Former President Donald Trump is going to be indicted over the hush money arrangement he allegedly made with former porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The Left is doing a victory lap, as usual. It’s another ‘walls are closing in’ story, and some think this will be the nail in the coffin for Trump. Many hope this will be the closing chapter for the former president in American politics. I doubt that, and let’s not forget: grand jury indictments are handed out like candy.
The saying that ‘you can indict a ham sandwich’ speaks to how easy it is for these investigative bodies to dole out charges, especially if that jury is comprised of the most ardent liberals in the country reviewing whether the former president, one of the most polarizing figures in politics, committed a crime. Trump is anathema to the Left. Of course, these people bought into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s cockamamie legalese that elevated misdemeanors into felony charges. To boot, the statute of limitations had expired for the charges being considered.
The day that so many of us have been waiting for finally arrived.
— MoveOn (@MoveOn) March 30, 2023
Trump has been indicted in NYC.
Get involved: https://t.co/zNkEGbJchp pic.twitter.com/ZGkTeEZGv7
The indictment of Donald Trump over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels is NOT a trivial case. It's also just the first of what could be multiple cases brought against the him.@NormEisen explains why it's so important to prosecute Trump.
— MoveOn (@MoveOn) March 30, 2023
SIGN:https://t.co/zNkEGbJchp pic.twitter.com/meiZdHnNJe
Damn actually crying. It’s a hard knock life. https://t.co/8wwQhkxgSa
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 30, 2023
Any indictment or conviction would not bar Mr. Trump from running. A clean criminal record is not among the criteria the Constitution sets for who is eligible to be president. https://t.co/B0B1l7qXKQ
— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) March 30, 2023
Just got back in from a lovely walk with my dog. Surely, nothing could possibly have happened while we were gone that would spoil the sense of calm and serenity that I am now experiencing.
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 30, 2023
Actually, NOT Prosecuting Trump Is the ‘Banana Republic’ Move - https://t.co/XxXN7kRrGt https://t.co/9s2CuhXFFz
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) March 30, 2023
Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Exonerated 5, has this to say about Trump's indictment: pic.twitter.com/TLK9WYtO8C
— claudia irizarry aponte (@clauirizarry) March 30, 2023
Holy cow. https://t.co/jcO77NAWYX
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) March 30, 2023
Once Trump is in custody, police officers will process him behind closed doors, taking mug shots and fingerprints. Here is what we know about the next steps in the criminal proceedings and what they mean for Trump’s 2024 presidential run. https://t.co/Fs5jj8LzTk
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 30, 2023
"Nominating a felon will win us the election" is a take, for sure 🤣 https://t.co/k8jg2RnJLs
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) March 30, 2023
"Accountability", yeah. Horrifying! https://t.co/oTpn2o6Ayy
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) March 30, 2023
Yet, while some left-wing groups, like Moveon.Org, are jumping for glee, others are more muted regarding the news. Take Elie Mystal, who seems to concede that Trump isn’t going to go to jail or be convicted of what’s being considered here (via The Nation):
Elie Mystal @ElieNYC “This is the lowest-hanging fruit (or, mushroom, to hear some tell it) in the Trump criminal matrix. This isn’t getting Al Capone for tax evasion; this is getting Al Capone for illegally serving alcohol at his underground poker game.” @thenation
— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) March 30, 2023
This is the first real attempt to hold Trump legally accountable for any of his many alleged crimes. However, the odds of securing real justice seem very long.https://t.co/eJCYOBJb7m
— The Nation (@thenation) March 30, 2023
The indictment represents the first real attempt to hold Trump legally accountable for any of his many alleged crimes. But the odds that the path to real justice, let alone prison time, runs through the Manhattan DA’s office still seem very, very long.
[…]
We know he paid Daniels. We know he lied about it. We know he obfuscated about where the money came from. Game, set, match. If these charges had been brought by a federal prosecutor in 2020 or 2021 at the very least, the indictments wouldn’t even be controversial outside of the white-wing media that remains in thrall to Trump. This is the lowest-hanging fruit (or, mushroom, to hear some tell it) in the Trump criminal matrix. This isn’t getting Al Capone for tax evasion; this is getting Al Capone for illegally serving alcohol at his underground poker game. It’s minor, but it’s also obvious. Criminal bookkeeping is just as ticky-tack as it sounds, but all the available evidence shows that Trump did it. If law enforcement has enough time and energy to beat the snot out of a person who jumps a turnstile to get onto the subway (and they do), then they have enough resources to indict Trump for this tawdry crap.
The problem, as Alexa is quick to remind me, is that it’s not 2020 or 2021, and this is not in federal court. We are in the year 2023, and a local DA is trying to gather up some bits of the jurisdictional authority federal prosecutors left lying on the ground. It’s not a clean shot: Bragg is trying to bank in a half-court heave off the backboard after the shot clock buzzer has already sounded.
You can see why some are tempering expectations in liberal America. They, too, have seen many ‘Trump is done’ narratives fizzle and die. Russian collusion was supposed to ensnare Trump—and nothing happened. Then, the January 6 insurrection, which wasn’t an insurrection, quickly fell apart. The classified document mishandling and subsequent FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago was the one the Left I think really thought could stop the Trump moment in politics. And then, the evidence didn’t pan out, and Joe Biden became engulfed in a state secret fiasco of his own doing, leaving sensitive materials at multiple locations.
With the porn payments finally end Trump, probably not, but that’s not the point. The goal is to erode the man slowly; he’s facing these charges, plus multiple investigations stemming from 2020 election interference. The real crime Trump committed was running in 2016 and beating Hillary Clinton. That’s an unforgivable sin in the eyes of progressives, who ironically don’t like Hillary all that much, either.
Editor's Note: If they can come for a former president actively campaigning to take back the White House, they can come for us, and they can come for you.
Support us in our mission as we tell the truth about President Trump. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code WITCHHUNT to get 50% off of your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member