The seven counts against the former president include conspiracy to obstruct, willful retention of documents and false statements, according to people familiar with the indictment.
Obviously the course of justice must go forward, and if prosecutors have a strong case, the should pursue it.
On the other hand, given all that he’s done to undermine democracy, subvert elections, destroy civility, erode democratic norms and traditions, and find common cause with hostile foreign powers, I’m not really keen on the idea that 30 years later, when people say Trump, they’ll think “oh, the guy who mishandled classified documents?”
It would be like if Ted Bundy got caught writing bad checks and was locked up for that.
They famously got Al Capone on tax evasion, and nobody thinks of him as “the tax cheat” first and foremost.
Besides, I suspect that this is a case where the floodgates are going to open up in terms of investigations and charges, once the first set sticks to him. There’s also the NY state fraud charges already filed, and the GA state election tampering investigation that is widely expected to lead to charges.
I suppose that’s a good point about Al Capone. Though he famously had people murdered in the streets and everyone knew it. With Trump, he has a whole army of deniers who will try bend history to make him a hero.
If he were indicted and convicted on his most serious crimes (subversion, bribery, attempted extortion of foreign heads of state, etc), it would be harder for his cultists to rewrite history.
Either way, I’m glad he’s facing the music on something, anything.
Alas, I think that history has some dismal lessons for us on how the die-hard MAGA crowd are going to keep carrying water for their guy, as (among other things) it’s been almost 160 years since the end of the Civil War and lost-causers are still out, loud, and proud. The best we can hope for is a thorough public reckoning for Trump via the court system, that will strip away as many of his persuadable low-information followers as possible.
I agree with this to a point. To me the biggest reasons to celebrate world be convictions for conspiracy and incitement of the January 6 insurrection, and election interference in Georgia (and possibly other states that fronted fake electors). Those actions were the most damaging to our democratic process.
However, these charges are also important because they serve as proof that no one in the United States is above the law. I have a glimmer of hope that accountability may help start to heal some of the damage our system has taken in recent years.
Trump will be remembered for much more. He is still the only twice-impeached President and one of very few to not win a second term. Jan 6 is going to be an event touched on in history books. Who knows what we’ll learn about the last few years in terms of Russia and disinformation and other corruption angles in the next few decades?
And don’t forget that there are more investigations still pending! This is just the most obvious, slam-dunk case out there so it moved the fastest.
Look at Al Capone as others said… and OJ. OJ got hit extra hard for the charges he finally got, since everyone knows they screwed up with the murder trial
I’m of mixed mind about this.
Obviously the course of justice must go forward, and if prosecutors have a strong case, the should pursue it.
On the other hand, given all that he’s done to undermine democracy, subvert elections, destroy civility, erode democratic norms and traditions, and find common cause with hostile foreign powers, I’m not really keen on the idea that 30 years later, when people say Trump, they’ll think “oh, the guy who mishandled classified documents?”
It would be like if Ted Bundy got caught writing bad checks and was locked up for that.
They famously got Al Capone on tax evasion, and nobody thinks of him as “the tax cheat” first and foremost.
Besides, I suspect that this is a case where the floodgates are going to open up in terms of investigations and charges, once the first set sticks to him. There’s also the NY state fraud charges already filed, and the GA state election tampering investigation that is widely expected to lead to charges.
I suppose that’s a good point about Al Capone. Though he famously had people murdered in the streets and everyone knew it. With Trump, he has a whole army of deniers who will try bend history to make him a hero.
If he were indicted and convicted on his most serious crimes (subversion, bribery, attempted extortion of foreign heads of state, etc), it would be harder for his cultists to rewrite history.
Either way, I’m glad he’s facing the music on something, anything.
Alas, I think that history has some dismal lessons for us on how the die-hard MAGA crowd are going to keep carrying water for their guy, as (among other things) it’s been almost 160 years since the end of the Civil War and lost-causers are still out, loud, and proud. The best we can hope for is a thorough public reckoning for Trump via the court system, that will strip away as many of his persuadable low-information followers as possible.
I agree with this to a point. To me the biggest reasons to celebrate world be convictions for conspiracy and incitement of the January 6 insurrection, and election interference in Georgia (and possibly other states that fronted fake electors). Those actions were the most damaging to our democratic process.
However, these charges are also important because they serve as proof that no one in the United States is above the law. I have a glimmer of hope that accountability may help start to heal some of the damage our system has taken in recent years.
A charge is a charge at days end.
Al Capone got nailed because of taxes.
Trump will be remembered for much more. He is still the only twice-impeached President and one of very few to not win a second term. Jan 6 is going to be an event touched on in history books. Who knows what we’ll learn about the last few years in terms of Russia and disinformation and other corruption angles in the next few decades?
And don’t forget that there are more investigations still pending! This is just the most obvious, slam-dunk case out there so it moved the fastest.
Look at Al Capone as others said… and OJ. OJ got hit extra hard for the charges he finally got, since everyone knows they screwed up with the murder trial