Ex-President Indicted

Now the news about Donald J. Trump is at least as big as the climate crisis … well maybe not. The climate crisis has the potential to fundamentally and irrevocable change life on our planet. Donald J. Trump getting indicted … well, the NYPD has prepared for the Trump Cult’s potentially violent protests. In the big picture broken windows and possibly burned out automobiles and places of business and worship, that all doesn’t measure up to the collapse of our atmosphere and the end of most life on Earth. In the small, local picture, it’s a horror if it’s you bank or business or car burning.

Donald J. Trump has been indicted, the Manhattan District Attorney said in a statement, “This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”

Dr. Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five who were wrongfully convicted of a brutal gang rape and exonerated after seven years in prison, tweeted his comment about the indictment.

#PowerPost✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿™️

For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump – who never said sorry for calling for my execution – here it is:

Karma

— Yusef Abdus Salaam (@dr_yusefsalaam) March 30, 2023

Someone tweeted back to Dr. Salaam, “Karma is the most patient gangster ever.”

If you remember the time then President Trump told a room full of law enforcement officers, “Please, don’t be too nice.” More karma could be coming Trump’s way next week if he does appear at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, he will have his mug shot taken, get finger printed and then possible spend a few minutes — or hours — when the ex-president is held until a judge pronounces the bond recommendation, which will see him released on his own recognizance.

The judge might also allow Trump to go back to Florida. He is still protected by the Secret Service and there is most likely a detail from the U.S. Marshals Service going along everywhere Trump travels from now until the trial is over. Let’s just give up the false notion that, regardless of the “no person is above the law,” line, no one will ever be treated the same way Donald J. Trump will be handled by state and federal authorities because Trump is the first ex-president to ever be indicted.

This is historic. It is easily the biggest news of the day, of the week. Maybe next week we see Trump and his lawyers show up for the arraignment and bail hearing and that will be even bigger. Everything that happens in this case — and any charges that D.A. Alvin Bragg includes later, not to mention the investigation in Georgia and the Department of Justice special prosecutor, Jack Smith — all of it will be historic because no presidents or ex-presidents have ever been charged with felonies.

Just a suggestion: The word “unprecedented” has been said so many times Thursday, if there was a drinking game tied to it, the way we used to take shots every time the name “Bob” was said on the two Bob Newhart shows, all the players would be passed out drunk by now. So let’s put that word to bed, for a few days at least, because everything that happens in this case will be … err, for lack of a better word … unprecedented. Well, I guess we’ll just have to live with it.

So much goes into protecting former presidents and their families, all of that has to be figured out — coordinated — by the local NYPD, possibly the New York State Police, Florida officials, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Secret Service. That’s a lot of work for all involved.

On top of all that they will have to put up with the threats and lies told by Trump and all his toadies in the media, that gets the Trump Cult riled up and possibly ignite the fuse of a violent Trump Cult member … or two or more. Already Trump’s toadies have been claiming D.A. Bragg is “paid for” by billionaire George Soros which is, let’s be real, a barely veiled anti-Semitic slur. It’s the impolite way of saying Bragg is bought off by the Jews.

Then there are Trump’s vile and racist comments, not just to Alvin Bragg, but to other African Americans that disagree with Trump. New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow has been a target of Trump. On March 15 the headline on Blow’s column simply stated, “Donald Trump Must Be Prosecuted.” Yeah, many of us agree. Blow makes a lot of very good and thought provoking statements and observations, like this: “Prosecution is not the problem; Trump himself is. And any pretense that the allegations of his marauding criminality are a sideshow to the political stakes and were, therefore, remedied in 2020 at the ballot box rather than in a jury box, is itself a miscarriage of justice and does incalculable damage.” Sorry (not sorry) for the NYT paywall, but truly a subscription to the N.Y. Times digital is worth it.

Trump himself is the problem and it can only be solved by a jury of his … peers? There won’t be any of Trump’s peers on that jury. Eighteen New Yorkers (counting the alternate jurors) yeah, but millionaires and faux billionaires? That’s not even laughable. He’s still a joke, but now he is an indicted joke. The late night talk show hosts will no doubt have their audiences rolling with laughter.

Let’s be real, once again: Donald J. Trump is not being treated anywhere near like a common person indicted by a grand jury and prosecutor. That isn’t a bad thing really. It’s just the reality of the situation. So let’s stop saying he is treated like any other citizen. He isn’t.

The GOP and all the propaganda outlets, from Fox News to OAN, are spewing the anti-Semitic slur and much worse. They can’t lie and insult law enforcement fast enough. Congress is out for the spring recess, so the Trump toadies have turned to social media to regurgitate their BS. Like Colorado’s MAGA nut bar congresswoman Lauren Boebert who called Trump “the people’s president.” Now that’s funny!

Here’s a confession: I’ve been following Boebert on Twitter for a long time. Her and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Dinesh D’Souza and a host of other right wing, MAGA sucking nut bars. Every Fox News host is barfing out the lies and slurs that Trump likes — even the hosts that privately said they didn’t like the ex-president. But they don’t have to worry. Fox News viewers don’t watch anything but the MAGA Cult propaganda outlets so they probably don’t know Tucker Carlson texted a colleague this (about Trump), “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights” adding, “I truly can’t wait.” And then the slam dunk, “I hate him passionately.”

All of them, including Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, Bret Baier and the Fox News management, wanted to get past the lies and slurs of Trump-o-mania, but publicly on their propaganda platform they are all-Trump, all day long. Even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got into the act, repeating the anti-Semitic slur that has now been uttered as often as real news organizations use the word “unprecedented.” And his former buddy, the ex-president had been insulting the Guv, but DeSantis knows he must suck up to the Trump Cult voters so …

• Here’s a short aside: DeSantis picked a fight with a fictional mouse and lost. Is that “woke” enough for you, governor? It does beg the question: Did the governor’s parents ever take Little Ronny to Disney World?

Tuesday, April 4 Trump is scheduled to arrive at the District Attorney’s office so the ex-president can surrender to the D.A. The indictment remains under seal so ww won’t know what the charges are until there is an arraignment. But, it’s the collective opinion of many that the campaign finance scheme he did with Michael Cohen and former National Inquirer publisher David Pecker to bury Trump’s affairs with porn star Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels and the 1998 Playboy Playmate of the Year, Karen McDougal. Both Pecker and Cohen testified before the grand jury in the past few days, which leads everyone to believe it’s the porn star hush money deal that is in the indictment papers.

So the ex-president can surrender … yeah, that will be unprecedented if it happens.

Because of all the logistics involved with Trump, it’s unlikely the indicted grifter will spend more than a few hours in custody. Then the question will be: Does he stay in New York for a few days, hiding out in his Trump Tower apartment? The one he either under-valued or over-valued, depending if he was paying taxes or trying to get loans from the few banks that would do business with him.

So, I’ll wait until Tuesday to see how it rolls. Monday may be stormy, but, as the song says, “Tuesday’s just as bad.”

Errr … one last note: Melania Trump was seen parading about the Mar-a-Lago grounds wearing her famous (infamous) jacket that says “I  REALLY DON’T CARE. DO U?”  Shout out to The New Yorker for that. They also have a pretty good cartoon about Trump in jail.