Get used to it
When Donald Trump was hit with new criminal charges yesterday, we were all a bit surprised in the sense that we didn’t know those specific charges were on track to happen yesterday. But we weren’t surprised at all that Trump was criminally charged. In fact we pretty much knew that he was going to end up indicted for willful retention of classified documents at some point.
When Trump is hit with federal criminal charges for January 6th, whether it ends up being today or next week, we may or may not be surprised by the specifics of the charges, but we won’t be surprised by the fact that he’s getting indicted again. And when Trump is indicted on state charges in Georgia next week or the week after, we won’t be surprised by that either.
It’s become the new normal. But it’s probably worth keeping in mind that, not very long ago, loud voices were still insisting that Trump would never get indicted “no matter what.” And even after Trump was initially indicted on state charges in Manhattan, those same voices still insisted he would never be indicted on federal charges “no matter what.” So much for any of that nonsense.
Anyone paying close attention has been able to clearly see for a long time that Donald Trump was all but guaranteed to end up criminally indicted in multiple jurisdictions. Now we’re simply seeing the logical outcome of what’s been playing out for quite some time. Yesterday was a clear indicator that Trump is going to keep getting indicted on every kind of charge that will stick, and that none of his co-conspirators are safe just because they don’t initially get indicted alongside him.
So this is our new normal. Criminal indictments will keep happening. Not every day. The charges we’re now seeing aren’t coming out of nowhere. They’re the direct result of lengthy, painstaking criminal probes designed to produce the kinds of charges that are extremely likely to result in conviction at trial. But given how many criminal probes are still in motion and appear to be nearing their apex, we can expect to keep seeing more and more charges against Trump and his co-conspirators. We can even expect to continue seeing criminal charges that we weren’t expecting, because we just don’t know what all else prosecutors have going on behind the scenes. Might as well get used to it.
