On the Indictment

Okay, okay. I realize this wasn’t in your inbox at 0500 Eastern this week. Sue me, you get what you pay for. I mean, for heaven’s sake, it is a national holiday! (see below).

Courtroom sketch by Bill Hennessy for PBS NewsHour

While the indictment of a former President (and leading Republican candidate to become the next one) was worthy of note here, I put off reaction until it had time to sink in, both into my consciousness and that of the polity. After a week or so of cogitating upon it, I am ready to discuss it.

The indictment of Donald J. Trump on conspiracy and violations of the Espionage Act is the fitting end of the political career of this most-damaging figure in our recent history. If half of what is in the indictment is true (and trustworthy sources in the news assure that good prosecutors rarely put all the goods in the indictment), he will be convicted of several felonies and be subject to imprisonment for the rest of his days. Whether he is actually jailed remains a matter for debate, but he will be convicted.

When I read of the prosecutor’s citation of “speedy trial” norms, I am made optimistic that a trial and conviction can occur along a timeline that allows for some semblance of a GOP Primary process to occur without Trump. While it clearly is in Trump’s interest to delay things as long as possible (on the theory that he could be elected President again and be beyond the reach of a mere special counsel), it is in the country’s interest for things to move faster.

“Trial and conviction, you say Bryan. Aren’t you giving away the game here? You want to sound so principled and high-minded, yet you’ve already convicted him.” That is correct. With my limited knowledge of the statutes and the former President’s public statements alone, I am confident of his guilt in at least some of both the Espionage Act charges and the conspiracy charges. One note here—the charges on handling and removing classified information are born of the Espionage Act. No one is accusing the former President of engaging in espionage.

It is unfortunate that the judge selected by whatever process such things are done is a Trumpy judge with a history of dubious conduct vis-a-vis that man who appointed her, but for now one must play with the cards dealt. This will be a jury trial, and I assume 12 Floridians of judgment can be found for the job.

Let us deal now with some of the noise in the air, some of the craptacular arguments put forward by legions of water-carriers for a future felon.

But Hillary. During the 2016 Presidential Election, candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was shown to have committed Espionage Act offenses, and there was also evidence of conspiracy in her efforts to eliminate the electronic trail. The Justice Department/FBI on at least two occasions during that election evaluated the evidence and declined to bring charges against Clinton. This was—of course—a politically motivated mistake, and the bellowing of Trump rally attendees demanding “Lock her up!” was not at all inappropriate. She SHOULD have been charged and tried. She CLEARLY thought the law did not apply to her. Not prosecuting her sent a terrible message. Donald Trump stands here accused of similar crimes, with the added benefit of his having not only admitted to committing, but in his assertion of his right to commit them. To ignore these reactions to his actions would simply reaffirm the lawlessness of the Clinton decision. If locking her up was right then, locking him up now is right. Continuing to do the wrong thing is no strategy for national renewal.

But This Is Politically Motivated. No. If Trump had at any point up to indictment, come clean and surrendered all the material that he illegally removed and illegally retained—and was then STILL indicted, the case for a politically motivated indictment would be strong. But he didn’t, and so it isn’t.

But The Country Cannot Take This. Of course, in order for this to be true, one must foresee political violence as a result, violence at a scale that far outweighs the benefits to the country from prosecution. Generally, holders of this opinion 1) would approve of such violence or 2) while not approving of it, would “understand” such violence. Either of these fears arises from tumbled moral gyrocompasses, wherein political violence is seen as a legitimate outlet for dissent.

But The Biden Crime Family. I am convinced that Hunter Biden should be charged and tried on offenses beginning with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. I suspect the President’s brother may have committed similar acts. I suspect that there is tax evasion rampant in the manner in which funds were distributed around the family. I believe that the President was at the very least, aware of all of this. Either he ignored it, which is unconscionable (and possibly illegal), or he participated in it, which is illegal. Either way, there are ongoing investigations into this activity, which I HOPE will tell a story of either actionable criminal activity or exoneration. But failing to act on the obvious offenses of Trump because of the suspected offenses of the Biden Family is a non-starter.

The greatest threat to our security right now is our glacial legal system, in that Trump will have myriad opportunities to stonewall and delay, potentially running out the clock before the election that could return him to office. His possible return to office is aided and abetted by the decline in the morality and civic virtue of the electorate, a chicken-or-the-egg relationship that raises questions as to whether Trump is the cause of the decline or its result.

On Juneteenth

I write this midmorning on June the 19th, a national holiday of late known as Juneteenth, a holiday designed to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The creation of this holiday was not without controversy, and skinflint that I am, the case against national holidays in general (“picking a man’s pocket” etc.) is a strong one. That said, I am foursquare in favor of Juneteenth.

“Why, Wahoo, are you so strongly in favor of Juneteenth?” you may ask.

Well, because as I look across the events that make up this nation’s history, the end of the single most evil stain on this nation’s existence is something well worth celebrating, and if I were forced to, I would have eliminated either Labor Day or Columbus Day in order to accommodate it. That I was not forced to sits fine with me, as I am enjoying my lethargy today, and will do so in September and October both. I will brook no nannying that tells me that I am to “do something” today, other than to spend it as I wish.

That we do not celebrate a national holiday on September 17th (Constitution Day) is the real scandal of our calendar.

Happy Juneteenth!