Counting supporters, detractors, journalists and the lunatic in prison stripes who jumped in front of the limo,* around a thousand people showed up outside the courthouse for former President Donald Trump's arraignment in Federal court yesterday.
In a city that size, it's about what I would expect for a high-visibility political candidate not appearing at a rally. Yes, the talking heads and clicking keyboards will tell you the circumstances are unprecedented and they're right; most Presidents and ex-Presidents manage to stay out of serious trouble, though some have been better at it than others. On the other hand, Mr. Trump is not the first pol to end up in a courtroom, and the high-profile ones do draw a crowd. What they have not drawn are riots and we didn't get one yesterday, either. Chalk that up as a win for civil society, even including the guy with a real pig's head on a pole and the protester getting roughly arrested for making dumb moves around a Secret Service-protected motorcade. I'll even let 'em have one called-in bomb threat without a bomb. As such things go these days, the public reaction was essentially normal.
The staggering level of denial over the nature and severity of the alleged offense isn't normal, but to have expected otherwise would have been unreasonable. That high will be a long time wearing off and the hangover is liable to be epic.
I'm sure the whatabout brigade is lining up to comment, so for them I'll point out that if being sloppy with high-security government files was, say, speeding, President Biden and former Vice President Pence were five over the limit, Secretary Clinton was nearing ten over...and per the evidence, ex-President Trump was 50 mph over, not wearing a seatbelt and maybe going the wrong direction on the freeway. Sometimes the traffic cop can't let you off with a stern lecture and a warning to not do it again. Sometimes you end up in court.
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* Protip: Don't do this, no matter how deep or sincere your feelings, no matter how sure you are that your cause is just. It doesn't end well.
Update
4 days ago
2 comments:
WE have our own 'kangaroo court' here in the UK according to Johnson, abhorrent liar and adulterer and ex Prime Minister. Yet people still support him. It's unbelievable
It appears to me that Trump has always been one of those guys who's not afraid of the inside of a courtroom. So, he's been 'slow pay, no pay, get a lawyer and sue me' guys who's more willing to pay a lawyer over cutting a check or following a regulation. Someone who's always pushed legality of his actions with the idea that on the occasions he gets caught, he can lawyer his way into a compromise that benefits him- and use the media to demonize his opposition.
I suspect he thinks the same thing will happen here, and sadly, he may be right.
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