Finally, Donald Trump has been held to account. For so long, it has seemed that no matter what he did or said, it didn’t matter. There were no consequences. No downsides.
“Character Counts!” Well, forget that. Now, it’s all on “The Deep State” and a “weaponized justice system.”
Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, tried to stick the acronym, G.L.O.A.T., “Greatest Liar of All Time,” on Trump’s one-time fixer, Michael Cohen. But the real GLOAT was sitting right beside Blanche. Will the real GLOAT please stand up? Or would the real GLOAT get away once again?
Not this time.
So, “finally.” And yet, even as I breathe a sigh of relief and say “finally,” this is actually one more in a string of defeats that began in 2016 when Trump lost the popular vote. In 2020 he lost both the popular vote and the electoral college vote. He then lost 60-some court cases in which he alleged voter fraud.
He kept losing in 2022, when his hand-picked candidates — all swearing fealty to the “Stop the Steal” campaign — were defeated. And he has lost two civil court cases. One in which he was found guilty of sexual assault and another in which he was found guilty of lying about the value of assets for loan and tax purposes.
What’s different about this one? Well, it was a criminal, not a civil, trial. And it was a jury of 12 Americans who found Trump guilty. And on every count. I, for one, didn’t expect that.
The question now is “what will this mean?” I think what we know from Trump’s track record of defeats and malfeasance is that this will have no decisive meaning for him politically. He will do what he always does. That is, he will do all in his power to continue to blame others and portray himself as an innocent victim. He is the King of Grievance. It is always someone else’s fault.
Will people continue to buy that? Yes, many will. It seems that minds have been made up long ago about Donald Trump. Loyalties have been declared, rationalizations served up, and now outrage, whether faux or real, expressed by his minions right on schedule.
So I, for one, don’t expect this verdict will bring about any big changes in the political landscape or our national debate. The fever is not yet broken.
That said, it does seem to me significant that this verdict came from a jury. If even one of the 12 had disagreed with the majority that would have been enough to get the whole thing thrown out. But they were unanimous. Twelve ordinary citizens doing their civic duty found Trump guilty. Not the Democrats, not Adam Shiff, not Rachel Madow, not The New York Times or Washington Post, not a panel of legal experts.
Twelve ordinary American citizens. On, coincidentally, the actual or original “Memorial Day,” May 30. The day when we remember the ordinary citizens who have served and sacrificed for this republic, people as nameless as we hope the members of this jury remain.
In the days and weeks to follow, I will be watching to see if any of those who have heretofore played it safe, cross the line and say, “Enough is enough.” Mitch McConnell? Other Republicans in the senate? Fox-TV commentators? Rupert Murdoch?
Of course, the case will be appealed. Trump may even win on appeal. But for now 12 American citizens — may God protect them — have said, “No.” No one is above the law. In the end, they — we — are our best hope.
File this one under: ‘tenuous relationship with objective reality’
Mr Bienn
Clue us in please:
Total # of convictions?
Jury results out of the 34 charges?
“Winning streak” in court in general?
Net results of his “stop the steal” effort?
Dates cited?
Unanimous nature of the most recent court date?
Interested in learning what actually differs from your objective reality.
Here you go!
“Trump Found Guilty of Running Against Democrats
The guilty verdict does not make Trump a felon; it makes Manhattan a Banana Republic.”
https://www.frontpagemag.com/trump-found-guilty-of-running-against-democrats/
Wow! Talk about alternate reality. A whole lot of opinion and no provable evidence, merely circular conspiracy theories calculated to delegitimize. Just stop.
Biden : USA :: Putin : Russia
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/the-day-the-democrats-putinized-america/
Again wow. Here’s the first paragraph. Unhinged opinion without any root in fact:
“On Thursday, May 30th, a jury of 12 New Yorkers erased the last distinctive line between Biden’s America and Putin’s Russia. With their verdict against Donald Trump, finding him guilty on 34 counts of forging business records, they verified that the Democrat party—the party of the sitting president—can organize a trial with its party operatives as judge and prosecutor, and get their political opponent found guilty.”
Seriously. You have to stop reading this crap. It rots the brain.
Mr. Bien
No, sir. “No go.”
Please do not provide such stuff when answering my explicit questions.
Both web sites are known as “kookdom” written in “kookese.”
This is not good for you. Please show this exchange to your health care professional and carefully listen to their advice.
Oh my, should I have issued a ‘trigger alert’ — bottom line: this entire lawfare ruse is very mid-Century soviet and it’s not playing well in Peoria (or anywhere else that’s not deep blue).
Had to reply out of order.
I asked simple, specific questions and got nebulous kookdom.
Asked again.
Now something about triggers and lawfare and Soviet/Peoria.
Therein lies the country’s problems when questions with incontrovertibly clear answers exist and the moving targets appear.
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
Mainstreet Research poll: “Donald Trump has said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York City, and people would still vote for him. Would Trump actually shooting someone on 5th avenue impact your vote for him or against him?”
46.8% of GOP polled said “no impact.”
I like to think this mainly illustrates the weakness of polls on hypothetical questions. Trump voters may I suppose feel somewhat beleaguered by appeals to betray their loyalty to Trump, because of the latest evidence that he really is as awful as he’s been painted. I would like to think that in the privacy of their vote, their loyalty won’t be quite so blind. I think his troops fear this, and that’s why instead of promoting Trump’s virtues they stick to disparaging Biden, hoping that this will serve the Trump voter as kind of an excuse. (Of course, that doesn’t apply to the Christian faithful, who need no excuse to vote for their anointed.)
Did Nixon still have a groundswell of support like this after Watergate? As a Gen-Xer, my memory of presidents goes back only to Ford.
Nixon was disliked long before Watergate. His political success had nothing to do with a cultish ‘base’ like Trump’s. As for “promoting Trump’s virtues”…. what virtues?
Yeah, I’m not saying Trump comes with much on offer, but you know, Christians can talk about how he shares their values, and anyone could do likewise. Especially if their values were compatible with Trump’s skanky ways.
The Republicans of the Nixon era were nothing like today’s party. They weren’t innocents, but from the voters on up, they weren’t blindly loyal. The US was deeply divided, maybe worse than it had ever been since the Civil War, but the propaganda machines weren’t anywhere near as effective as they are now.