It appears to be done. Donald John Trump has been indicted over issues relating to his taking of classified documents from the White House at the end of his term as president.
All the smart money said it was coming.
The smart money, though, is divided on what could be the consequence of what awaits the former POTUS and one of the Republicans seeking to win the next presidential election in 2024.
Because the ex-POTUS, through an astonishing personal appeal he holds on his cult of followers, has lowered the bar for what is acceptable in our politicians. We used to believe in this country that a politician under indictment is not fit for office. The guy is now the reported frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
An indictment from a special counsel working for the Justice Department is forthcoming. What will the political consequence be once it arrives? The GOP base, so far, has shown little inclination to abandon an individual who’s been impeached twice, indicted by a New York grand jury and stands convicted of being liable in the defamation and sexual abuse of a woman who sued him in federal court.
The GOP base’s argument? The system is corrupt. The fix is in. It has been “weaponized.”
None of this, of course, diminishes the legal consequences that the ex-POTUS will face. Those consequences are enormous. This individual could go to trial for taking classified documents from the White House and could, if convicted, face a lifetime in prison.
It’s the difference between the politics and the legality of this situation that simply blows my mind.
How in the world does anyone justify or condone a politician who takes an oath to defend and protect the Constitution and then incites a traitorous mob to destroy the very principles embedded in that document? How do you defend someone who takes classified documents from the White House in direct violation of federal law?
These are the most perilous times imaginable. I am going to cling to my faith in the Constitution, that it will survive ultimately this dire challenge.
It must. The consequences of failure are too frightening to ponder.