The Trump indictment seems almost like an April Fool's joke!
Everyone - and by "everyone" I mean political junkies - is having an orgasm over this Trump indictment, as if it was finally the "smoking gun" promised for oh-so-many-years that will put Trump in jail for good!
Maybe, but I doubt it. And quite frankly, this trivial bullshit will just enable Trump to argue that it is all a political attack and thus deflect more serious charges of sedition, conspiracy, inciting a riot, trying to rig an election, and of course, treason. After all, if the "Stormy Daniels" indictment is garbage, maybe the other things mean nothing, too!
You would think this was out of Trump's playbook, not the Democrats'. Trump was famous for distracting people with a tweet just as something damning came out. And it is a time-honored technique to get people to fixate on trivial things and thus ignore more serious ones. If the only "crime" Trump is guilty of is sending $130,000 to a porn star, then what's the beef?
That is the argument they will raise, anyway.
So what is the beef?
I mean, is it illegal to give someone $130,000 in return for their silence? Apparently not, as people do this all the time - paying "hush money" in return for someone signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep them quiet. So long as what they are keeping quiet about wasn't illegal, it is not against the law to pay someone not to say unflattering things about you or to keep trade secrets or to not disclose company policies or... whatever.
But that is not the "crime" Trump is accused of. The money was paid to Stormy Daniels by Trump's hapless lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in turn invoices the Trump Organization for his fees as well as the hush money. This is all later characterized as legal fees on their books and no doubt claimed as a tax deduction.
Aha! Tax fraud! It is what caught Al Capone, right? Well, maybe. The indictment is sealed for now, so we won't know until it is unsealed. And shouldn't the Justice Department be handing a tax matter, not the District Attorney for Manhatten?
If they indeed claimed this as a business deduction and it was actually a personal expense of Donald Trump (although, I suppose Trump Org could claim that maintaining his image - which is all the Trump Org is anymore - a trademark licensing company) then they may owe back taxes, which at most might be thirty grand or so. Not really a rip-roaring crime, as deductions are not as clear-cut in terms of tax fraud as, say, failing to report income. Even so, Trump paid little or no taxes in previous years, so maybe it would not have even affected his tax bill one dollar. I don't see tax fraud as the big deal here.
It turns out that keeping fraudulent business records is a crime in New York State - a whopping misdemeanor. Pay the fine - a few hundred bucks - and move on, right? I mean, if that's all there is, there isn't much going on here.
But there may be another angle - Campaign Finance Laws. The argument, as I understand it, goes like this: Paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels was, in effect, a campaign donation, and since it was unreported, that is a crime, potentially a felony.
Campaign donation?
Yes, the theory goes like this (apparently): By paying off Stormy Daniels, Cohen (or Trump by reimbursing him) was making a campaign contribution, as the money benefited Trump's campaign in he final days (funny thing, though, didn't we all know about Stormy Daniels and other affairs during the campaign?). Thus, in effect, the "hush money" should have been reported as a campaign contribution. Moral: In the future, pay off your hussies through a Political PAC - they are pretty much free to do what they want to, after Citizen's United.
But whether that argument will work remains to be seen. Can they prove that there was intent to make an illegal campaign donation? Or that anyone in the Trump Org even considered it such? I am not an expert on these matters, but in terms of awful things Trump has done over the years (and it is a long list) it really isn't even in the top 10, much less the top 100.
Are there other "crimes" involved here? Maybe. Maybe there is something else that will come out in the next few days - something with more meat in it.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, we are having an investigation of our own. People in Florida used to laugh at folks in Georgia as being a bunch of right-wing rednecks - and we do have our share of those. But it is a State that elected not one, but two Democratic Senators on January 7th (something happened the day before, I forget what). We also have a Governor and Secretary of State, who, when pressured by Trump to "find votes" for him (like 30,000 of them!) they politely declined. And oddly enough, both were re-elected to office, despite standing up to Trump - which in other States is considered political suicide.
So, so glad we moved away from Florida and settled in Georgia. Florida is just going batshit crazy!
But I digress.
The point is, there are far more serious crimes that Trump likely committed, like trying to get the Governor of our State to commit vote fraud - and his calls for insurrection and riots, which continue to this day. You know, some hippie burning the American flag would be tossed in jail for "disturbing the peace" or "inciting a riot" but Trump gets a pass for telling people to "march on the Capitol" and "fight like hell!"
We fail to realize how close we came to losing our country, not long ago. And no, people whose opinions you don't like winning fair elections isn't "losing our country" by a long shot.
My fear is that this huge (and as Donnie would say, "UGE!") nothingburger will distract people from the real crimes Trump has committed. Already online and in the news they are offering "live coverage" of the indictment, even though it is sealed and even though nothing is happening - at least until next week.
And then what? Maybe some video of Trump entering a building and more "analysis" from talking heads and maybe then a plea agreement or possibly a trial next year. And lord help us if there is a trial in 2024 - it will be the centerpiece of his campaign. And if this nothingburger turns out to be a nothingburger, well, it might be enough to push Trump back into office.
My Mother always said, "choose your battles wisely!" I wish the Democrats followed this advice.
