Political Thoughts with Richard Bleil
Today an article crossed my path about what will happen when Trump is indicted. It opened up with a statement saying that there has been a lot of speculation about Trump being indicted. And, indeed, there has been.
But that’s all it’s been. Speculation. Today there was a second article about how the special Department of Justice investigator upping the investigation. How often have we heard this? And yet, no indictment.
Liberals have been celebrating every time somebody in Trump’s “orbit” being indicted, found guilty or plea bargaining. These orbital characters have been in the Trump organization, the campaign organization, or otherwise, and yes, some have been exceptionally high position and high profile, but never has it been Trump. And after so many years of investigations, Conservatives have been screaming “foul” and calling it a politically motivated stunt since Trump has himself not been charged. And I’m beginning to agree.
When the Senate investigation opted to go to prime time to present their case, the political aspect of these investigations has come into sharp relief. Yes, Trump was impeached twice (and never exonerated, simply not voted out of office just like Clinton), but that amounts to a verbal warning. It’s a far cry from the criminal charges that so many people want, and as disappointing to liberals as the fact that Hillary was never charged is to conservatives.
The evidence presented makes a clear case for violating tax codes, inciting an insurrection, election interference, interfering with Congress in its execution of it Constitutional duties, and so much more. And yet, still no formal charges. It seems as if the major hurtle right now is finding somebody, anybody, with the courage to actually begin the proceedings.
Everybody in the Justice department seems cowardly. They have the evidence, but let’s again push it off to somebody else to make another final determination and initiate yet another independent investigation. And if nobody has the courage to actually act on the evidence already accumulated by so many groups, Trump simply won’t be indicted.
And what will happen to his position within the GOP if somebody with courage is found? In an ideal world, nothing. It’s more likely that his position will be cemented, and he’ll be hailed a hero. He and his legal team have demonstrated a keen ability to drag out legal proceedings. There will be counter suits brought forth by Trump against the individuals involved (which I suspect is why everybody is acting so cowardly), and odds are pretty good that the case will go before a judge appointed by Trump himself. There will be no court case until a Grand Jury finds sufficient evidence to proceed with criminal charges, and as many of our society still support him, that seems unlikely. An “impartial jury” will be difficult, if possible at all, to find as everybody has already divided themselves into camps of “he’s guilty throw him in jail” and “he’s innocent of all charges this is just political”. The odds of it making it’s way beyond the grand jury to criminal charges is unlikely, and if the grand jury throws it out, again, Trump becomes a hero.
And assuming charges successfully make it past a grand jury, then, of course, there is another judge (which could be a Trump appointee), and another jury (again, good luck finding impartial jurors) for the actual trial. And Trump is not guilty in the eyes of the law unless the trial finds him as such. All along he can plea bargain, use delay tactics and use it all as a political stage.
The bottom line is that it seems unlikely that Trump will ever face charges himself. The American People have already tried him in these past midterm elections, and the Democrats again lost far more than they should have considering the evidence that has been presented, although not as much as anticipated. It seems as if the political grandstanding by the Democrats is working, and far better than is likely if Trump is ever actually charged with crimes. There are political reasons to keep Trump in the spotlight for both parties, and liabilities to the Democratic party to actually bring charges forth. And while we are paying attention to the Trumpian Circus and suspected UFO’s and spy balloons that turn out to be owned by hobbyists, Congress is free to succeed in doing next to nothing in so far as actual progress for the citizens. A default is still looming large, party politics is preventing any real progress from occurring, and promises remain unfulfilled. And me? I’m getting tired of it all.
Bleil's Banter 