No, Mr Trump, Your Indictment is Not an Attack on Our Country

You and your Republican colleagues are attacking the country, and you know it

Donald Trump has been indicted on 30 counts of business fraud. He says the indictment is an attack on the country. Huh?

“This is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before. It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections. The USA is now a third-world nation, a nation in serious decline. So sad!”

The actual attack on our country is coming from Trump, Republican leaders, and his followers and acolytes. What you see is this: No one gives a damn about the evidence. Except for a grand jury that heard it all. And they determined that it is good enough to conclude that a crime may have been committed and it is worthy of a trial. Why is that an outrage? Why is that an attack on our nation?

I said months ago that Donald Trump had no choice but to run for office because the fact of his running is his only defense against indictments and criminal trials. By running, he can claim political persecution, and, in fact, he already has. This is why he put his hat in the ring immediately after the midterm election. He could not predict when the indictments would start to come down, but the longer he could claim that he was the “front-runner candidate” the more plausible his claim of a political witch hunt would be. He knows he can’t defend on the facts, so he is defending on the politics and the procedures.

Yet at this time, two facts stand out as interesting. First, Republican leaders have immediately circled the wagons around Trump to express outrage without even knowing what the charges are. CNN reports there are thirty counts of business fraud. Thirty counts? Business fraud? That seems like a lot and raises questions about what the actual accusations are. Republican defenders also have no idea of the evidence. How can they so quickly conclude that it is an outrage? The answer: Just because it is their guy and they are scared of him. What a bunch of weasels.

Second, various news outlets reported that the reaction by Trump supporters was swift — all of two dozen people showed up at Mar-a-Lago to show support. Two dozen people. More are gathering, but it remains to be seen just how large it gets. Demonstrations in New York, also small, were supportive of Alvin Bragg, the district attorney. Reports are also stating that they don’t see any huge security concerns at this time, but New York is not taking any chances. Nor is Washington DC. Security is out in full force. Everyone remembers January 6th.

Now, this is interesting. My guess is that Trump’s call for protests under the guise of an “attack on the country” is likely to fall short of his expectations. I could be totally wrong. But the logic is this. First, a lot of people have been prosecuted for January 6th. People have seen that. People probably don’t want that. There will still be some die-hards, but the numbers will be much lower.

Second, do Trump supporters really want to get messed up in “death and destruction” to defend a man who isn’t even President at this time? January 6th offered his supporters the opportunity to delude themselves into thinking they could keep Trump in office when they could not. But to what end would they do so now? Protest will not put him into office. The indictment will not stop him from running. What Trump has missed is this: There is nothing in it for them anymore. It is all about him. He is asking people to risk their lives, their freedom, and the real possibility of jail time for what — so he can stay out of jail! Not so he can remain president and carry their agenda forward. Even Trump supporters must see the absurdity of his request.

Trump is not the only one who has missed this — so has the Republican leadership that is circling those wagons. What possible principle could they be defending other than loyalty to power? Yet this is precisely the DNA of Republicans. Personalities don’t matter. Principles don’t matter. Policies don’t matter. The country doesn’t matter. There is only one thing — power. They see the power, wrongly, in Trump, and that’s why they circle the wagons. I expect they are going to be quite surprised when his political power does not materialize as expected, the charges are bigger and more serious than anticipated, and the evidence is strong and possibly irrefutable.

Let’s be clear. The country is not being attacked by way of Trump being indicted. No. The country is being attacked by the chorus of Republican leaders who think it is an outrage for a grand jury to review months of evidence and come to a conclusion that a man likely committed a crime, should be tried, and thereby given his day in court. Trump’s Republican supporters seem to believe that Trump should have no trial, that despite the evidence he should be left alone, and indeed, that he is above the law. The American way, however, is that evidence convicts and the courts are our way of figuring that out. A jury will acquit or it will convict. What is wrong with that? There’s a likely crime here. Sorting out if he is guilty or not in court is the American way. It is how our country works.

Gadwall Jackson

Writing the Unspeakable Truth