We all know what it means when Jumpin’ Jack silently takes a noontime stroll to a D.C. Subway to grab a sammich.
It means Trump is about to get indicted and arrested. Again. We’ll add that to a rap sheet that is nearing “foot long” status. Hold the pickles.
That “targeting” letter Trump and his lawyers say they received Sunday night puts another DOJ bullseye on the former president.
But this case is vastly different from the charges Trump faces for mishandling classified documents. Notice I did not say “allegedly” mishandling classified documents. The facts in that indictment are not disputable. He illegally retained classified materials and refused to return them when legally ordered to do so.
No? Did I get something wrong?
However, now we climb up the food chain to Jan. 6 and election fraud, and things get much murkier. What charges, specifically, will Trump face? Will he be singularly indicted, or will he have (maybe lots of) company?
We don’t know. And “we” includes Trump Toadies, who nevertheless wasted not an instant before predictably caterwauling about selective prosecutions, witch hunts, weaponized justice and Democrat political chicanery.
Evidence not required. Just re-wind the tape and hit play. Again.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Here’s what we know. Trump lost the 2020 election. Trump knew he lost the election. He peddled a lie about a “stolen election” that he actually cooked up months before the election. Remember? “The only way we lose is if they cheat.”
Trump knowingly dragged this country through unfathomable chaos that directly threatened our form of government. He filed 62 legal challenges, and lost 61 of them. He and his lackies conspired groundlessly to block certification of Joe Biden’s clear electoral victory. This cabal discussed ordering our military to seize voting machines and considered declaring martial law. Trump sounded a dog whistle that directed his jackals to stage an armed insurrection at our nation’s Capitol and told them to “fight like hell.” Lives were lost.
And then there were the “fake electors.” This bumbling Trump F-Troop actually referred to these fake electors as “fake electors” in internal communications until some foot soldier suggested that was a bad idea. So “fake electors” became “alternate electors” in their rich tradition of “alternative facts.”
Sixteen fake electors got a very rude awakening Tuesday in Michigan. Each of them faces eight felony charges, a scenario that will likely be repeated in six other states.
Trump says he had a right to contest an election. He’s right. He contested it. And he lost. And he knew he lost. And yet he persisted.
Trump says he fervently believed the election had been stolen. Fervently doesn’t mean rationally or honestly. The depths of his fervor are irrelevant except to the extent they expose the depths of his dishonesty and depravity.
And yet even Republicans who are trying to wrest the 2024 nomination from Trump continue to defend the indefensible and mischaracterize this completely justified prosecution. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the DOJ is attempting to “criminalize political differences.”
No, Ronnie, the DOJ is attempting to criminalize criminality.
Time to cue Lionel Ritchie. “Trumpy, you’re once…twice…three times indicted…”
