Donald Trump’s good days are now in the rear view mirror
To listen to the braying laughter of the drooling, knuckle-dragging MAGA cretins, you would think they have something real to celebrate. That’s the whole problem with living your life by delusion. Transient moments of apparent progress soon rapidly disappear.
The apparent delay in Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s case to indict their cult leader Donald Trump isn’t necessarily the home run that they think it is. Things don’t necessarily happen the way we expect.
Put another way, if Donald Trump ever does go to prison, no one is going to remember this moment. No one except possibly Trump himself. Trump will recall these days as a time of false hope, a possibility of vindication that was ultimately and bitterly disappointed.
No, Donald Trump’s good days are almost certainly permanently in the rear view mirror. At a time when he should be savouring the quiet enjoyment and prosperity of his life, every day from now on will be a headline, and every minute a white knuckled uncertainty.
So what is going on and what can we expect now? The process is one that is well-known, and I have learned how it works from Glen Kirschner, who is himself a former federal prosecutor.
“Just because a grand jury votes to indict on a given day,” Kirschner said, “it’s very unlikely that an indictment would be unsealed and an arrest would be made the same day.” How will it work? Kirschner explains.
First, the grand jury needs to vote on the question of whether or not to indict the defendant. As far as we know the Manhattan grand jury hasn’t done that with Trump yet. Should they decide to indict — and they usually do — the next step is to go before a judge and get an arrest warrant for that person. Then the arrest is made.
The arrest doesn’t usually happen on the same day as the vote to indict. In the meantime the indictment is kept under seal until the arrest is made. It’s important that the subject of the indictment not know that he’s been indicted until the moment of his arrest.
Sometimes that happens when law enforcement shows up at his door with the arrest warrant in hand. Sometimes a moment of surrender is negotiated between the DA and the subject’s attorney. With Trump it will probably be the latter. It’s the usual way when the subject isn’t thought to be a flight risk or a danger to the community. Though it could be reasonably argued that Trump is both.
Once surrendered, Trump will show up and be booked and fingerprinted, his mugshot will be taken, then he will be walked into court where he will be arraigned on the indictment. Kirschner thinks it’s unlikely that Trump will be perp walked to court. But even that could happen.
Kirschner suspects that the grand jury hasn’t yet voted. But it’s still possible that they already voted and the process is already underway. We don’t know because any indictment will necessarily remain under seal.
Whatever the case, the notion that an indictment will help or harm Trump politically won’t be considered. Such collateral consequences seldom are. It’s the DA’s responsibility to do his or her job irrespective of the consequences.
But one thing that will hinder Trump considerably. Once he’s indicted and a trial date is set (six months to a year hence according to Kirschner), because this is a criminal case Trump will have to be physically present for every single court proceeding relevant to the case. So if his attorneys make delaying motions, Trump himself will almost always have to be there when they do.
That could represent a huge impediment to a presidential campaign. Imagine how inconvenient it would be if Trump were indicted by multiple jurisdictions. It would be a logistical nightmare for him.
Anyway you look at it, Trump is in an unenviable position and his good days are behind him. MAGA cretins may be laughing now, but their glee is short lived and it is us, not them, who will ultimately have the last laugh. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.