The Trials of Trump

And Other Tribulations

One of my enduring dreams is to see Donald Trump behind bars—orange should be the new orange. After all, he did try to overthrow the U.S. government. It is also very satisfying to think of Trump broke, and desperate. Like having to sell sneakers or something. And I do think he should have to pony up the millions that he owes for the defamation of E. Jean Carroll; he was the cause of her pain—and I do hope, at some point, he will be held responsible. financially, for the pain inflicted on the families of the Capitol police officers on January 6. That would be justice.

But I wonder about the $355 million verdict against him in the New York fraud case. In fact, I’m with the Wall Street Journal on this one:

“This remedy is like using a Hellfire missile to annihilate a shoplifter. Deutsche Bank made money on the loans, and its valuation teams gave a “haircut” to the numbers provided by Mr. Trump. There was no real financial victim.”

Everyone in the New York business community has always known that Trump was as phony as his tan. Everyone knew that he was a fraudster who would take any advantage—and stiff any vendor—several steps beyond the edge of the law. It was on Deutsche Bank to vet Trump’s assets. They were the suckers at the table; it was their money. Amazingly, this was a rare case where the suckers came out ahead in a Trump business deal. And you’d have to acknowledge, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this case would never have been brought if the defendant’s name weren’t Donald John Trump. My guess is that the $355 million will be drastically reduced, or thrown out, on appeal.

There’s another thing about the Trials of Trump you can’t say in polite company: It just doesn’t look too good that Orange Jesus is being subjected to these questionable cases by black politicians—Letitia James (financial fraud) and Alvin Bragg (the Stormy Daniels case) in New York and Fani Willis (Georgia election fraud). I would guess every last Trump supporter understands this awkward reality; I would guess that the racial persecution aspect (including the Judge in the Federal January 6 case) has added to Trump’s popularity among his cult. There are more than a few white-supremacists who think the words “Democrat” and “black” are synonyms.

The Georgia suit is legitimate—Trump tried to steal the election there—but the prosecutor, Willis, has made a fool of herself, hiring a boyfriend to prosecute the case. I watched some of the Willis court hearing on TV this week and she did herself no favors. She did not, shall we say, come across as dignified. She has damaged her credibility and tainted her jury pool. Indeed, if it weren’t so politically incorrect, her court appearance this past week would make a devastating Saturday Night Live sketch, starring a cross-dressing Kenan Thompson..

Luckily, Trump is being prosecuted for the very same crime at the federal level—and we should keep our eyes on that prize. The Jack Smith case in Washington, focused on Trump’s fake electors scheme and other efforts to steal the election, is the one that matters most. The 14th Amendment cases in Maine and Colorado are classic litigation-addled Democratic diversions. The secret documents at Mar-A-Lago case is serious, but obscure—and Trump can plead Nolo Comprendere (I don’t understand!) in the court of public opinion, especially after Biden got off a similar hook (even though the cases are different—Trump wittingly tried to withhold the docs).

The Smith case is the ballgame. I wouldn’t be upset—in fact, I’d be relieved—if all the other cases fell by the wayside. And now it is in the hands of the Supreme Court: Will the Justices force Trump to stand trial without delay? They should. And if he does, I believe he will be found guilty of the gravest sin against a democracy, trying to upend it. And if he is, he should go to jail. If, on the other hand, the Court lets him skate or delays the trial, another pillar of our republic, the judicial system, will have been destroyed in the service of this dreadful man. We should know very soon.

Lindsey Graham Ukraine Vote

Speaking of institutions destroyed by Trump, there is Lindsey Graham. I always liked the guy, even when I disagreed with him. He did the work, with good cheer. He went into war zones as a member of the Air Force Judge Advocate General network—I remember seeing him in Kandahar—even while serving in the Senate. He was courageous on immigration. He worshiped at the First Church of John McCain, an honorable man who jumped the shark all too often when it came to military action. “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb-bomb Iran.” McCain and Graham shared an extreme hawkishness, to the point of folly.

And now, having converted to the Kool-Aid Chapel of Donald Trump, he votes against aid to Ukraine! Could he have done this with an easy conscience? Any conscience at all? I doubt it. Is obeisance to Trump that important? Perhaps in South Carolina, but still…he has a lifetime of shaving ahead of him. Every time he looks in the mirror, he should vomit.

Meanwhile, in Palestine

I’ve been touting Marwan Barghouti as a possible leader of a Palestinian state. He’s currently underemployed, doing consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in the first Intifada. But he has three distinct advantages: (1) he believes in a two-state solution, (2) he has credibility across the Palestinian political spectrum and (3) he is charismatic. A perfect ticket would be Barghouti, with Salaam Fayyed, currently at Princeton, managing the government and Mohammed Dahlan, currently in exile, handling security. I’d add that it is be essential to the two-state process for the Israelis to deal with a Palestinian leader who made them feel uncomfortable; a leader who didn’t make them uncomfortable—who didn’t contest them on where the borders should be, for example—would have no credibility. Anyway, the estimable Serge Schmemann of the New York Times wrote this about Barghouti this week. It’s worth a read.

Speaking of a two-state solution, Bibi Netanyahu clearly doesn’t believe in one. But then, I don’t believe in Bibi—and neither, apparently, does that pillar of the foreign policy establishment, Richard Haas, who thinks its time for President Biden to take Netanyahu to the woodshed. The Gaza campaign has been a bludgeon, not the scalpel I’d hoped. Perhaps the scalpel was impossible. But the bludgeon is morally and politically unacceptable and it won’t work: Hamas may be debilitated, but not eliminated. I’ve been touting this: No more offensive weapons for Israel—defensive systems like Patriot missiles are ok—until there’s a cease fire. I’d love to see Biden go there. It would show strength. But then, I’d like to see him shut down the southern border and he probably won’t do that, either. Thus rides his fate in the presidential campaign.

Adios Mark Green

The Tennessee Congressman and arch-hypocrite has decided to retire from Congress. He will not be missed, but he leaves a legacy. He may have coined the term Orange Jesus, to describe you know who. He was quoted by Liz Cheney, “The things we do for Orange Jesus.” The cynicism inherent in this formulation—translation: We are willing to sacrifice our integrity for this phony messiah—is staggering.

A Reckless Age

You really should read this essay by my podcast partner John Ellis. It says a lot about the essence of Sanity in a troubled time.