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OPINION: Local courts could be last line of defense against Trump and the MAGA Mob [1]

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Date: 2024-06-08  

With five indictments on over a hundred charges, it was beginning to look like Donald Trump’s brag that he could ‘shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and people would still support him. The unanimous guilty verdict in the hush money case in Manhattan knocked some of the wind out of that brag—but only a little.

The reaction of Trump’s hardcore MAGA supporters and the MAGA Mob in the House and Senate validate his claim. These people are so enthralled to his Orange Highness, they are resorting to some of the wildest shenanigans imaginable to undercut the justice system, from claiming that the trial and verdict were ‘rigged’ by the Biden Administration—despite the fact that the federal government has no control or authority over local courts—to threatening the judge and DA with sanctions in retaliation. One wonders what they have planned for the twelve jurors, beyond Trump asking that his gag order be lifted (before his July sentencing) so he can no doubt mount a massive PR smear and intimidation campaign against them. That, by the way, is a bit late, since their job is done, but logic has never dictated this man’s behavior.

The angst and anger emanating from Trump World brings to mind a comment by then Senate leader Mitch McConnell when a craven GOP-majority Senate (with the exception of a few Republican senators with integrity) voted against convicting him after the Democratic-controlled House impeached him a second time for his role in inciting the January 6 Capitol riots. McConnell, who at the time did blame Trump, said it should be up to the courts since he was no longer president. Fast forward, and now McConnell is decrying the Manhattan verdict, as are a number of other Republicans who cowered behind their desks during the riots, in fear for their lives.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the federal government is highly unlikely to ever hold Donald Trump and those who conspired with him to overturn American democracy and trash the Constitution for a number of reasons. The GOP-controlled Supreme Court and a number of Republican-appointed judges on the federal bench will bend over backwards to accommodate His Lowness. Witness the Supreme Court dragging its feet on his claim of blanket immunity (for anything he did or might do as president). Except for Alito and Thomas, who have never let things like precedent, rule of law, or integrity influence their judgments in favor of Trump, the other justices are unlikely to find that a president has total immunity like kings and emperors of old—I cross my fingers and hope—but they can delay making a decision, holding up the federal case against him in the DC court. As for the classified documents case in the federal court in Florida, the Trump-appointed judge there is doing a good job on her own delaying the trial. Even if Trump is not elected, unless Democrats gain large majorities in the House and Senate, federal cases against him will face many hurdles.

That leaves local and state courts, and there are a number of cases pending in various states. The election interference case in Georgia is being interfered with by the appellate court and the Republican-controlled state legislature, but it can possibly still go forward as state courts are not limited by the DOJ internal policy decision not to prosecute a sitting president. Same goes for cases against those who conspired in the fake elector schemes in a number of states, where no doubt Trump is likely to be an unindicted co-conspirator.

The Manhattan case, which was poo-pooed when it was first filed as weak and insignificant, caught everyone by surprise right up to announcement of the verdict. Some pundits wee predicting a hung jury. Didn’t happen. All twelve jurors agreed that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. Now. It’s up to the judge to decide punishment. Some are calling for the governor of New York to pardon him—which she won’t if she’s smart—and others are calling for him to be thrown in jail. All are ignoring what to me are some obvious facts. He was found guilty, thus becoming the first American ex-president to be a convicted felon. Nixon came close, but his resignation caused people to drop the case against him. He lived under a cloud for the rest of his life, though. Trump and his diehard supporters don’t seem to realize that he now has a cloud over him that will not go away, no matter how much bluster, ow many threats, or how much crying and whining about how ‘very’ innocent he is (beware of anyone who overuses adjectives, exclamation points, or all-caps). That percentage of people who have been deluded into believing everything Trump says, or who know he’s lying and just don’t care, will find themselves on the wrong side of history. They might never admit it, but the majority (the rest of us) will know and remember.

Thank goodness we have a system that has clear demarcation between federal and local authority, because right now the local justice system is the only thing that stands between us and the end of American democracy as we know it.

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