Global Courant
Teflon Don seems on his way to becoming a thug Don.
It’s about damn time.
Donald Trump is facing the legal reckoning he has earned after lowering every moral, ethical and legal standard in pursuit of the two defining aspects of his petite, grubby life: money and fame.
The wheel has turned. The unimaginable has become reality. The merit that millions of enlightened Americans have hoped for, longed for, and longed for over a long, often discouraging time, has now arrived.
Finally.
Just months after a New York prosecutor showed the way by charging Trump in connection with a porn star hush money scheme, the Union Justice Department has also belatedly done its duty.
Finally.
Perhaps the G-man who led a slew of investigations into Trump, Special Counsel Jack Smith, was inspired to act by the will and courage of two women who refused to be intimidated by a felon who became president.
Writer E Jean Carroll and actress Stormy Daniels took on Trump when no one else did, knowing that ugly, brutal attacks were inevitably ahead. Instead of strapping in or stepping back, they got up and stepped forward. Enlightened Americans owe both of them an abiding debt of gratitude for the good fight and victory.
It’s up to the Justice Department to follow their honorable example and get the same oh-so-satisfying result.
As a first step, Trump will reportedly appear before a Miami magistrate early next week to face a seven-count federal indictment following a lengthy and at times arduous investigation into his hoarding of classified documents at his gaudy beachside lair, Mar-a- Lago. The costs are said to include “conspiracy to obstruct” and “deliberate withholding of documents”.
Finally.
Initial news reports of the allegations variously described the unprecedented action against a former president as one “politically important” “seismic event”.
For once, the exaggeration was justified.
This career con man – who, absurdly, became Supreme Commander of the United States – has, with his trademark bile and roar, avoided being held in any meaningful account. Until now.
This time the bile and roar didn’t work.
True to his rank, manipulative nature, Trump attempted to “pre-empt” the story by breaking word of the multi-count indictment on a social media site — populated by his fanatical followers — befitting his sad disposition: illiterate and perpetually angry.
“I never thought it possible that something like this could happen to a former president of the United States,” Trump said thundered. Think again, Mr. Ex-President. Think again.
The legal rubicon has been exceeded. I am convinced that Trump will not be able to recover from it.
Day after day, the bewildering aura of invincibility that has shielded Trump is peeling away one toxic layer after another.
Trump, I think, senses this. The bravura has given way to panic. He no longer controls the events or the ‘story’. Trump’s fate will be decided by people beyond his hideous reach and the fawning gallery of sycophants on and off cable TV who also make his sinister bids for money and fame.
It’s no wonder his all-caps outbursts have a desperate quality that betrays a fear of what’s to come: a Florida courtroom, seasoned prosecutors, and an avalanche of incriminating evidence, apparently including an audiotape of Trump admitting he was holding onto a classified document on plans to attack Iran prepared by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The prospect that Trump’s garrulous hubris might help convict him is as delightful as it is fitting.
Despite the charges, it remains likely that Trump will become the Republican nominee. Yet he will be bloodied by his Republican challengers who in recent days have shown a surprising willingness to talk flatly about how his erratic behavior during his tenure and the precipitating role he played in the Jan. 6 uprising disqualified him from running for president.
The special counsel may also issue other charges on that point. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and ex-Vice President Mike Pence will not only be emboldened by the current and any future indictments, but will also be encouraged to press ahead with the attack. They will, little by little, weed out Trump’s appeal to independent voters who will not accept supporting a federal prisoner in the making.
And, of course, there may be more ammunition ahead as a Georgia prosecutor is set to indict Trump later this summer over his mafia-style tactics to pressure the Republican secretary of state to “find” 11,000 phantom votes to to undo. the 2020 presidential election.
This is the stuff of President Joe Biden’s dreams.
His likely Republican opponent will do anything to stay out of prison and will waste time, money and energy as Biden campaigns for re-election.
Trump will revert to his usual tactics of using the charges for martyrdom and undermining the legitimacy of prosecutors.
That tired script loses its power.
History will record that Thursday, June 8, 2023 was the day Donald Trump’s quest to be elected president in 2024 was doomed.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial view of Al Jazeera.
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