Should we be celebrating Donald Trump's legal troubles?
It is no secret that I have not been a supporter - at all - of King Con Don. In fact, I have been critical of almost everything that the man does, literally. To me, he represents the very worst excesses of our country, and does so not only blatantly, but proudly. And obviously loudly, at that.
Also, frankly, I take it largely as a positive that he is finally being held accountable for his actions. There is the current situation in New York City, where he already made history as the only president to have been indicted on criminal charges. There are also possible indictments awaiting him in Georgia for tampering with elections, as well as in other areas, particularly his role in the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol Building in Washington, and his handling of sensitive, classified documents which he took out of the White House and brought down to Mar-a-Lago.
Let me be clear: I personally suspect - very strongly suspect - that Trump is guilty of many crimes, and that he has gotten away with them for far too long. It seemed like he had impunity, at least until very recently. Now, it seems like maybe, finally, some of this is catching up with him. I don't know about the specific charges in New York City, for which he has already been indicted. But I strongly feel that the man deserves to be behind bars for a number of outright illegal actions that he took regarding the election, January 6th, and his ridiculous handling of very sensitive, classified documents. He poses a very real danger to the country, particularly because of his apparent sense of legal impunity, and thus poses a very real threat to our national security.
However, I also feel that the whole Trump phenomenon is largely tragic. That it underscored certain things that are very wrong with our country. Furthermore, I believe that many - if not most - of his political opponents understand this on some level, yet continually dumb down the debate to simply attacking Trump himself, even though it seems quite clear that he is merely a symptom of what is wrong with this country, and not the problem itself. In other words, I do not believe that if Trump is removed from the political equation, that all will be right with this country once again. Far from it. We had extreme problems and polarization long before Trump ever descended down that golden escalator to announce his candidacy in the 2016 race.
If Trump is found guilty and held accountable for his crimes, than perhaps there is cause for some measure of celebration. It would seem to mark a triumph of our legal system, which would be significant. However, it is not merely a form of entertainment, as so many people now seem to be suggesting. No matter what happens, I am not going to be eating popcorn - as I have seen a number of people suggest they will be doing - should Trump do the perp walk or be handcuffed or, eventually, if he is indeed found guilty. We do not celebrate raucously when a murderer is brought to trial and/or found guilty. We certainly should not be celebrating if Trump is ultimately found guilty of effectively trying to kill our American democracy, for all intents and purposes.
What should we do?
We should learn from this. And stoking the flames of further political division is not exactly a sign that we have learned much of anything from all of this. In fact, it feels like it is a sign of exactly the opposite.
One of the major problems, as I see it, in the United States today is that everything has been dumbed down to being merely some form of entertainment. And my suspicion is that Trump, of all people, knew this. He understood this very well, and he took advantage and capitalized n it big time. It took him all the way to the White House and, frankly, I am still not entirely certain that he will not get there again in the future. Yet, regardless of whether or not he does, I heard a number of his supporters basically justifying their support (often half-assed support, at least on the surface as they explained it to me at the time) was that at least he would be entertaining. Apparently, their idea of what is entertaining greatly differs from my own, because I have never found Trump remotely entertaining or amusing, or any such thing. What worries me is that this is the reality in the United States today, and explains why politicians really seem to have only to master a shorter and shorter soundbite to appease the ever diminishing American attention span in order to enjoy success (that and obtaining great sums of money from their sponsors, that is). In other words, we seem to have reduced serious political issues for mere entertainment, with each side rooting for their own good guys, and always booing and hissing "the other guys." Frankly, this is stupidity, and we can see that the results are growing ever more extreme. Still, neither side seems willing to back away. And if that's the case, then I am afraid that Ross Clark is indeed right in his article (see link below). If we simply reduce Trump's ever widening circus/drama show to mere entertainment to appease our vanities, the consequences could be tragic indeed. If he is found guilty, then so be it. But that will not be the "be all, end all" solution to our nation's problems. Nor will our celebrations should things go our way be fixing the problems.
In fact, it likely is only making things worse. Unfortunately, that seems to be the approach that, regardless of their political affiliations, Americans seem to working together towards. Because both sides seem to be working tirelessly to making the situation in this country perennially worse and worse. And while we have come close to approaching this already, at some point, things really are going to reach a real breaking point.
Below are the links to the articles used in writing this particular blog entry:
American democracy has crossed a dangerous line – we should all be worried by Ross Clark, 31 March 2023:
Donald Trump’s enemies may be celebrating today, but my guess is that neither they, nor anyone else, will enjoy what will follow
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/31/american-democracy-has-crossed-a-dangerous-line-worried/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_pso-fb_paid_fb_us_boostedcontent_trump_pro_broad&fbclid=IwAR37rFYJeDd_IorcUalQfi7uGEnj-grRYfgfmCNZnEIJo5hC4kcOZ35Kw88
Donald Trump: His four biggest legal problems Published By Gareth Evans in Washington, March 31, 2023:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61084161
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