Democracy 2024: # 31

Donald J. Trump has been "arrested" and arraigned more times in the past few months than your average town drunk or Lady of the Night. Yet, he remains a solid favorite to be next year's Republican nominee for President of the United States. Even more so, some recent polls show him virtually tied with the incumbent President of the United States as Joe Biden seeks a second term.

Trump muses that all he needs is one more indictment to ensure his election. That one more is believed to be coming practically any day now in Atlanta, Georgia. In the meantime, as has long been excepted, Trump has now been charged a second time by the federal government. This time, and for the first time in American history, related to actions he took as President. Trump is re-writing the record book on Presidential indictments as he goes, although it is a new book altogether. Special Counsel Jack Smith is charging Trump not with seditious conspiracy or enticement of the January 6, 2021 riot, as many would have liked to have seen, but by actions he took to try to steal the election after he lost. Those actions certainly contributed to what happened at the U.S. Capitol on that horrible day in January. Six other individuals, one of whom, Rudy Giuliani, was once the most popular man in America, are unnamed co-conspirators at this point on the Trump indictment. They have not formally been charged, but that may soon change. Clearly, the government is going to be putting pressure on them to turn on Trump. It also very much appears that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has already been "flipped" since he is not among the co-conspirators.

Reportedly, Trump could have issued his not guilty plea via Zoom, but instead chose to exercise his right to appear before a judge at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C. Of course, this caused the whole thing to be far more expensive than it would have needed to be, both for the taxpayers, and for Trump (or his campaign donors) himself. However, as a defendant he does have rights. He sees the political benefit of being "persecuted" in the eyes of his supporters and will milk that to the ends of the Earth. He had another day of wall to wall media coverage, although it feels at this point like we have seen the show before that features his vehicle en route to a courthouse, and then him getting back on his airplane.

 

 A brouhaha is under way though because Trump keeps making statements on his social media that are ambiguous at best and threatening at worse. The other night he said words to the effect of he is coming after anyone who comes after him. Now, is that about Jack Smith? Is it about potential witnesses in the case? Or is it merely about his current Republican opponents like Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie? It all seems like it is being thrown out there in purpose to goad others into both talking about him and having his die-hards view him as a victim who is being muzzled. The Justice Department is seeking some sort of "order of protection" now in an attempt to prevent Trump from being able to share or say various things on social media. I will not claim to understand all the legalities behind that, but this is going to be a big story next week, as Trump's legal defense team is being obliged to give their response on Monday. Some believe and are even hopeful that the judge in this case might somehow find a way to find the former President and criminal defendant in violation of his bail and remand him to custody. If that happens, we have entered a completely new stage of this entire eight year drama. I think it is unlikely. What should be scarier though is that it just takes one deranged individual to think they have to act on something in order to show their loyalty to the cult-leader.

Some in conservative media circles are claiming that these latest charges and not strong, and point out that they were willing to say otherwise regarding the classified document indictment. I do agree that the case in Florida is more cut and dry but I still think these charges against Trump related to his attempt to steal the 2020 election after the fact are valid and put him at great legal risk, putting aside the fact that a Washington D.C. jury might be unfavorable to him. No wonder, Trump is calling for the venue to be moved to the State of West Virginia, perhaps his most solid local of support.

To be brief, I think it is pretty clear that these charges differentiate from the things that Trump said to the things he did, even as that is being obfuscated by his defenders in the Republican Party. If he wanted to maintain that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 election and was robbed via fraud of the victory, that would have course been dishonest, but not illegal. I agree that the Constitution offers protection (at least criminally) for deranged liars and crackpots. That is the way it should be.

The illegalities from a criminal sense come in though when someone uses the office of the Presidency to try to intimidate state or local election officials or to engage in a plan to fraudulently submit a slate of alternate electors. Trying to coerce the Vice President of the United States to violate the Constitution and prevent the certification of an election at the mandated time and place should also be illegal. So, this goes far further than free speech. The hysterical and ridiculous analogies drawn by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to Al Gore of Hillary Clinton protesting their election losses (even though both formally conceded) are beyond ludicrous. Neither of them, nor any Democrat such as Stacy Abrams who had refused to admit defeat, took actions to try to get in power or stay in power. That is the key difference. Beyond that tactic, it seems like the only other thing Republicans have been coordinated in doing for Trump's defense is to talk endlessly about Hunter Biden (who is under criminal indictment himself) and a "double standard" in justice.  Whether there is one or not should not relevant to this discussion over what Trump did in the two federal cases brought against him. (I am on record in saying the New York charges seem weaker on the surface and politically motivated..motivated to make sure he is the Republican nominee against Biden.)

Do we have a "weaponized Justice Department" or "system of justice?" If there is, it should be a weapon of self-defense. Nobody is attempting to actually claim Donald Trump is an innocent man. Besides himself of course. I should also point out in regards to the Hunter Biden "plea deal" which may eventually re-emerge, that we can be certain that Trump would also be offered plea deals if he were willing to take one.

So, all this continues to put Trump's primary opponents in a position where there is virtually no oxygen left in the room. The more he paints himself as a victim, the more his fans have his back. I have seen some signs this week that whether it is out of that realization or a sense of desperation, some of the other Republican candidates are starting to change directions.

For one thing, Ron DeSantis put a small toe in the water at least and said there was no evidence to support some of Trump's more outlandish claims about voter fraud in 2020. That is further than he has done before. One would think that DeSantis should realize that if he wants to paint himself as a more electable alternative to Trump, he would need to admit that Trump lost the last time. Lately, the Florida Governor has been saying that Trump cannot win a general election with his focus on the past and he threw in a line about "boxes near the toilets in Mar A Lago" to go along with it. DeSantis is even saying that while Trump helped him win the Florida 2018 Republican primary for Governor, he was a drag  that year in the general election and nearly cost him a victory. He is then pointing out that Trump abandoned him in 2022 and he won a landslide on his own. Can MAGA Nation follow that all clearly?

Next, let us look at the case of Mike Pence. Thus far, the former Vice President has not even qualified to make it to the debate stage on August 23rd. That leaves an interesting question in the mind of some. It sure looks like Pence could be the "star witness" for the prosecution in the D.C. trial. Trump has been admonished to not have contact with witnesses, which is already problematic, since so many of them are continuing to work for him or are in his orbit. What about Pence though? Would Trump even be allowed to be on a debate stage with him? It is hard to imagine that Fox News would not bring up the dispute between the two of them which is at the heart of this case. This is really all pretty crazy the more you think about it.

For his part, Pence is in a very tough spot politically. For months now, he has tried to walk a line and have it both ways on Trump. He said he did not Trump to be indicted over the classified documents. When it comes to this latest case though, he has surprisingly taken a different tact. He is publicly saying that Trump's "crackpot lawyers" told him what his "itching ears wanted to hear" in regards to election fraud. As could easily be predicted, Trump is now on Truth Social attacking Pence via derogatory nicknames and saying how he had been warned all along and now knows that his Vice President was "not a very good person."

A couple days earlier, Mike Pence released a statement about his former runningmate.

"Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States."

 

Amen.