My Two Cents

too early for the champagne...

I’ve been reading a LOT of articles about TFG’s indictment in the last few days, as has a large part of the country, I’m sure.  There’s ample material to chew on, of course.  One glaring characteristic, as even a few journalists have pointed out, is the continual use of the word, “unprecedented,” along with some similar verbiage.  And I’m starting to take umbrage at the term.  There have been hundreds of famous criminals in the last century who’ve been brought to justice.  Al Capone, for instance, or the Rosenbergs, or John Gotti, or even the just-deceased Unabomber.  Sure, TFG once held high office, but so what?  The former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was just arrested, and the former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was hounded out of office for his conduct---indictment not necessary.  Benjamin Netanyahu, PM of Israel, still has pending charges of corruption and fraud.  Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in jail on corruption charges in 2021, with two years of the term later suspended; still, he did time.  Army General and CIA Director David Petraeus was nailed for mishandling classified information and pled down to a misdemeanor charge, his career ruined.  Eugene Debs ran for President from prison in 1920, garnering 910,000 votes; he’d been incarcerated under the Espionage Act for speaking out against U.S. involvement in WWI.  Congressman Jim Traficant of Ohio ran a re-election campaign from a jail cell in 2002 (he lost), after being convicted of ten felony counts, including racketeering and accepting bribes. 

All this to say that it’s absolutely NOT unprecedented for a major criminal with influence everywhere to actually be charged and, yes, convicted.  Not unprecedented for a corrupt politician, or a traitor or a world-famous murderer or a famous socialist to be put in the slam, even executed.  My point here being that fame and power don’t always make people immune to prosecution.  Large-scale crime frequently leads to large-scale felony counts.  It doesn’t happen as often as it should, anywhere in the world, but exclaiming in awe-stricken hyperbole elevates the perpetrator in question to heights he/she is unworthy of, particularly #45.  He is indeed an uncommon criminal:  his criming is so blatant, so arrogant, so vast, so despicable, so damaging to the country, that it is unprecedented in some sense.  Although convicted Mafia bosses could be viewed the same way.  As a person, he’s common, even lowly.  There’s nothing to distinguish him, except the notoriety he’s gained from being in a position, thanks to Daddy’s money, to abuse the law publicly.  All of New York knows he’s a grifter, a conman, and a thief:  he’s stiffed untold vendors and contractors.  Take away the glitz purchased from ill-gotten gains, and he’s a garden variety, narcissistic sociopath.  They’re a dime a dozen on Wall Street.  He has no intellectual acuity to recommend him, no outstanding humanity.  He’s never made a contribution to society that wasn’t transactional, and any charitable donations are exponentially outweighed by the harm he’s caused to the country.  Without his grifted and inherited money, he wouldn’t even be a catch to any self-respecting female, and a couple dozen such women rejected him, anyway.  He responded by assaulting them.  So he’s a testosterone-poisoned boor, the kind found in any bar in the country on a Saturday night.  Nothing exceptional there.  The $5,000,000 damage award in E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit is, I admit, a bit out of the ordinary.  Not undeserved, mind you, just a bit more than the average out-of-control frat boy has to pony up.  Even the press coverage isn’t exactly unprecedented.

There’s been no word from Alvin Bragg lately about what’s going on with the hush-money case against TFG, but I’m still eagerly waiting to see what will be next there.  Fani Willis is rumored to be prepping her charges for an August indictment, possibly to include RICO counts.  How sweet that would be!  And, as we know, Jack Smith hasn’t yet dropped a shoe about his investigation into TFG’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election results.  But the latest indictment, regarding classified documents, was the bomb this week, as anyone knows who isn’t living in a cave with no satellite TV.

Several items of note there.  First, there is a recording of TFG bragging about at least one document he had, which he knew to be classified, and knew to be of a critical nature.  Shazzzaammm!  Slam dunk, there, it would seem.  Then, Mark Meadows apparently spilled a whole can of beans in his recent grand jury testimony.  More nails for the coffin.  One of the photos most frequently shown this week is of boxes of documents stashed in one of TFG’s bathrooms.  Tacky décor, not enhanced by stacks of cardboard containers haphazardly arranged.  Were some actually in the bathtub?  Who could have poked around in there?  We hear that some of the papers that have been recovered related to military capabilities, nuclear planning, and intelligence analyses.  Smith is focusing on classified materials, but it’s worth noting that it is illegal for a President to retain ANY White House documents, per that pesky Presidential Records Act, passed during the Nixon days.  So, theoretically, TFG could be slapped for all 13,000 documents he had.  But Smith isn’t going there; the most dangerous examples in TFG’s possession will suffice, especially as he’s made it known that he had them.

Now, we’ve read about all the grand jury testimony going on in D.C. for quite a few months.  Smith has played it close to the vest, but nevertheless, information has surfaced.  Until about a week ago, however, there was no mention of a grand jury in Miami.  And then, when it hit the news, initial reports only mentioned a couple witnesses.  Speculation was that anything that happened in Miami was ancillary; maybe it was just convenient for some people to testify there.  Learned legal beagles said that Smith would have a much stronger case if charges were brought in D.C.  Then, all of a sudden, BAM!  The indictment is handed down, including multiple felony counts under the Espionage Act, in M-i-a-m-i.  What in the hell is going on??  The first thought that crossed my mind was, “TFG is popular in Florida.  It’s a conservative bastion.  It’s his home base.  And besides, Aileen Cannon is there.”  Well…wouldn’t ya know….word came out that, of all judges, Cannon was going to preside over the pre-trial motions and initial business.  “OK,” I thought, “maybe she won’t be assigned to the trial.”  But….she is.  A couple days ago, the NY Times talked about what a surprise it was that Cannon came up as the judge for the arraignment.  Now, the paper’s analysts are well-nigh shocked and utterly dismayed that it has happened that she’ll preside over the entire trial.  Does ANYONE, anyone AT ALL, think this turn of events is a coincidence?

I’ve gotta ask:  in the name of all that’s holy, why in the hell did Jack Smith bring the indictment in Miami? He had to know there was at least a chance the judge would be Aileen (I Love Me Some Trump) Cannon, so what was Smith thinking?  TFG committed the theft of the documents in D.C., and the bulk of the grand jury witnesses testified there.  His bragging and admissions about the documents occurred in multiple places.  He flashed the so-called Iran document around in Bedminster, NJ. 

Is Smith setting it up to look as if he's giving #45 every advantage, bending over backward to be fair by charging in Miami, where Aileen Cannon can give TFG everything he wants, and then Smith is going to lower the boom?

Or is the fix in, and Smith just brought charges to placate the majority of the country, and now that that's done, TFG will be allowed to skate?

As I said above, according to everything I've read, Smith would have a stronger case to charge in D.C., so what gives?  The venue issue isn’t as critical as having a biased judge tank the case.  Is Smith anticipating possible appeals because of judicial bias? Baloney!  Why drag it out even longer?  TFG should have been charged in D.C.  I'm not liking this Miami BS, unless Smith has four aces up his sleeve.

Can anybody explain this to me so it DOESN’T look as if Smith handed TFG an acquittal on a golden platter?

No one on the planet has a crystal ball to see how any of this will turn out, or where we’ll be in a few years as a result of what will go on in the courtrooms of Miami, Atlanta, New York, and possibly D.C.  I’m with the majority of the country that hopes TFG ends up wearing an XXXL jumpsuit that matches his hair.  But right now, I’m getting more skeptical every day.