Let's just state the plain and obvious point: None of us would be tuning in to find out if a former president was going to be indicted had that former president kept his pants up and not cheated on his wife with a porn star.
The national calamity we are in is because a man with no impulse control lacked impulse control, had a sexual relationship with porn star, and, when the Christian Right gravitated to him, had to shut her up with hush money because he was afraid they'd turn on him right before the 2016 election.
Those are just the facts.
I know a few remaining hardcore true believers will deny it because Trump denies it, but we've got the paper trail, the lawyer and the porn star, and the only one who says no is the one who talked about grabbing women by their vaginal parts.
I regret to inform you that he cheated, and now his sins are finding him out.
To be sure, a county district attorney in New York prosecuting Trump for paying his mistress hush money is a heavy-handed political stunt. Sure, if you or I got caught ordering our companies to do it, and they did, we might get prosecuted. But it's doubtful we'd get caught, not that I recommend it.
To paraphrase Gov. Ron DeSantis, none of us should know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star.
The question for the prosecutor is if Trump actually knows. That'll be difficult to prove. Did Trump really know he couldn't just pay someone to keep quiet, and did he know how it was done, etc.? The DA can try. He's a fool for doing so. No state level official has ever attempted to prosecute a federal official for a federal campaign finance violation, particularly when it must be wrapped into a state level crime involving an intent based on a state of mind.
This is a novel situation. I have given up trying to explain this to the Left because they just want Trump behind bars, and if they could get him behind bars for jaywalking, they would.
For everyone else: A county DA indicting the former president of the United States of America for a 2016 campaign violation related to an affair and dividing the country in half is a really bad idea.
It is absolutely true that Trump, for years, insisted there were two standards, one for the elite and one for everyone else, and now he wants the standard of the elite for himself, and they're not giving it to him. But it is also very true that a county DA, going through a multiyear effort to nab the former president on something, nabbing him on this does look like a witch hunt, an abuse of prosecution and an effort to punish Trump just for winning in 2016.
Yes, in fact, sometimes it is better not to prosecute if it risks the nation itself. There is discretion with justice. But this is a Soros-backed progressive prosecutor. He'd rather prosecute Trump than a cop killer. The Left has weaponized prosecutions.
Of course, Trump did not have to make it so easy. Had he just not had a fling with the porn star, they'd still be struggling to get him. Impulse control is always what trips up Trump. Impulse control cost him 2020 and so much else.
Finally, it is a bit pathetic -- all their whining that DeSantis hadn't said anything and when DeSantis did, they whined some more. Whining, not winning, is the calling card of MAGA 2.0 and while this all might help Trump with the base, I suspect most Americans will get tired of the soap opera and would rather Biden again than Whiner-in-Chief with no impulse control.
Who exactly do an indictment and arrest bring to Trump that wasn't with him in 2020? Republicans, you do know if you go with literally anyone else, you can get eight years in the White House, right, and half or less of the soap opera?
To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member