I found the following comment noteworthy because it sums up one of the weirdest aspects of this whole business. Honestly, I thought the Democrats would be far more successful at this, because how could there not be a billion serious and obvious crimes in any billionaire's past?

Why can't they put him away?

Ed S.

August 25, 2023 at 9:16 pm

To amplify your comment, Donald Trump has to be one of the most investigated individuals in the history of the US. And for all of the accusations made by his political opponents, and the tens of millions (hundreds??) spent, there are literally no crimes – certainly nothing that a non-rabidly partisan US citizen would consider criminal. Russiagate – nothing. Tax returns – nothing. Congressional investigations – nothing. Media investigations – nothing. You’d think that they would have found an unpaid parking ticket or unreturned library book. But as far as I can tell – it’s all a big fat zero.

Of the two “impeachments”, one was over a telephone call inquiring about the Bidens’ antics in Ukraine (of which we know much more from Hunter’s laptop and the ongoing House oversight investigation); the second was over the riot on January 6. Both utterly partisan and political.

Of the four current indictments (and to your point), there’s no “there” there. The only way that, for example, the NY / Bragg indictment gets any public traction is to construe it as a tawdry and possibly illegal payment to Stormy Daniels (as the article calls it, “paying off a porn star to cover up an affair”). In reality, and as mentioned at NC previously, there’s nothing illegal about paying an individual to sign a non-disclosure agreement to maintain confidentiality about a matter that isn’t illegal. So the case is really about whether the payments were properly accounted for in the books and records. Assigning the payments to the wrong account is criminal? Jail time for a book-keeping error?

You’d think that with all of the investigating, someone would have found something. But Lawfare isn’t about truth and justice; it’s about destroying the enemy. By any means. Few individuals except Donald Trump could afford to defend themselves against the onslaught of charges. What was the number mentioned a few days ago? $25 million? $42 million? Rudy Giuliani appears to be going bankrupt.

I can’t be the only person who thinks that whenever there’s an anti-Trump screed, it’s nothing more than half-baked fabrications. In the article above, the author says, “53% approve of the indictments”. If you actually look at the survey, there’s no question about approval of indictments. There is a question about the classified documents case and 53% of respondents believe that having the docs was illegal. And that 53% is before looking at the composition of respondents and the phrasing of the question. Even when the facts generally support the contention being made, they have to be recast to appear much worse that they actually are.

You don’t have to be a Trump partisan to believe that the path being taken to prevent him running is insane.