The seven counts against the former president include conspiracy to obstruct, willful retention of documents and false statements, according to people familiar with the indictment. He said he would surrender to the authorities on Tuesday.
Obviously the course of justice must go forward, and if prosecutors have a strong case, the should pursue it.
On the other hand, given all that he’s done to undermine democracy, subvert elections, destroy civility, erode democratic norms and traditions, and find common cause with hostile foreign powers, I’m not really keen on the idea that 30 years later, when people say Trump, they’ll think “oh, the guy who mishandled classified documents?”
It would be like if Ted Bundy got caught writing bad checks and was locked up for that.
They famously got Al Capone on tax evasion, and nobody thinks of him as “the tax cheat” first and foremost.
Besides, I suspect that this is a case where the floodgates are going to open up in terms of investigations and charges, once the first set sticks to him. There’s also the NY state fraud charges already filed, and the GA state election tampering investigation that is widely expected to lead to charges.
Trump will be remembered for much more. He is still the only twice-impeached President and one of very few to not win a second term. Jan 6 is going to be an event touched on in history books. Who knows what we’ll learn about the last few years in terms of Russia and disinformation and other corruption angles in the next few decades?
And don’t forget that there are more investigations still pending! This is just the most obvious, slam-dunk case out there so it moved the fastest.
I’m of mixed mind about this.
Obviously the course of justice must go forward, and if prosecutors have a strong case, the should pursue it.
On the other hand, given all that he’s done to undermine democracy, subvert elections, destroy civility, erode democratic norms and traditions, and find common cause with hostile foreign powers, I’m not really keen on the idea that 30 years later, when people say Trump, they’ll think “oh, the guy who mishandled classified documents?”
It would be like if Ted Bundy got caught writing bad checks and was locked up for that.
They famously got Al Capone on tax evasion, and nobody thinks of him as “the tax cheat” first and foremost.
Besides, I suspect that this is a case where the floodgates are going to open up in terms of investigations and charges, once the first set sticks to him. There’s also the NY state fraud charges already filed, and the GA state election tampering investigation that is widely expected to lead to charges.
Trump will be remembered for much more. He is still the only twice-impeached President and one of very few to not win a second term. Jan 6 is going to be an event touched on in history books. Who knows what we’ll learn about the last few years in terms of Russia and disinformation and other corruption angles in the next few decades?
And don’t forget that there are more investigations still pending! This is just the most obvious, slam-dunk case out there so it moved the fastest.