The seven counts against the former president include conspiracy to obstruct, willful retention of documents and false statements, according to people familiar with the indictment. He said he would surrender to the authorities on Tuesday.
It's important to remember at this point that being bad at crime is not a valid defense.
If you mug a guy and immediately drop the wallet down a storm drain, you've still committed robbery. If you steal a car but lock the keys in it, it's still theft. If you attempt to overthrow your own government and can't organize people to actually pull it off, you've still committed treason.
Trump, despite being a career criminal, is still really shit at being a criminal. Some people will construe his failure to execute with innocence - it is not. It's incompetence.
Honestly, with all the shit this disgusting wannabe dictator has already gotten away with, I'll hold on to celebrations until there is some kind of definitive verdict.
And dont get me started on the sentence even IF they convict him for something. He's old, he's rich, he probably still has some buddies in higher places - I'd be absolutely surprised if he would go to a genpop prison. - Even though thats exactly what he would deserve the most.
Obviously the course of justice must go forward, and if prosecutors have a strong case, the should pursue it.
On the other hand, given all that he's done to undermine democracy, subvert elections, destroy civility, erode democratic norms and traditions, and find common cause with hostile foreign powers, I'm not really keen on the idea that 30 years later, when people say Trump, they'll think "oh, the guy who mishandled classified documents?"
It would be like if Ted Bundy got caught writing bad checks and was locked up for that.
But no really, I get it may seem crazy to those on the right to indict a former president, but I would say it's a good thing given one of the founding tenets of the United States was that the leaders were specifically NOT to supposed to be Gods.
I mean, could you imagine how fast someone other than Trump, like some pleb intern or something, would be thrown in federal prison if they took all of those documents?
I hope he'll end up in an actual jail, but if he ever gets sentenced, I imagine it'll be house arrest at Mar a Lago. He'll keep living a comfortable life, just with somewhat limited freedom. His kids will continue his grifting empire and make sure daddy is able to keep influencing people.
It really feels like we, as a country, are being dragged towards an ugly 2024 crescendo of the Trump era. This espionage case is going to coincide with the 2024 election.
Looking at this as non-partisan as I can... if Hillary wasn't convicted for essentially doing the exact same thing (and deleting the evidence...) then I really don't see any way for Trump to be convicted either.
Strange as it may sound, the Orange fella is not my first pick for the tumbrel. He is certainly up there in the first 4 or 5. But number one is surely Rupert, followed by the Cock (deliberate misspelling) brothers...
Man, I really hope something comes of this, but I'm not that optimistic. If it ends up being nothing and they settle or something, it's just going to give him and his people so much ammo going into the election season.