Make no mistake, the Trump indictment, arrest and arraignment in New York City was for real. The unsealed 34 count felony indictment came on like a series of jabs that may not have knocked out Trump for the count.
But it surely left him punch-drunk.
What else could one conclude if you saw Trump’s embarrassingly illogical rhetorical display once he flew from New York to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump didn’t get a true perp walk. But his post-criminal arraignment primetime speech was like a perp talk.
Trump continued to threaten Judge Juan Merchan and his daughter. He also berated DA Bragg calling him “a criminal,” and then singling out Bragg’s wife for saying her husband has “Trump nailed on felonies.”
On top of all that, Trump admitted having the documents in question in another potential indictment in Florida involving presidential documents. He said he “openly and in plain sight brought in” to Mar-a-Lago, saying he was “negotiating” with the National Records Administration. But under the law there is no negotiation, the documents belong to the archives. If Trump wasn’t lying, at the very least, he was confessing to yet another crime.
And then there was the Georgia election obstruction case, where Trump infamously asked Georgia’s top election official Brad Raffensperger, “So what are we going to do here folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”
Trump characterized it as coming out because of some book deal, but the transcript of Trump’s call came out immediately after it was first reported.
As long as he talks, Trump is one lying, self-incrimination machine.
And this is why you shouldn’t be fooled by any cable news spin from anyone about Tuesday’s historic indictment, arrest and arraignment In New York City of the twice impeached former President Donald J. Trump.
It’s just the beginning. There’s more to come, and Trump knew it Tuesday night.
Earlier in the day, Trump, the one-time leader of the Free World, who still has an illogical hold on the Republican Party, was welcome into the criminal justice system just like any run-of-the mill criminal or gang member.
In court, it was a sight to behold.
Trump was made small and quiet, as he sat with his legal team, looking tired and dazed.
Behind him a tough-looking, covid-mask wearing African American female police officer, her gloves and hand cuffs at the ready, to make sure the disgraced president made nary a false move before Judge Juan Merchan.
A black woman cop. And a Colombian immigrant judge were in full control of Trump.
And all he had to do was scowl and enter his “not guilty” plea.
And that is the point of the entire exercise. Trump was treated as no different from you or me. His executive privilege, his white privilege, offered him no comfort. No one held the door open as he passed during his “mini-perp” walk into the court.
Under the law he was just another old white guy with a funny hair-do.
Trump was in this predicament because there was reason to believe he broke real laws in the state of New York.
District Attorney Bragg said the evidence was voluminous.
“It is 34 business records, 344 statements …that were concealing criminal conduct,” Bragg said at a news conference. “Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements (about them)?” Bragg asked rhetorically. “The evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election.”
Bragg said the felonies center on Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that intended to keep “damaging information from the voting public.” Bragg called the checks signed by Trump an “illegal scheme that exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap, and then were mis-characterized as income to Cohen rather than as hush money to silence Daniels.
After the hearing, Trump said on social media that “nothing was done illegally.”
But did it interfere with the 2016 election?
When it comes to the BIPOC community, Filipino AAPIs are among the Trumpiest of them all.
Let’s look back at 2016.
Trump got 34 percent of the Vietnamese vote; 35 percent of the Chinese vote; 28 percent of the Filipino vote, according to the Asian American Voter Survey.
The hush money payments to the porn star came days after that damning Access Hollywood tape was released in October.
Would another sex scandal have ended Trump’s campaign against Hillary Clinton?
Trump and his backers hold their noses and insist no crime was committed. But even if he survives the New York indictment, there are at least two or three more indictments to come out of the Georgia voting irregularities case, the Florida documents case, and his role in the January 6th insurrection. All are independent of one another and promise a walloping combination that could catch Trump off guard. You saw the kind of damning slips Trump can make just on Tuesday.
Frankly, I would have indicted Trump for his use of the China Virus and Kung Flu slurs that resulted in nearly 12,000 instances of hate transgressions from major to minor against AAPI during the pandemic.
Many of them were Filipino. But those aren’t indictable crimes. Just one of the many of Trump’s unindictable crimes against humanity.
Still, as an overall BIPOC community, it’s safe to say we have seen enough of his recklessness firsthand. This is not a person to be president again.
The larger question is why would any of his supporters continue to back him? Time to quiet Trump and move on for the good of the country.
When asked to assess himself, even Trump at his height of powers would say, “I prefer my political leaders not to be indicted.”
And what about those holdouts who say Trump’s “innocent until proven guilty”? They are blinded by the gaslight.
“Innocent till proven guilty,” is merely a legal standard that applies to those who may serve on one of the specific juries. It doesn’t necessarily apply to you, the average citizen, says MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
I tend to agree. What do you need? There’s a preponderance of evidence that we’ve seen play out during one Trump administration.
Do we really need more? We didn’t need this week’s throwback to the OJ/White Bronco caravan on Monday. Nor did we need to follow the minute-by-minute of Trump’s nascent perpdom.
Americans should blow out the Trump gaslight now. We can still be fair-minded when the trial or trials actually begin, and we can watch the rule of law in action in our democracy.
Then we’ll see if Trump is innocent without his spin, lies, or bluster.
Forget about a 2024 campaign for president. Trump’s new role? He’s the disgraced former president, America’s forever defendant.
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See him at www.amok.com
NOTE: I will talk about this column and other matters on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” my AAPI micro-talk show. Listen/watch Live @2p Pacific. Livestream on Facebook; my YouTube channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www.amok.com.
