Bon voyage Donald Trump!
Once it was revealed that Special Counsel Jack Smith had a recording of Donald Trump discussing a classified military document with people who weren’t cleared to hear about it, we knew we’d hear that recording sooner or later. After all, it’s going to be used at trial. Now it turns out the media has the recording already – and it gives something away.
Yes, there’s the matter of Trump’s guilt. But that’s not news. We could tell from the text of the indictment that Trump had been caught on tape illegally disseminating military secrets, admitting that the document was classified, and admitting that he didn’t have the power to declassify it. What comes across on the recording is just how lost and pathetic Trump sounds.
At one point he said this in reference to the classified documents on his desk at his golf resort: “Isn’t this amazing? I have a big pile of papers.” What adult talks like that? Who steals boxes of classified military secrets and leaves them strewn across his desk and stacked in his bathroom, then brags to guests about the “big pile of papers” on his desk? On this tape Trump sounds like he’s half senile, just as he’s sounded in every speech he’s given since leaving office.
There are serious questions as to how this recording became public. Very few people would have copies of it to begin with. And while it’s unlikely to damage the case in any way, prosecutors generally don’t like it when this kind of evidence becomes public before we even get to trial.
All that said, this recording is going to serve a dual purpose in the court of public opinion. People are going to hear this recording all week long, and conclude that Donald Trump is both guilty enough to go to prison and far too senile to be taken seriously as a 2024 candidate. Remember, it’s not about his too-small base. It’s about the general public. The sooner they figure out that Trump is a goner, the sooner the mainstream media will stop pretending that Trump is viable for 2024, and we’ll no longer have to keep hearing about his imaginary campaign. Bon voyage, Donald Trump!
