Sorry it’s been a few days. Of course there’s track meets, but we also had an awesome family reunion, and the kids were in from California. Now, it’s back to commentary!!!
Equal in the Eyes
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States’ Constitution states it best:
“…(N)or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
If we are all “equally protected”, then we are also all “equally responsible” to the laws of the United States. There is no individual immune from those laws (at least not this week, the Supreme Court could change that). And while the “wheels of justice” seem intolerably slow, they do ultimately reach a conclusion.
This week, we see a reaffirmation of the success of the American experiment. If we are all equally responsible to the law, then even the most powerful should be held accountable. In New York City, the powerful; the former President of the United States, still politically viable with millions of supporters, is “before the bar”. Whether the jury of twelve New Yorkers find him guilty or not guilty really doesn’t matter. The sole fact that a former President can be so held accountable is a victory for America.
We are drowned in minutiae. Trump fell asleep in court. He told he lawyers what to do? He posted on “Truth Social”? And, OMG – Trump farted in Court!!!
But don’t forget the underlying fact. The former President of the United States is not above the law. He is, like every other citizen, from crypto-pirate Sam Bankman-Fried in New York to plucked from the local paper common thief Josh Creager in Newark, Ohio; subject to trial, and potentially jail.
The Difference
But, even after all of that, certainly the trial of Donald J. Trump is different. If any other criminal defendant did the things that Trump does, he would be in jail. So why are judges hesitant to hold the ex-President to the same standard that Bankman-Fried and Creager were forced to meet?
Practically there’s the issue that Americans have been skirting for over a year: how to jail a former President. Do the Secret Service agents go in with Trump? Are they now “bunkees” as well as bodyguards (surely Trump goes on the bottom)? Or does the former President get a separate area, maybe a bed in an office with a restroom, a lock on the door and his cell phone. Or doe the Court “LOCK HIM UP” in the penthouse of some local five-star hotel.
And then there’s the second question: what does MAGA-world do if their leader is jailed? Is there the possibility of violence? Will Appellate Courts allow a former President to stay in jail, or will they emasculate the trial Judge with upper Court rulings?
Of Course, Money
And finally, the odd reasoning that Trump may want to be in jail. Donald Trump is campaigning, every day he’s in Court. His fundraising machine goes to work each time he steps to the microphones outside the Courtroom door, garnering millions out of each rant and claim to victimhood. How much money could Trump raise if he was actually “jailed” (though I highly doubt it would be in Rikers)? He’s already drawn the parallel (I wish I’d stayed awake in geometry, I’d know the term for the opposite of parallel!). Donald Trump is in jail, Martin Luther King Junior was in jail, Donald Trump is like MLK. It’s a “theorem”, right? Will there be a “Letter from the New York Jail, (or a New York hotel)”, read by future scholars and students?
I don’t think so. But I do think he’ll raise millions more as the small handcuffs are applied, and the former President, flanked by his Secret Service cellmates, is escorted away. It’s what he wants to be: a victim, a martyr for MAGAdom, a fundraising machine. Somebody’s got to pay the bills.
$1400 a Night
It all makes sense, except for one thing. We know Donald Trump, he’s a germophobe. We know he has to have his burgers and Pepsi just right, his tie at the right length, his pants pressed even while he’s wearing them. Does this sound like a man who would voluntarily be incarcerated, even if it was in a Five Star Hotel on New York’s Fifth Avenue?
Judge Juan Merchan is still pondering what to do about Trump. As the trial goes on, and the unfortunately named David Pecker outlines the conspiracy to defraud the American electorate, Trump is speaking, tweeting (Truth Social-ing) and behaving like a defendant with no fear. To really be “equal in the eyes of the law”, the Court must enforce it’s own rules. And we know, even though his resources are limited, Trump just isn’t afraid of fines. If $175 million won’t stop him, any amount Merchan levies won’t be enough.
Trump Secret Service agents better come to work with an overnight bag. Ultimately, Merchan will have no choice – Trump will go to jail, even if it’s the only the Ritz-Carlton, with rooms starting at $1400 a night.
Justice will be served.
