Eight more thoughts on the Trump indictment: getting into deeper waters
(For my previous article, “A dozen thoughts on the Trump indictment,” click here.)
I’ll start with the legal jungle itself. I’ll get to the more profound reasons why they’re lighting up Trump further down on the page.
ONE: On one side you’ve got lawyers saying the case against Trump is a bag of politicized garbage that can be defeated by any decent attorney. On the other side, you’ve got the legal claim that this is a very detailed and buttoned-up set of charges.
And all these statements are being made in the absence of having read the indictment, which has not been released. Plus no one knows how the prosecutors will attempt to deflect and work their way around obvious issues, such as the statute of limitations.
In other words, television news networks giving these lawyers face time are on the hunt for ratings. As usual. The networks are as reliable as tourist PR photos of vacation resorts—before you actually see the beaches and the hotel rooms in person and before you taste the food at the restaurants.
TWO: I believe prosecutors have designed their charges and their case to launch maximum ENTANGLEMENT and complexity. They want to glue Trump and his legal team to the courts for as long as possible. That’s Job One.
The prosecutors were TOLD to put on that kind of show. Keep Trump busy, distracted, needled, under the gun. Wear him down. Stimulate him to make off the cuff and off the wall statements. Statements which, with a big stretch, could be called self-incriminating—or INCITEMENT.
Guarantee the 2024 election campaign will take place under ominous legal clouds. All the way.
Keep a constant volley of claims that Trump is a criminal in front of the public, day after day. The final verdict in the case is less important than the case itself. The case is a circus, with acrobats and elephants and roaring lions and sideshow freaks.
THREE: Over the years, Trump has committed financial crimes. Some of them are par for the course for any big-time, wheeler-dealer real estate developer.
“Which money are you talking about? Oh, THAT money went into my corporation on West Fudgebucket Island. The corporation we created yesterday…”
The PR and news flacks assisting the prosecution will try to make the uneducated public believe these are SHOCKING offenses that should boggle the mind.
That’s bullshit. Real estate hustlers commit these crimes every day without a moment’s pause for thought.
There are other financial crimes Trump may have committed that are more brazen. These would be along the line of making up for sudden shortfalls by throwing new bad bets against prior bad bets. Minor versions of what governments do when they don’t have money and need to invent it out of nothing and try to explain why they’re making sound moves. It’s possible the prosecution will go after Trump for a few of his more bizarre cons and hustles.
But to be clear, prosecutors aren’t ordinarily interested in pursuing real estate developers for ANY of these offenses. It takes too long, and it exhausts resources.
However, this is Trump, and the goal is political.