As I type this at about 5:00 Eastern Thursday afternoon, Donald John Trump has not been indicted, arrested, tried, or jailed.
I don’t care.
Trump is, I believe, a criminal, a cheat, a liar, and an all around bad person.
However, he has never conned me out of anything, cheated me, lied directly to me, or been anything other than a media-darling-bad-person.
That last is true whether the medium …
SIDEBAR
Medium is the singular form of media. Just as datum is the singular form of data. If you really want to generate eye-rolls at the happy hour this afternoon, start referring to the places where baseball teams play as stadia instead of stadiums.
END SIDEBAR
…whether the medium is right wing, left wing, or flightless.
Donald J. Trump is ratings gold as he would cheerfully tell you.
The only person who said Trump would be arrested this past Tuesday was … Trump. Not a leak from the NYC grand jury, not a tip from the District Attorney Alvin Bragg or his office, not even from Trump’s former legal thug Michael Cohen although in his zeal not to answer the questions last week of if and when Trump would be indicted seemed to leave little doubt.
That’s all Trump needed to (a) turn on his personal anti-Black (DA Bragg) anti-Semitic (George Soros), anti-political rival (Ron DeSantis) screed machine, and (b) raise millions of dollars from the people who would line the curb on 5th Avenue to cheer Trump gunning someone down.
But, I’m not the one being bounced around like a bowling ball on a trampoline.
Trump is and, assuming I don’t have to CTRL-A/Delete this entire column before it goes out tonight because an indictment has been handed down, let’s think about Trump being left dangling.
He is twisting slowly, slowly in the wind in New York City (criminal case), in New York City (civil case) in Albany, in Atlanta (or near enough), the Peter Strzok suit in DC, the six Capitol Police Officers suit, and who knows where Special Counsel Jack Smith is piling up evidence on how many charges.
If I were a Trump supporter – which I am not and never have been – I might make the case the he is the 2023 version of Victor Hugo’s 1862 legal whipping boy, Jean Valjean.
With none of Valjean’s redeeming qualities.
If we’ve learned anything since Trump rode down the escalator, it is: Don’t bet against him. I was among the chorus of those who shouted “Trump will never be the nominee.” Then, “Trump will never be elected President.” Then, “Trump will never serve out his full term.”
I may have been in error, so I have learned no longer to be America’s Political. Soothsayer.=As for finding jurors who have no prior opinion about Trump, the best bet would be to import the entire population of the least populus nation on the planet (according to the CIA Factbook): Pitcairn Island.
Fifty people.
I have little doubt that Trump will be indicted somewhere for something and/or will have to defend himself in civil suits in a bunch of courtrooms.
But, my day isn’t ruined if I get to the six O’clock hour and watch Ari Melber on MSNBC or Wolf Blitzer on CNN knowing Donald Trump is still moving boxes around at Mar-a-Lago rather than being fitted for an ankle monitor in Manhattan.
As the anthem from “Les Miserable” goes
Tomorrow is the judgement day
Tomorrow we’ll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store
One more dawn
One more day
One day more
See you next week.
