Tomorrow will have all the gravity of a state funeral. We\u2019ll watch \u201cthe motorcade\u201d leave Trump Tower, and weave its way four miles through the New York streets to the Court House. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be cameras stationed at every intersection along the way (further snarling traffic). Maybe some young MAGA tourist will echo President Kennedy\u2019s funeral and salute the black SUV\u2019s as they go by. When they get to the Court House, it\u2019s not likely the Secret Service will exit the twice-impeached former President at the front door. It\u2019s a Court House and there\u2019s surely a \u201cSally Port\u201d entrance through an underground garage. Will see the motorcade slide into the building, with maybe with a profile glance of the former President in the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Trump will be escorted upstairs, booked, \u201cmug-shotted\u201d, and fingerprinted.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019ll be \u201carrested\u201d, and read his rights.\u00a0\u00a0But he won\u2019t be put in a cell, or stripped searched.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s not going to be detained.\u00a0\u00a0Eventually he\u2019ll be escorted (no handcuffs) down the hall to the Courtroom, the same hall where his finance guy, Alan Weisselberg, was walked not so long ago.\u00a0\u00a0The indictment will be read, and his lawyer (likely not Trump) will plead a firm \u201cnot guilty\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The judge will set the terms of release, bail or on his own recognizance, and whatever other restrictions are appropriate.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe he\u2019ll just tell the former President to stop threatening the District Attorney and his staff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Mr. Trump will get back in the motorcade and head for the airport. There\u2019s a speech scheduled from the ballroom of Mara Lago on Tuesday night. As Donald Trump has always said, better to get bad publicity than no publicity. The attention of the Nation, both his followers and his detractors, is fully focused on HIM. No reason for the former President to waste the opportunity; there\u2019s money to raise, and victimhood to stoke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnprecedented\u201d is the overused word of our millennium. For the past eight years, since Donald Trump came down that \u201cgolden escalator\u201d in Trump Tower, much of what he\u2019s done is \u201cunprecedented\u201d in American history. So I guess it shouldn\u2019t surprise anyone, that Donald Trump is the first former President ever brought up on charges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it won\u2019t be as unprecedented if he\u2019s brought up on more charges in Atlanta at the beginning of next month. His demand for Georgia\u2019s Secretary of State to find enough votes for him to win, was election interference committed in plain view. And now we know that the Federal classified document Grand Jury heard new evidence. Trump himself was rummaging through the boxes of classified documents, and ordered his attorneys to lie to the Federal agencies. Not only did he keep classified documents and defy subpoenas for their recovery, he obstructed justice and suborned perjury. It\u2019s hard to see how the Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, can avoid indicting him for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But all of these charges are preliminary to the \u201cmain show\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump may be found guilty of the \u201cporn star\u201d charges. He should be guilty of election tampering in Atlanta (though a Republican Governor might step in and end that with a pardon). And Jack Smith likely will win on the classified documents case. But the \u201cmain show\u201d is the other Federal Grand Jury in Washington, conducting the investigation into the January 6th<\/sup> Insurrection. If\u2026if\u2026if; if Jack Smith can make the direct connection through Mark Meadows from the rioters to Donald Trump, they can charge him with conspiracy to disrupt the US Congress. And that charge carries three penalties: $10,000 fine, up to ten years in prison, and disqualification from ever holding Federal office.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The MAGA crowd doesn\u2019t really care about the \u201cporn star\u201d stuff.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s been \u201cbaked into\u201d the Trump persona since the \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tapes.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, it kind of helps Trump\u2019s image with some \u2013 \u201cwow, he can \u2018do it\u2019 with a porn star!!\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And the \u201cperfect call\u201d with Secretary Raffensperger will be read as simply a man asking for a \u201crecount\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Insurrection case cuts to the heart of the matter.\u00a0\u00a0MAGA-world is still convinced that it wasn\u2019t a riot.\u00a0\u00a0The believe, really believe, that the Insurrection was just a peaceful protest.\u00a0\u00a0In spite of what we saw with our own eyes that day, they think the \u201cpeaceful protestors\u201d were \u201cdriven\u201d into the building by \u201cpolice tear gas\u201d, and lead on by \u201cAntifa agitators\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The shooting of one of those protestors was a \u201cmurder\u201d, and the whole event a Democrat leftist plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if\u2026if\u2026if, if the twice-impeached former President is indicted for conspiracy to commit insurrection, don\u2019t be surprised when the real reaction shows up.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s the big one, the charge that will go completely against the grain of MAGA world.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s the charge that could finally end our long national nightmare of Trump.\u00a0\u00a0And it\u2019s the charge that could fracture our Nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heart of the Matter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n