Yes it’s okay to enjoy this part
Now that the DOJ has criminally indicted Donald Trump under the Espionage Act, I keep seeing two different narratives floated. The first is that we should treat this like a solemn occasion, because the indictment of a former United States President on such serious charges is a dark day for the country. The other narrative is Trump is still somehow magically going to get away with it all no matter what.
I’m frankly so sick of seeing both these narratives, I could vomit. The first narrative, that this is somehow a solemn occasion, is mostly coming from people in the media who are trying to sound judicious, and is easily shot down. The dark days were when this career criminal took office, and when he kept committing crimes in office. The fact that he’s now being brought to justice is a bright beacon of hope. It’s what our democracy is supposed to be. We don’t have to weep about it. The time for weeping was back when this criminal had the nuclear launch codes.
I’ve long said that criminal justice system proceedings are not for your entertainment. It is not Jack Smith’s job or Merrick Garland’s job to treat this criminal case like it’s a reality show, or treat you like an audience. They don’t owe us that. What they owe us is a criminal case that can get a conviction and put Trump behind bars for his crimes – which they’re in the process of delivering on. But it is okay for us to take what enjoyment we can from watching Trump being brought to justice. After all, we’re not rooting for him to go to prison simply because we don’t like him or we think he’s a failed politician. We’re rooting for him to go to prison because he committed serious felony crimes against the United States, and him going to prison will help restore the sanctity of our democracy.
I’ve also quite obviously had it up to here with the folks on our side who are still trying to spin this into a loss for our side, just so they can continue to feel the maximum amount of panic and/or outrage possible. These are the folks who spent every day insisting that the DOJ would never indict Trump no matter what. Now that they’ve been proven wrong, instead of improving their outlook, they’re pivoting directly to “Trump will magically get out of the indictment no matter what.”
These folks on our side are, frankly, clinically addicted to feeling panic and outrage. If Trump being indicted for espionage didn’t change their outlook, nothing ever will. Even after Trump is in prison or deceased, they’ll still be ranting about how he’s more dangerous than ever and he’s getting away with it all. You think I’m being sarcastic when I say that. But these same folks are already insisting that Trump’s indictment somehow makes him more dangerously powerful than ever, and already eagerly latching onto every doomsday narrative they can get their hands on. Now they’ve decided that some judge – who already proved herself rather powerless in this same case last year – will just “dismiss” the Trump indictment on Tuesday, and Trump will magically get away with it all. These types will latch onto and amplify any ludicrous doomsday prediction that will allow them to continue feeling the defeatist outrage that has come to define their lives. They don’t actually want Trump to go down, because if he did, they wouldn’t be able to feel outrage anymore at the prospect of him “getting away with it all.”
So yeah, I’ve pretty much had it with the above two groups. Neither group ever has anything to contribute to the public discourse. The “we should treat this like a dark day” types are only ever trying to make themselves look judicious. The “Trump will still magically get away with it all” types are only ever trying to feed their own clinical need to feel panic and outrage. These times are too important – this week in particular – to allow either of these two groups to drown out real political discourse about what’s actually going on.
So let’s enjoy this for exactly what it is. Donald Trump is cornered. He has no way out. He’s not magically getting away with anything. No judge has any magic wand for getting him off the hook. Even if Trump or his allies make any superficial little moves aimed at gaining him an inch, it’ll be no match for what Jack Smith and company have spent all this time comprehensively game planning for. Trump is simply about to be methodically dismantled. It won’t happen in a day but it’ll happen. Stop looking for things to fret over, and enjoy the show.
