The time is nigh for Trump and his 18 co-defendants to turn themselves over to authorities in Georgia for booking at the Fulton County Jail. We are told there will be no special concessions. Trump will be fingerprinted and photographed, unless his lawyers are able to reach some last minute compromise with the state. One senses a bit of panic in his voice as he called off a presser when his lawyers advised him any such deal could be jeopardized by further promoting his "Big Lie," I guess when you have cultivated a lie this long and spread it cynically among your devoted base, you can't pull back now. It is the only "defense" you have.
While public support is crumbling, he is still the front runner among Republican candidates and is able to cast the charges against him as a conspiracy by the Biden administration to eliminate political opponents. Trump says "I am being indicted for you," a clever pitch to get his supporters to give to his legal defense fund after tapping out his campaign war chest. But, it seems he is having trouble raising the funds to mount defenses in four courts, the latest of which is the most harmful as he doesn't even get the possibility of a presidential pardon.
He will be spending most of the election cycle next year in court, starting with his first indictment in New York where he was brought up on 34 counts. This is probably the least harmful of the indictments as it mostly centers on falsifying financial statements that allowed him to keep sexual abuse charges hidden during his 2016 campaign. Then comes the second case of trying to hide confidential documents he took with him from the White House despite repeated requests to turn them over to authorities. This one is more harmful as he actively tried to thwart federal efforts to obtain these documents. The third case is the kicker. These are charges aimed directly at his involvement in the January 6 insurrection. If convicted there would be a hefty sentence, but like the second case could be given a presidential pardon if a favorable Republican were to assume office in 2025. Nearly all the Republican primary candidates have said they would grant Trump a pardon. However, Georgia falls outside this territory. If convicted Trump would have to serve his time regardless of who is in office. No more weekend golf dates for you, big guy!
Some still think he could actually rule the country from a prison cell like some South American drug lord. For some strange reason, a federal or state conviction doesn't bar someone running for or serving as President. However, this is very unlikely to happen as more than 50 percent of Americans said they would never vote for Trump, but most of these persons are Democrats and Independents. Trump still enjoys a high approval rating among Republicans despite his grievous sins. They seem to think he is being punished like Job and will emerge their champion in the end.
The level of delusion among the Republican party is unbelievable. What's worse is he still has many Republican legislators willing to bring up impeachment charges against Biden in an effort to draw attention away from all these indictments. To hear them talk, the biggest thing we have to worry about is the "Biden Crime Family."
It would all be quite comical if it wasn't for the fact that we need a functioning government to keep services flowing over the next year and a half. Republicans are again threatening a shutdown, more concerned with petty grievances than they are public goodwill. They are practicing a form of anarcho-capitalism that threatens to bring the entire country to a jarring halt. Then what?
We get Trump again? Or one of his proxies? I don't think Americans want this anymore in 2024 than they did in 2022 when they spurned a great number of Trump proxies in Congressional and state elections around the country.
Meanwhile, you have a group of well meaning "independents" who are endorsing a "third way" by promoting groups like No Labels. This is the Tea Party all over again which ultimately led to Trump in 2016. Like it or not we have a two-party system and when one of them is not functioning properly, you make sure the other one does, not jump ship as Democratic Sen. Manchin has suggested he would do. All this talk of an "alternative" just results in more confusion.
What we have is a very serious dilemma. We have a man who is so obviously unfit for any office, let alone President, yet has a stranglehold on the Republican Party. You may not like Biden or the values he represents but you don't create a situation where said mad man could win in a three-way race and plunge the country into an existential crisis like we have never seen before.
Yet, here we are playing this dangerous game all over again. Trump won in 2016 thanks to independent candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein pulling away votes from Hillary in key states that would have tipped the electoral college in her favor. Ironically, Jill saw what she had done in Wisconsin and asked for a recount hoping that some votes might be found to tip this very close race back to Hillary.
Do you really want this man ruling the country again?
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