A fourth indictment and a new set of charges against a former president reverberate through a bifurcated nation.
It is remarkable that something unique in American history — a former president as a defendant in multiple state and federal criminal cases — takes on a sense of the routine. It is a sign of just how precarious our position is and proof of how much Trump has pushed beyond the boundaries of precedent.
To treat this latest news out of Georgia as anything approaching the mundane sacrifices the outrage and sadness that should permeate our national consciousness. There should be nothing commonplace about formal charges that a former president used the powers of his office to subvert democracy. That should be uncontested; sadly, it's not.
Tens of millions of Americans greet the indictment news with outrage, but not because of the seriousness of the charges or the larger story of a violent attempted coup. They rally around the man enmeshed in an unprecedented web of legal peril. They exalt him. He is their hero and their party’s likely standard-bearer for the next presidential election. They will grasp at the faintest tendril of a conspiracy theory to justify their idolatry.
To this mindset, no volume of facts or appeals to reason will break the fever. Trump, ever the adept showman, embraces the role of persecuted martyr. The idea that he is a powerless victim of government overreach would be laughable if it weren’t so poisonous and pathetic. Most of the charges he faces in this Georgia case and others center on his use of his immense power for personal gain at the expense of the nation.
What is so striking about these cases is that the crimes he is alleged to have committed occurred in plain sight. Donald Trump tried to steal an election to remain president. And he showed he would resort to almost any tactic to do so. Whether his criminal culpability can be proven in court beyond reasonable doubt is unanswerable at this moment. But whether he wanted to end American democracy as we know it is not in dispute.
What is also clear, as this case in Georgia demonstrates, is that Trump couldn’t have done this alone. The inclusion of 18 co-defendants elucidates his chorus of conspirators. This was not a whim. This was a plan. And, again, it was one we all could see unfold. This latest indictment includes an incredible set of details to paint a larger picture of coordination and conspiracy with Trump at the center of it all. Now the question is whether there will be accountability, for him and all who helped him.
The complexity of the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — including the high number of defendants — suggests that a trial will not take place before the election. That does not lessen its importance. What happened in Georgia — blatant election interference to the point of attempted sabotage — should be adjudicated thoroughly. And because it is a state case, it would not fall under Trump’s Department of Justice if he were to return to the presidency. But it is not likely to change the contours of our immediate political environment or the prospects of the 2024 presidential election. Instead, it figures to reinforce the beliefs of each side.
The federal case that Special Counsel Jack Smith has brought concerning the 2020 election is different. It was designed for speed. Trump’s lawyers may have to defend their client’s actions in front of a jury even as he runs for president. There could be a verdict before — perhaps long before — the nominating conventions.
But even then, how much will the realm of the law spill into shaping our politics? Ultimately, the greatest threat to Trump’s power and the most likely path to his eventual accountability is for the American people to act as the jury of his peers. They can deliver their verdict by voting against him at the ballot box.
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It is so hard for me to understand how ANYONE could consider the X could run again for President. When some people for a small amount of marijuana can be jailed for a year and yet tRump gets a LONG drawn out trial to decide. There is a problem with the justice system.
I understand that it takes time to get all the ducks in a row to bring him to trial but it’s so frustrating
You have nailed this
Expect what scares me is how many people still believe this guy and will vote for him.
I’m hoping that when the whole truth comes out he will drop out…