Yesterday, former president Donald Trump was charged with 34 felonies related to his payment of hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Contrary to earlier speculation, he didn’t speak to the press at the courthouse and left the city immediately after his arraignment to fly back to the safe confines of his club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump looked sullen and angry in the brief glimpses the cameras caught of him throughout the day, particularly as he sat at the defense table in the courtroom. Of the millions of images that exist of Donald Trump this will be one of the most iconic:
The judge admonished both sides to be careful what they say outside the courtroom:
Please refrain from making comments or engaging in conduct that has the potential to incite violence, create civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals. Also, please do not engage in words or conduct which jeopardizes the rule of law, particularly as it applies to these proceedings in this courtroom.
The prosecution had pointed out that Trump has been posting incendiary remarks on his social media platform and circulating what could be construed as threats against the prosecutors, the judge and their families. Later in the day, Donald Trump Jr. posted an article and picture of the judge’s daughter, validating the concern.
Throughout the day, commentators on right-wing media were strongly suggesting that Trump give a serious, staid response to these events and then use the opportunity to pivot to his vision for the future as the next president of the United States in the speech he had scheduled at Mar-a-Lago later that evening. It was anticipated that the cable networks would all cover it and perhaps that the networks might even interrupt their programming to feature it.
Trump wasn’t having it, however. His speech began with this litany of complaints:
“From the beginning the Democrats spied on my campaign and they attacked me with an onslaught of fraudulent investigation. Russia, Russia, Russia. Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine. Impeachment hoax No.1. Impeachment hoax No. 2. The illegal and unconstitutional raid on Mar-a-Lago. Lying to the FISA courts. The FBI and DOJ relentlessly pursuing Republicans. Unconstitutional changes to election laws by not getting approval from state legislators. The millions of votes illegally stuffed into ballot boxes—and all caught on government cameras. And just recently, the FBI and DOJ and collusion with Twitter and Facebook in order not to say anything bad about the Hunter Biden laptop from hell.”
He was angry and his fury was barely contained. He abruptly ended the speech after just 20 minutes, a record for him. The networks did not interrupt regular programming, MSNBC declined to show it while Fox and CNN carried the speech in full. It was not a good day for Donald Trump.
All through the endless, tiresome shots of Trump’s plane and motorcade and breathless, repetitive pontificating on cable news about the historic events we were all witnessing, everyone agreed that this was a very sad day for America.
But it wasn’t sad at all. It was a fairly rare example of the justice system holding a wealthy, powerful white man who has spent a lifetime skirting the law, to account for his misdeeds. It may have been sad for him but it was good for America.
Trump’s line about all this is that “if they can do this to me they can do it to you” and he’s right. But they do it to regular average citizens a hell of a lot more often than they do it to people like Trump. Making him account for his tawdry, corrupt behavior, whether it’s for these hush money payments, stealing classified information, assaulting a woman in a department store dressing room, defrauding banks, attempting a coup, inciting an insurrection— all of which are the subject of current investigations and litigation — shows the nation that even an important powerful politician and businessman like Donald Trump is not above the law. At least, he’s not above the legal system trying to hold him accountable.
Up until now, every attempt to do that has been a failure. The man’s naivete and ignorance about world affairs led to being duped (at best) by the Russian government during the 2016 election but his obstruction of the investigations was criminal and never charged. He was impeached twice for egregious misconduct as president but saved by his political cronies. As president, he was protected by the Justice Department policy and he believed that his position as the leading candidate for the presidency today would have protected him from prosecution as well, if only because of the political optics. It turns out that isn’t true.
He’s managed to convince tens of millions of his followers that every last one of these accusations is false, that he’s being persecuted because of the politics they share, and with the help of the right-wing propaganda machine they believe him. But it’s another lie. He’s being prosecuted because he’s committed criminal acts that he blatantly flaunts in public, daring the justice system to make something of it.
The truth is that they don’t like prosecuting wealthy, powerful, white men. Men like Trump have the resources to pay for lawyers and appeal judges’ rulings and drag out cases for years. He managed to evade criminal charges for years by greasing the New York political machines that can make and break careers in the city. And, frankly, as an ex-president who loaded the courts with right-wing judges, even the Supreme Court, he’s not a particularly good bet for conviction. There is no other defendant in America with such unique advantages.
All the Trump cases that are percolating are very politically risky. They could lose and make Trump even stronger. They could win and make Trump even stronger. But his flamboyantly illegal behavior was so egregious that if the justice system didn’t step in and at least attempt to demonstrate to the public at large that there is such a thing as equality under the law, we were headed down the path of autocracy at warp speed.
Gerald Ford shouldn’t have pardoned Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush should not have pardoned the Iran-Contra criminals. It has led to a culture of impunity around presidents that led to Donald Trump and his accomplices flouting the rule of law as if they were born into royalty. The big January 6 and Georgia cases get to the worst of what they did — trying to overthrow an election. The civil case in New York may show that Trump’s business has been fraudulent for many years. And this hush money case may prove that just like you and me, even a rich guy running for president isn’t allowed to dummy up his books and cheat on taxes to cover up his indiscretions. That sort of thing is illegal and regular people are prosecuted for it every day.
Trump’s pithy little aphorism, “If they can do it to me they can do it to you” has it backward. It should be, “If they can do it to you, they can do it to me.” And that’s exactly how it should be.
Salon
