DAY OF RECKONING

| 3:00 pm EDT March 31, 2023
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Finally, the day of reckoning has arrived: Donald Trump has been indicted. Here’s to it being the first of many. Donald Trump always called himself the “best” president in history, and he now has one claim he can truthfully make: he’s the first current or former president indicted on criminal charges.

The Manhattan grand jury, of course, investigated Trump’s payoff to Stormy Daniels to keep their affair secret during his first presidential run. Michael Cohen made the payment, but we all know where he got the money. Cohen had no dog in this fight, so to speak, and he was doing the bidding of his client. CBS 46 Atlanta News First reported that Cohen paid Daniels through a shell company, but he was reimbursed by the Trump Organization, which, in turn, listed the payment as a “legal expense.” CBS 46 also mentioned that Trump paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 through the publisher of The National Enquirer to quash her story. The news gets worse for Trump, and that news does not bode well for his future.

A recent Quinnipiac poll revealed that 57% of those polled believe that Trump should not be allowed to run for president if criminal charges are filed against him. Oh, well. According to Quinnipiac analyst Tim Malloy, voters are saying: “Yes, Americans, it was all about him and not the country’s well-being when Trump proclaimed he was targeted for arrest. And, yes, he should be forever banished from office if he is charged as a criminal.” There you have it. People don’t want a criminal in the White House, though we had one from 2016 to 2020. These poll participants also disagree with the portrayal of charges in New York as “wrongful persecution,” Again, a majority (55%) call the charges “serious.” This poll also reveals that most Americans also see Trump as a blight on the Republican party, which should have been obvious for some time. It doesn’t hurt that while this poll shows Trump atop all other potential candidates (and one candidate, Nikki Haley), it shows that he will be defeated (again) by Joe Biden.

Like the rest of us, Glenn Kirschner has been closely watching potential charges against Trump. He has written an opinion piece for MSNBC, for whom he is a regular commentator. One of the best lines in Kirschner’s piece is: “A maiden legal voyage has set sail. The most important takeaway is this: A president of the United States will never again rest comfortably in the belief that he or she can commit crimes with impunity.” He mentions how, historically, presidents have not been made accountable for their crimes, most notably Richard Nixon, whom Gerald Ford decided to pardon. Sounding eerily similar, Ford claimed that the country would best heal without charges being filed against Nixon. Ford was wrong, and this initial indictment will prove him wrong. As both Kirschner and Dan Goldman have said: no one is above the law. Get prepared for other prosecutors to follow suit, as this indictment is merely the first domino to fall.