Here is just a sample of Trump’s recent Truth Social posts. He had four to five, depending on how one counts things when he blends issues but one example more than suffices:
When will people realize that the atrocities being perpetrated by the FBI and DOJ having to do with the Raid and Break In of my home, Mar-a-Lago, or after years of other atrocities and unthinkable violations of freedom and the law, this has been going on for years, from the moment I came down the golden escalators in Trump Tower, right up until the present. At some point you have to look at what took place in the past to determine what is going on in the present….
Yes, at some point, we do have to look at the past to determine what is going on in the present. Trump has committed crimes from the day he came down that escalator right up to the present. Paul Manafort recently admitted that he passed critical Trump campaign information to Russia, whereas Manafort lied to Mueller about it. Whether that constitutes a criminal conspiracy or not doesn’t matter, it is “collusion,” and the fact that Russia assisted Trump is not a “hoax.”
Additionally, Trump obstructed justice and lied throughout the Mueller investigations, crimes that Mueller cited in the report. The phone call to Ukraine was perfectly impeachable and almost surely criminal, not perfect. He did try to lead an attempt to overthrow the election. He called the Georgia Secretary of State, saying, “Guys, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.” His corporation in New York is being prosecuted for tax evasion. He took the 5th 400 times in a lawsuit. And, when the FBI said to a neutral U.S. Magistrate (One with Republican ties), “We have probable cause to search for evidence because… ” the magistrate agreed that a crime has probably been committed and the evidence is probably in Trump’s place, the FBI walked out of Trump’s property with exactly what it said it would find, some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets concerning nuclear weapons, files Trump has NO business possessing and that’s not even debatable.
In all the above, we have learned one unequivocal truth, “Not prosecuting Trump” has never once worked. At no point has Trump thought, “Whoa, that was a close one, I best pull back… ” and cooled his heals. No. On the very day that he was cleared during the first impeachment, he fired the Vindman brothers, an almost “perfect” example of Trump’s autocratic and criminal essence. When “caught” doing something wrong, his instinct is to fight harder and escalate the dangers to get out of it. The FBI found Top-Secret/SCI classified material, files that are never supposed to leave certain specifically secure facilities, in Trump’s storage area near a pool. Is Trump staying quiet, getting a bit humble, knowing he’s in deep? No. Trump’s entire defense is basically saying to the American people, “Nice country you got there, it’d be a damn shame if something happened to it. Do you want me to turn down the heat?”
Prosecuting Trump will be deeply painful and almost surely get violent somewhere, but through all the criminality above, the monster has only grown. If the DOJ doesn’t prosecute Trump on this particular matter, it will act as an admission that the MAGA movement and its army are so dangerous that Trump cannot be touched. In effect, the only thing restraining Trump and the MAGAs will be Trump’s own principles… It would be the most dangerous moment in U.S. government history because Trump wants to be set loose to do whatever he wants. Fortunately, even some of the legal insiders around Trump believe that indictments are coming. From the Insider:
One lawyer familiar with the Trump team’s thought process said in an interview that the ex-president “likes to run the show” and is a “big believer in the public relations assault,” but that he could soon face criminal charges he can’t talk his way out of.
“He should be worried about all these investigations,” the lawyer added. “I think he’s a target of all of them and I think he’ll get indicted.”
“Public relations assault” is the polite way of saying that Trump is a big believer in killing anything that threatens him, burning the country to the ground if he needs to. Does January 6th ring a bell to anyone?
On May 17th of this year, just as the Committee was really digging up evidence regarding the insurrection, I wrote that the Florida “files case” was the single most dangerous criminal case Trump faced. What was true then is true now. The case could be, depending on the evidence regarding why Trump kept the files, a crime just as serious as January 6th except infinitely cleaner when it comes to proving it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Whereas January 6th could be framed “politically,” this matter involves two subjects about which the Justice Department has NO sense of humor, national security, and special access classified information, in particular concerning our nuclear weapons program. Even GOP pols can more easily recognize the clear criminal intent and danger in the threat to “nefariously” deal these files out to interested parties. It is infinitely easier to prove than seditious conspiracy and just as dangerous.
Put it all together? Trump says sometimes one needs to look to the past to understand the present. Good point. In the past, Trump has gotten out of every crime by relying upon ever-increasing risk-taking, increased bravado, increasing his power, and the increased implicit threat to destroy civil society. “Not prosecuting Trump” has never worked.
This is the case. This should be the line in the sand. Donald Trump knows it, and that’s why he’s raging and putting the FBI in danger. Merrick Garland knows it, and that’s why he signed off on the search warrant. Legal commentators know it because it is “cleaner” from an evidentiary view. We know it will be hard. We know it will get violent. We don’t know the ultimate ending… unless we don’t prosecute. If he isn’t prosecuted, we do know what happens next because we can look at the past.
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