The walls are closing in on Donald Trump. On August 14, the long-anticipated Georgia indictment of Donald Trump was filed. It is a doozy. Trump is charged with racketeering that involves attempting to interfere with the 2020 election in Georgia. Unlike his other indictments, Trump has company in Georgia. “America’s Mayor” Rudy Guiliani, former Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows, “Constitutional lawyer” John Eastman, nutcase-lawyer Sydney Powell and 14 others join him on the indictment.
Already dozens of excellent summaries of the charges brought by Fulton County DA Fani Willis have been written, but anyone who is interested in understanding exactly what is going on should read the actual indictment. Why did yet another court indict Trump? Is it possible that the corrupt judicial system, described by Trump and luminaries like Vivek Ramaswamy as driven by a myopic focus on “getting Trump,” actually exists? How likely is it that lightning struck in the same place four times?
Georgia may prove to be Trump’s downfall. DA Willis is said to have emails and text messages proving the direct involvement of those indicted in not only lying to Georgia election officials, attempting to get them to breach their oaths of office, but also in attempting to manipulate voting machines. Yes, there were attempts to falsify election results in Georgia in 2020, but it was the Trump team that was behind them.
Even before the indictment was filed, Trump, his campaign, and others began their efforts to discredit DA Willis. An unnamed Trump campaign official called her a “rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments.” The day before the indictments were issued, Trump directly attacked Willis, writing, “Why is ‘Phoney’ (like in perfect ‘phone’ call, get it) Fani Willis, the severely underperforming D.A. of Fulton County who is being accused of having an ‘affair’; with a gang member of a group that she is prosecuting, leaking my name in regard to a grand jury pertaining to election fraud and irregularities that I say took place in Georgia? I made a perfect phone call of protest. What does Phoney Fani have to do with me? She should instead focus on the record number of murders in Atlanta.”
I am among those sick of Trump’s name-calling. I look forward to a judge disciplining him for it. That could happen in Washington. Special Counsel “Deranged” Jack Smith must be getting tired of the abuse. Or, with any luck, Judge Tanya Chutkan will get fed up and take action.
Trumping the name calling is the pathetic efforts of Trump allies like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senator Lindsey Graham, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, and dozens of right-wing House Republicans to equate the “crimes” of Hunter Biden with the effort of Trump to overthrow the government (attempting to seize power through unlawful means). It is time to roundly condemn these efforts. Attorney General Garland has now appointed a Special Counsel to investigate the Hunter Biden case. Let’s see what happens.
It is also worth mentioning the cowardice of most Republicans running against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination. Why does Mike Pence say he plans to “clean out the entire top floor of the Department of Justice” if he gets elected president? Has he forgotten the January 6 mob called for him to be hanged?
Two Republican candidates, former Congressman Hurd (TX) and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have the courage to call out Trump. What is wrong with the rest of them?
For the next several months, a day will not go by that does not include Trump worrying about his Georgia indictment. If he is elected president, he cannot pardon himself from a state conviction. And the Georgia racketeering statute includes a mandatory minimum jail term.
Trump’s team will focus on delaying the trial. In all likelihood, the Georgia trial will not take place until after November 2024. That is unfortunate, but racketeering cases are complicated.
This situation raises the question of what happens if Georgia convicts a newly elected Trump after the election? Let’s say Trump is convicted on various Federal charges, wins the election, and then pardons himself from Federal convictions. Would Trump take up arms against Georgia if it tried to jail him?
Who knows. The 2024 election is shaping up to be a nightmare, thanks to Trump and the moral bankruptcy of a party that continues to defend him. Trump does not care. He does not believe the law applies to him. But if Georgia was not on his radar screen before August 14, it is now. Georgia is on Trump’s mind. The post-Trump era is on mine.
J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, and other subjects.
J McConnell says
The Orange guy’s a menace ( my predictive analytics had prompted “moron”), but, whatever….
He’d disappear like fish guts in a chum line if he didn’t have an army of dunces applauding his idiotic behavior. His supporters share his insecurities and anger at their frustrations in life, and their inability to assimilate into the modern world. Loyalty? Guess you could call it that.
However, by all accounts, he’s now got all he can handle with Ms Willis in Georgia—which doesn’t offer him the opportunity to dodge responsibility like the Federal court system might allow, since he’s running for office as intensely as he’s been running his mouth.
He’s expected to continue to insult the judges and prosecutors who are going to be determining his future. That’s a unique strategy and one that would make most sane people extremely nervous.
But he’s confident that he’ll be CEO again, and if he isn’t he’ll call for anarchy and a rebellion.
John Dean says
Thank you for your comment. You are particularly on point in your last sentence
Alan Boisvert says
I too thought Christie was above the fray however he described the latest Georgia indictment as “unnecessary” during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday morning. I wouldn’t trust any Republican not to fall prey to trump.
L Baker says
Hi Mr Dean, I told you last week that this indictment was coming. Such a frivolous case. I for one am happy for this indictment, and all the added players in this indictment . You as a retired lawyer should know why. Much will be exposed now that they have brought this case to the courts. I don’t believe we will have to wait until after the election in 2024. I’m hoping everything will move rather quickly now that he has the chance through these court proceedings to prove election fraud and tampering was done during 2020. President Trump is going to do his first speech in regards to this indictment next Monday at 11am in Bedminster, NJ. You may want to tune in. Just so you have some narrative for next week’s opinion. Salutations.
J McConnell says
Wow!
There are some really basic facts that you can’t seem to comprehend, M/M Baker. Unless , that is, you’re referring to the fraud and illegal tampering that Trump is now getting ready to be punished for in state and federal courts.
You should stop worrying about the troubles that he is facing, and immediately come forward with the evidence that you swear exists which documents election fraud.
It’s past time for you conspiracy theorists to put up or shut up. Where’s the proof of a conspiracy?
John Dean says
Salutations. Thank you for reading my postings.
Nicolo F. Tartaglia says
Ah, Mr. Dean. I was planning on putting this down and enjoying my garden, but you had to mention probabilities. Probability is a fascinating subject and a favorite of mine so I couldn’t resist. My deepest apologies in advance to you and your readers.
As usual, I think you are asking the correct question: “How likely is it that lightning struck in the same place four times?” Indeed, what makes it even more improbable is not only that there are four indictments arriving at around the same time, but in an election cycle, for alleged crimes that were committed, in most cases, three years ago, These charges are also brought, in each case, by a Democrat against the Republican front runner in the polls. Is the probability so remote that it means Mr. Trump must be guilty (as you imply) or is something else a foot? Let’s explore…
Let’s say you came across a morally-bankrupt dunce, who may or may not be a Republican, and by definition therefore must not be the morally-enriched Mr. Hurd or Mr. Christie. Let’s say said dunce applied Bayesian probabilities to the stochastic question at hand. He would define:
P(A) = Probability Mr. Trump is Guilty
P(B) = Probability of a Democratic Prosecutor brings a case against Trump
P(A|B) = Probability that Mr. Trump is Guilty *given* a Democratic Prosecutor
P(B|A) = Probability of a Democratic Prosecutor *give*n Mr, Trump is Guilty
I think you would say, in the limit, P(A|B) = P(B|A) = 100%. e.g. Republicans are morally bankrupt and unlikely to bring charges if Trump was guilty, and the Democratic prosecutors wouldn’t bother to bring charges unless he absolutely was.
Using the Bayesian formula we know: P(A|B) = (P(B|A) * P(A)) / P(B). Rearranging the terms to isolate P(B) we arrive at P(B) = (P(B|A) / P(A|B)) * P(A).
Since P(A|B) = P(B|A) form above, then P(B|A) / P(A|B) = 1
And finally, P(A) = P(B)
Hooray for STEM!
…so therefore the probability Mr. Trump is guilty is exactly equal to the probability that a Democratic prosecutor brings a case against Mr. Trump. So, to answer the original question, what is the probability that a Democratic prosecutor brings a case against Mr. Trump? Probably higher than a lightening striking the same place four times would be my guess. Unfortunately for us all, this does support the alternative view that the justice system might be just a tad bit weaponized against a political opponent in an election cycle.
There we have it, and anyone who disagrees with me is anti-Science and spreading disinformation. Back to my garden.
John Dean says
Thank you you for your comment. I appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective.
Mickey Terrone says
John, I’m sorry to read that you have the post-Trump era on your mind. I think you are going to be disappointed. I think you can presume that our country will once again be dragged through another few years of obscenely false accusations from Trump and his evermore extremist supporters who will certainly claim that the 2024 election was rigged and Trump actually won in another landslide. This time, I can see his militant supporters convulsively taking to the streets immediately and Trump himself orchestrating another attempted revolution.
Waving the American flag as “superpatriots”, the Trump Militia may be expected to create a national emergency challenging the results of the election. This coup attempt will reflect a final, desperate effort to get Trump back in power and prevent his multiple trials from coming to their legal conclusions.
Today’s newly released video of Trump’s conspirator Roger Stone planning the “Green Bay Sweep” to get several key Republican state legislatures to create a fake electors slate – prior to the 2020 election, is a smoking gun. Clearly, the plan was to replace the Biden electors with fake Trump electors, thus effecting their coup. So long as these plotters remain free to contaminate the American electoral process, our country will be subjected to criminals willing to take down our system of government to force Donald Trump’s control over our government.
As I’ve stated before, Trump by himself would be nearly powerless to perpetrate crimes like these against our country. Yet with these conspirators serving as his plotters, Trump is capable of more serious and permanent damage to our democratic republic. Further, the complicity of Republican congressional leaders of both houses of Congress, and sadly, millions of average, deluded Americans, who put this demagogue over the very basic pillars created by our founding fathers, threaten our freedom. Those congressional Republicans who voted on January 6th, 2021 not to approve the electoral college results are integral participants in this attempted coup. They must not go without facing some consequence for their complicity in Trump’s crimes.
Meanwhile, Trump campaigns on, threatening those who accuse him of crimes and threatening his elected Republican supporters with primaries if they become unfaithful to him. Fulton County (GA) Grand Jury members are already getting threatening calls. He is not going away anytime soon unless the US Justice system prevails over his criminality and that of his numerous accomplices.
Trump’s upcoming press conference next week should be a classic. I can recall his promises to provide a Republican answer to Obamacare with low cost health insurance. I would think he might have provided the American people his evidence prior to next Tuesday. I sure hope Sidney Powell isn’t preparing Trump’s explanation.
John Dean says
Thank you for your comment. I’ll be tuned in Monday.
Mickey Terrone says
We probably shouldn’t be very surprised that Mr. Trump has canceled his big news conference previously announced for Tuesday, August 22 to share his “irrefutable evidence” that there was widespread election tampering against his 2020 campaign. I suppose his handlers explained to him that his words can be used as evidence against him in his upcoming trials.
I was hoping to hear his explanation of how, on those very same ballots, so many other Republicans were able to win their races on those same ballots while Trump lost by 7 million votes overall.
That many of his followers who fail to listen to or read the news, and still at least say they believe his obvious, unsupportable lies, are running out of plausible excuses, is truly disappointing. I wonder how they rationalize, as Americans, what they learned in school about our system of government, our history of defending the constitution and dying for the stars and stripes against tyrannical nazis and fascists.
I haven’t ever heard Trump explain why America, the constitution and our system of government aren’t good enough for him. After all the ultimate sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of loyal Americans, this fatheaded egomaniac wants to turn everything upside down to keep himself in power. Too many Americans cling to Trump’s words as if he is their Fuhrer. Blind trust in an obvious pathological liar is an awful reflection on anyone. But blind trust of a horrendous bigoted racist is anathema to our constitution despite the almost inexplicable “blessings” from many evangelical christians and their ministers like Franklin Graham and others.
Karen Simpson says
“The walls are closing in”
“threat to democracy”
“believe in science”
“spreading misinformation”
Only readers of corporate “news” still use these phrases. Millions of Americans have woken up to the fact that it is all propaganda.
The media is the enemy of the people not Trump. We are going down a dangerous road with these indictments.
J McConnell says
By “corporate news” do you mean news that you don’t understand because it’s not what you want to hear?
On the other hand, your opinion letter is probably as close to the definition of “Propaganda” as anyone can get. Incoherent, but amusing.
Karen simpson says
Mr McConnell, are you saying that you believe ‘news’? Let me guess… you read the New York Times.