A Political Benefit, Or A Disqualifier?
Our justice system has finally acted in a first step – and we’re unsure what will happen as a result besides certain chaos and acts of revenge.
We’re dealing with a certain societal incredulity that criminal charges have been leveled against a former president, even Donald Trump, for whom there has been a very long, slow race to see which of several possible crimes would find its way to a courtroom.
In New York, District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg popped months’ worth of speculation and talk about possible actions and announced that Trump will stand trial on charges that he declined to describe until a promised Tuesday court appearance. In Mar-a-Lago, the Trump camp remained defiant in denial, while opponents across the country reached for Champagne. For a moment, it almost didn’t matter the exact charges, though that will become important shortly.
No matter your view of Trump and the chaos he brings about wherever he goes, the announcement is a sad commentary on our times, values and how we handle accountability for the rich, powerful, and famous.
It’s not only the indictment of a former president that is unprecedented, but the indictments also reflect repeated, unprecedented acts of what seem crimes by a leader of this country by and for his own benefit, the betterment of his image, company and political immortality.
There is open speculation as to whether shameful indictments practically will benefit Trump politically rather than disqualify him – politically, not legally. Already, the threat of indictment is spurring a healthy fundraising campaign. These questions will only increase in volume should an indictment prove unwinnable amid the technicalities of court proceedings.
Promised discord in politics and the streets are guaranteed, as are endless legal maneuvers towards handling even the details of a trial, never mind the substance. The prospects of Secret Service protectors working alongside police finger printers or the process of finding jurors who will have few opinions about Trump or this case already are tiring to consider.
The idea of running for president while indicted or even potentially convicted is suddenly a reality. We’re being reminded that legally, there is no bar to run if you are charged or even convicted.
There just is the communal insanity that doing so is the answer to some American problem that we share.
What is remarkable is that it is an out-of-office and disgraced Donald Trump and his foibles rather than Joe Biden and his attempts at constructive governing – however successful or not – that stamps the value-setting in our times
Seeing Political Prosecution
It is the array of Trump supporters from our top Republican leadership, right-leaning broadcasters and campaign whisperers who are decrying what they see as a politically weaponized prosecution or even calling for violent response still grabs my attention.
What exactly gives three congressional committee chairs the standing to call Bragg, a local official, on their carpet, for example? What are we to make of calls to arrest or punish Democratic leaders as well, as if crime enforcement is an evenly balanced political activity.
No, this is an attempt at outright political overlay on a regular criminal proceeding – albeit with an unusual defendant.
It’s not that Speaker Kevin McCarthy, former Vice President Mike Pence and others dispute whether Trump did as he is accused of doing, it is that America, through an elected district attorney, could have the temerity of trying to hold Trump legally accountable. So, attacking the system, the prosecutor, threatening congressional hearings as a weapon – while simultaneously decrying “weaponization” of justice – are all considered fair. Somehow it is fine for Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is waiting for Trump to stumble to insert himself as a presidential candidate, to vow to withhold extradition services in support of the very laws he now claims are “un-American” to deign to prosecute Trump.
Their insistence of Trump’s legal invulnerability exists even though this case essentially describes a plot that Trump’s own Justice Department had pursued against former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. Trump himself was described in court documents as an unindicted co-conspirator. But he was kept clear of charges because he was in the White House when the case came up and because then Attorney General Bill Barr told federal prosecutors in New York to drop any further consideration of the case.
Private Citizen or Permanent President?
Of course, Trump is now a private citizen, even if a declared candidate for a return to the presidency, and subject to criminal review.
The case may have bumps towards conviction. Testimony from Michael Cohen is being challenged, and to prove anything beyond misdemeanor requires finding that books were cooked towards a goal like hiding campaign finances, that is a violation of law itself.
But his supporters are not focused on legal issues. They remain upset that anyone can describe any crime to pursue if Trump is involved. If Trump is involved, they want all hands off anything that looks or feels as running afoul of the law.
Given the lineup of crimes moving toward possible indictment in Georgia and through a special prosecutor in Washington, this is a bad sign, a very bad sign. The crimes described in the plots to overturn election results or for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection riots are far more serious than this one in New York, but the attitude that Trump can skate on any and all criminal charges is antithetical to the notion that this is a country based on equality before the law.