Photo By NASA
“Highly anticipated,” said the TV anchor.
Highly anticipated? Come on, dude. For millions of Americans, the first criminal trial of Donald Trump is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan, all in one. Throw in Toyotathon.
It’s the first criminal trial ever of a former president — he who swore to uphold our laws and now pleads “King’s X” to the highest court.
As a citizen who cares about this republic and judicial fairness, I feel like a 6-year-old in footie PJs. “’Twas the night before voir dire . . .”
For more than a year – arraignment: April 4, 2023 — we have counted down the days on a mental advent calendar.
Elf on the Shelf? No. Con Man on the Ottoman.
There he would sit, just beyond my stocking feet, his lying Caramelo face aflare on the TV screen as commentators explained how he forestalled reckoning. He said it was all Joe Biden’s doing. No. It was grand juries’ doing.
Now it is time — time to be tried for the same things for which, as his fixer, Michael Cohen went to prison – repeat: went to prison – for doing the bidding of “Individual 1.”
I understand you still might be coming down from the solar eclipse but gather the family again.
Come, children; observe how a lesser astral body, a New York judge, would be positioned under our system of laws to shut off the big ball of gas who is self-perceived as the brightest star in the firmament.
And the “most persecuted.”
Pay attention and learn, young ‘uns. This is America, where anyone can grow up to be president, and then be indignant to find the criminal code applies to him.
A solar eclipse is a stunning event. But so are certain acts by this figure.
Like cheating on multiple wives, preying on women, cheating the government at tax time, engineering a fraudulent bid to throw out a lawful election and still being held up as a man of “Christian values.”
You know those trashy magazines in the check-out line? Listen and learn how this powerful man finagled a “catch and kill” deal with one of them to cover up his many dalliances.
This is no garden-variety sex scandal. This involves multiple trysts, hush-money checks signed in the Oval Office and a shell company meant to leave no footprints.
More importantly, on the cusp of a presidential election, with fraudulent business records, this was a scheme to make sure voters didn’t know about any of this when they went to the polls.
The better to wave the baton of accusation at Hillary Clinton to chants of, “Lock her up.”
I have a question for anyone who considers it all a “witch hunt,” particularly since grand juries of average citizens authorized the 88 indictments.
Why would Trump stall proceedings with all his might?
Why not demonstrate in court and under oath how the charges in the Manhattan criminal case and the other three pending against him are baseless?
Speedy trial, speedy acquittal. He should demand that. The sooner the better, right? He could get on with his life and not have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a day with specious filings and dodges.
This reminds of what Robert Mueller had to say about Trump in his report about claims of collusion with the Russians. Mueller couldn’t say for sure that Trump did that. Mueller did imply strongly that Trump engaged in criminal obstruction of the probe.
Americans should have asked of Trump, “Why? What to hide?”
So, today: Why delay? Without a doubt, it’s in the hope of reclaiming the presidency and wiping all legal troubles clean.
Ah, but at long last in a Manhattan courtroom, one of many abominable cons is to be laid out for all to see. Gather the family. Invite the neighbors. No need for special glasses.
Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email him at jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
