The fallout from Donald Trump’s espionage indictment is already underway
Now that Donald Trump has been criminally indicted under the Espionage Act, and the full text of the indictment reveals just how thoroughly nailed he is, the fallout is already underway. Frankly, it’s about what you’d expect so far, though it probably won’t stay that way for long.
Two of Donald Trump’s criminal defense attorneys in the espionage case have already quit, which isn’t surprising. Trump has no defense to make and no chance of winning at trial, and every attorney knows that. But Trump will still demand that his attorneys 1) tell him he can win, and 2) grandstand their way through an idiotic loss while looking “tough.” So of course that’s presumably why Trump’s only remaining semi-serious attorneys just quit; they don’t want to go play the fool at trial.
Republicans who have already staked themselves to being anti-Trump, including Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Chris Christie, and Governor Asa Hutchinson, have all predictably condemned Trump in strong terms. The House and Senate Republicans who come from far right states or districts are predictably condemning this indictment, and propping up Trump as a victim. In other words, everyone on the Republican side is saying exactly what they think their own constituency wants to hear.
Fox News seems to be intent on bullying as many Republican 2024 presidential candidates as possible into standing by Trump, and for now, most of them will. As always, they will each do whatever they selfishly think benefits themselves and their ambitions. It’s never been about “loyalty to Trump” and it never will be. Trump was just a means to an end for them. For now, people like Mike Pence and Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are calculating that they can get more primary votes by attacking the “Biden DOJ” than they can by using Trump’s traitor status against him. But these calculations tend to change over time, particularly as more Republican voters come to see Trump as obviously guilty. Remember, Trump is only polling just above 50% in the Republican primary. Half of Republican primary voters have already moved on from him. Others will as well.
Legal experts are making clear that they don’t think there’s any real chance Judge Aileen Cannon will actually end up presiding over the Trump trial, even if she does handle the initial arraignment. No magic wand was ever going to save Trump, and Cannon certainly wasn’t going to be it. The irony is that if Trump hadn’t used Cannon for those antics last year, no one would know she was corrupt, and she might have actually gotten to preside over this Trump trial. But because Trump exposed her in a way that gained him nothing, the 11th Circuit won’t let her have the trial now. Trump really blew that one.
So far it’s about what you’d expect. Donald Trump didn’t fall through an instant trap door just because he was indicted by the DOJ, just as no magic wand was going to save him. There are never any magic wands in these things, on either side, ever.
But this is the beginning of the end of Trump’s political viability. It’ll be a long hard gradual slide from here, as his situation becomes more ridiculously untenable by the day. The further he slides down the criminal justice rabbit hole, the more of his “friends” will decide it’s time to selfishly cut bait for their own benefit. It’s likely Trump will be washed up even before he’s sentenced to prison.
So now we wait a bit and watch the fallout and the fireworks. Now that the indictment text bandaid has been ripped off, far more details will leak out. There are people involved who have been publicly keeping their mouths shut, waiting for this indictment to happen, so they can pile on by feeding additional dirt to the media. And of course Trump’s behavior will continue to become more embarrassing, unhinged, and inconvenient to the Republican Party in the coming days and weeks.
Let’s also remember this indictment is merely the first set of criminal charges that Jack Smith is poised to bring against Donald Trump. Smith appears to be near the end of his Trump January 6th criminal probe. He’s also reportedly investigating Trump for wire fraud, international financial entanglements, you name it. It’s not even certain that these are the only charges Trump will face in the classified documents probe. Keep in mind, there will never be any magic wands involved in any of this, on either side. But there will be plenty of fireworks to come.
