assertion as to guilt or innocence at this time.
Years back, before RussiaGate was unmasked as a giant steaming pile of fake dog doo doo, a friend and I had multiple debates as to the matter. We reached a conclusion that whatever they put forth a crime committed by Trump had to be of real significance. It needed to be some major, obvious, and "plain" i.e. easily comprehended violation of both the law and the spirit behind it, and not some nickel-and-dime rules infraction. Were it the latter, accusations of political motive would not only be appropriate, they'd create even more chaos, more division, more distrust in government, and be as apt to backfire in outcome as to grant Trump's detractors a victory.
Fast forward, and guess what? At this juncture, all the signals are that it's exactly that, some penny-ante crap that may not even stand up as a crime, let alone something big enough to seek the incarceration of a former President and declared Presidential candidate.
That the goal, ever since he derailed Herself in 2016, has been to, and I paraphrase Congresswoman and Squad member Rashida Tlaib, 'jail that m**********r," has overridden reason and propriety. The fallout has been awful, with distrust of government growing at every turn, with the nation's citizens despising each other, and with America's geopolitical foes laughing their asses off at our dysfunction as they plot moves detrimental to the nation.
Barring a revelation of something unexpected and portentous, this is banana republic stuff. It won't stop Trump from running for the White House, and it won't unseat him if he wins the Presidency. There are competing theories on whether a President can pardon himself, but if Trump wins the White House, I think it fair to say "the people have spoken," and it should therefore be up to Congress via the impeachment process, and not some glory-hound DA, to deny the popular will.
EDIT - I keep forgetting that these are state charges, meaning he couldn’t pardon his way out of jail in this case. This presents a different concept - the idea of a President governing from behind bars. We all know it’s not going to get that far, though…
Those of us who really want Trump to fade away (I'm rooting, at this juncture, for DeSantis) are left clawing our faces off in frustration. This move by Bragg will help Trump's re-election chances. On top of all the revelations of lies, misdeeds, shenanigans, and worse by the FBI, the DoJ, and others across the years since Trump won the GOP nomination in 2016, this will just further martyr Trump, all his wild-man antics, all the stolen-election garbage, and all other knocks against him notwithstanding.
Do Bragg, his cohorts, and his puppet masters think that this is how they can improve their chances at the White House?
Perhaps. Perhaps the deep-logic here is to make Trump sympathetic enough among likely GOP primary voters to win him the nomination, with the belief that he's an easier 'beat' than DeSantis or another GOPer. Polls and betting markets do suggest that Trump is more apt to lose to Biden than DeSantis would be, but it's a long way to November 2024, and this move could easily sour many, many voters against Biden and the Dems. It could be a spectacular backfire.
But, even if we exclude electoral calculus from the matter, this action does nothing to improve government relations with the public. Sure, all the other scalp-hunters are gleeful. And, if you want a telltale, look at Pelosi's tweet about Trump proving his innocence (hey Nancy, you fascist, the system requires the prosecution to prove his guilt, not the other way around!).
If the indictments turn out to all be about campaign finance disclosure regarding payoffs to a porn star, the conclusion made by many that this is all born of Trump Derangement Syndrome will be validated. That there's a giant stink regarding Biden and millions in foreign dollars, that none of these crusaders even acknowledge, let alone explore, furthers that conclusion.
Once more, I leave room for new information. Were I a betting man, though, I'd think the chance of a jaw-dropper revelation pretty slim.
We want to keep DeSantis as our Governor here in Florida. You’ll have to draft someone else!
Of course this is all to set up a Trunp-Biden rematch which they think is there's to win.what was that line.in Kung Fuquay-Varina Panda? "Often you meet your destiny on the road you took to avoid it".