Donald Trump looks in the mirror and suddenly sees prison stripes looking back at him
This afternoon Donald Trump launched into one of his most ludicrous rants to date, when he made the argument that the Department of Justice was somehow being unfair by bringing criminal prosecutions against two of his Republican allies in Congress – even though Trump didn’t bother to argue that there’s any chance they might be innocent. He specifically cited the potential loss of two House seats in his complaint. But there’s a lot more to this than just congressional math, and he knows it.
Unless Republican Congressmen Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter can convince a jury that they’re not guilty of the crimes they’ve been indicted for, they’re going to prison. They’ve been charged with insider trading and campaign finance fraud, respectively, which are fairly straightforward. They’re both young enough that even if they’re convicted, they’ll still get out of prison in time to have some sort of life afterwards, even if their money and careers are long gone by then. But Trump is in a very different situation.
The indictment and arrest of Collins, followed by the indictment of Hunter, is a reminder that being in office does not magically prevent anyone from having to answer for their crimes. It’s got to be a wake-up call for Donald Trump, who has committed hundreds of documentable felonies of at least a dozen different varieties – and he’s too old to have any chance at a post-prison life.
Donald Trump just watched Paul Manafort convicted of crimes that’ll send him to prison for the rest of his life. Trump and Manafort are of a similar age, and have committed roughly the same number of felonies. Now Trump is watching what’s happening to Collins and Hunter, and he’s figuring out that criminals who hold office can’t hide behind that office forever. Trump is going off the deep end today about the indictments of Collins and Hunter because he just figured out that he’s headed to prison when this is all over.
