With the conservatively dominated Supreme Court unsure whether or not an attempted coup or even the assassination of a political opponent are presidential criminal activities, Trump’s 2020 Presidential election seditious conspiracy trials could be forestalled. Regardless of how the Supreme Court may ultimately rule the fact that they lent credibility to Trump's Fascist contentions enables Trump to scream on, arms waving. that unless a President is an absolute dictator he will be fearful that he will be prosecuted. Trump is right if he had been an absolute dictator he could not have been prosecuted for attempting a coup but that is no reason for the right wing squad on the Court to weigh the argument seriously.
So, for now, the New York 2016 Presidential election interference case is the only judicial hearing determining the culpability of the Forty - Fifth President’s ongoing anti democratic actions.
It is not hyperbole to claim that the whirlwind surrounding Trump is a clash between which governmental system will be in play - Democracy or Fascism. The legal issues that are at stake relating to both the 2016 election trial and the, thus far, aborted 2020 election trials are the same - is the President of the United States accountable for his criminal actions and/or were they not criminal, by definition, because he was President.
“THE HUSH MONEY PAYMENT TO A PORN STAR” TRIAL IS A BIG DEAL
Lest anyone play down the significance of this 2016 “Hush money payments to a porn star” trial, it is of monumental import. It details a deep ongoing conspiracy of illegal election interference. That thesis has been acknowledged by the former publisher of the tabloid,“The National Enquirer”, David Pecker who was the chief agent of the scheme. Pecker has been granted immunity for his testimony.
Evidence will be further led that the Republican National Committee, (RNC), was en route to axing Trump’s candidature in 2016 following the “Access Hollywood Tape” where Trump bragged inter alia that, “I grabbed women by the pussy”. The added revelations of affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal would have ended Trump’s political career as in those days the RNC controlled the Party, not Trump.
Pecker produced magazine cover after cover promoting Trump by trashing, first, his Republican primary rivals and subsequently Hillary Clinton the Democratic Candidate with tissue upon tissue of lies.Then he ran wildly positive stories about Trump. The third leg of his trifecta of criminality was that he engaged in what is known as “catch and kill” - the purchasing of incriminating stories so that they would not see the light of day. “The National Enquirer” is on the stand of every check out line in the country. Pecker admitted that what he was doing was illegal and was to promote the Presidential candidature of his friend, Donald Trump. In fact Pecker has already paid $187,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission for flouting Campaign Contribution regulations.
So this trial is revealing of an all encompassing illegal conspiracy and while the violence of 2020 is missing the objective was the same - tilting the scales to see Trump in the WhiteHouse.
THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM - A CENTRAL PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY
The Judicial system is a central pillar in a democratic state where there also has to be electoral accountability as well as the rule of law. The application of the legal system is very fragile and the rich and powerful, as Trump has illustrated, can manipulate it to their own ends. America still relies heavily on the jury system which favors Trump because if just one of the jurors believe that the prosecution has not met the heavy burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, Trump cannot be found guilty. Justice favors the rich as well as they can pay an army of highly capable counsel to sew that doubt in just one of the twelve sitting in judgement.
It is trite to call the first ever criminal trial against a former President of the United States “historic”. The outcome, of what is considered the least important of the four criminal indictments against the Forty - Fifth President Donald J. Trump has tremendous political significance not only as to whether he will also be the Forty - Seventh President but for democracy itself. This since Trump has behaved in a manner consistent with Fascist leaders, trashing the institutions that maintain democracy so as to replace them by an authoritarian regime with him at the helm. His behavior towards the judicial system and its officers is on display as well as his disdain for society’s principle accountable mechanism - free and fair elections.
TRUMP’S DEFENCE IS THAT WHAT HE DID WAS DEMOCRACY!
After the first few two weeks of the Trump trial in a New York State court, where he is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a payment to a porn star so as to ensure his candidature in the 2016 presidential election, it is obvious that the prosecution and the defense are not on the same constitutional page. The former are following the rules of an institutional democracy by attempting to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Donald J Trump is guilty of violations of the central tenet of democracy - free and fair elections. The latter are involved in trashing the system in effect arguing that “President Trump” is immune from this charge.
The Trump Defence Counsel argued that he was “innocent”. Innocent of what? The defence argues that the hush money payment to a porn star to shut up, which many regard as the fact that allowed Trump to win the Presidency, is “democracy”. He further insisted that Trump be referred to as “President” in a trial before his peers. This ludicrous appellation to a defendant who is not the sitting occupier bolsters the narrative that Trump is still President!
The Defence further claimed that “Trump had nothing to do with those 34 pieces of paper, (the alleged fraudulent documents). except he signed checks, In the White House. While he was running the country. That is not a Crime” That is the lame contention put forward by Trump's counsel which would ring much better at one of Trump’s Nuremberg style rallies where the former President wallows in victimhood. Implicit in this explanation is that Trump was far to busy running America and the world to notice he was refunding his "enforcer" for paying off a porn star"
Trump’s Counsel in putting forward Trump’s position so out of kilter with reality that the trial judge took the unusual step of warning him that his credibility was on the line.
TRUMP’S POSITION ON THE LEGITIMACY OF THE TRIAL IS MORE OF THE SAME
Donald J. Trump the Forty - Fifth President has repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of the proceedings which he has declared is “rigged’. He has over and over alleged that the Judge and the Prosecutor are political hacks who are victimizing him at the behest of his Presidential rival Joseph Biden. He has attacked the witnesses and even the Judge's daughter resulting in a “gag” order, which he has broken at least 14 times - belittling witnesses and even has claimed that the jury is biased. Trump claims that these attacks were “free speech”. Underlying this behavior, which in any democracy, would be contempt of court, is Trump’s stated belief that he cannot be prosecuted for any criminal behavior. A position maintained by Fascist leaders in the twentieth century and present day authoritarians and an argument being elevated by the Supreme Court by a hearing.
This bizarre counter to reasoned legal charges is congruent with Trump’s recognized pattern of behavior. Trump has run amok trampling over all the safeguards enshrined in the judicial system. There is little doubt that Trump is not deviating from his modus operandi that he is immune from prosecution, that he still is President and entitled to dictatorial powers. He has however reassured that should he be re elected to what by his reckoning would be a third term, he would be a dictator “for only one day”.
Trump speaks in code like the mob bosses he so admires including John Gotti of the notorious Gambino Family who incidentally evaded justice by "persuading" one juror to not find him guilty on a number of occasions. More recently Trump compared himself to the most infamous mob boss of all time, Al Capone. So Trump was not kidding when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue New York. When challenged by Bill O’ Reilly of Fox News that his soul mate Vladimir Putin killed people be basically said “So what”.
So what is the upshot of all of this?
THE UPSHOT OF TRUMP CONTINUING HIS POLITICAL CAMPAIGN DURING THE "HUSH MONEY" TRIAL
Trump is acting in the belief and hope of whatever the outcome of the "hush money" trial that it will not impact on his political trajectory. There is also always the hope that there is one juror that will buy his garbage, If not he will immediately appeal - a process that will take years. If he gets re elected the fix is already in. All the trials will go away. The Federal trials will be axed by him or his Justice department and no one will argue that a sitting President should continue in the State system. He has openly signaled that he will use the justice system to get even with his opponents even locking up the Congress people who conducted the January 6 Investigation and signaled he would charge President Biden, “The most corrupt President in history”.
Trump has one other potential outcome with his ongoing anti establishment rants and his victimhood - a repeat of January 6. He has daily warned that all hell would break loose if he was charged. He has forecast bloodbaths. At the moment his pleas for his cult to pitch up at his trials and demonstrate have fallen on deaf ears. His supporters outside the court room can be counted on the fingers of one hand., He is projecting the image of being Nelson Mandela confiding on his “Truth Social” website in the hope that the judge might send him to jail for practicing his "First Amendment Rights of Free Speech". He couldn’t handle 27 hours in lock up let alone 27 years. There is a fantasy that if he forces the judge to detain him for contempt of court that that might finally wake up those cultists that haven’t already been sentenced for their January 6 attempted coup.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
This is the season where literally the Trump court appearances are a three ring circus.
One fact is for sure the NY finder of the fact, Judge Marchan, is not creating hypotheticals that don’t exist and ignoring the facts of the case like some Supreme Court Justices.
Manhattan State District Attorney Alan Bragg would not have brought this case unless he believed he had belt and braces. There was criticism of Bragg’s Office in the criminal case against The Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer Alan Weisselberg in that Trump himself was not charged. Weisselberg served prison time when both he and the Trump Organization were found guilty.
Poor Donald Trump, the President whose main concern is his family - protecting Melania, going to his son Barron's graduation and celebrating Melania's birthday, is being persecuted by Joe Biden.
Compulsory viewing for the Supreme Court Judges - Stanley Kramer's riveting movie - "Judgement at Nuremberg".
The Roberts' Court better be careful about extending Presidential power because the next President, President Biden, may just use it to increase the size of the Court and put on jurists who follow the intent of the Founders!
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