by Labode Obanor
Why can’t Donald Trump go away? When will his name be relegated to the refuse bin of America’s sordid pasts? These are the questions many Americans grapple with as the Trump fatigue fails to cease. Since his golden escalator descent on June 15, 2015, when he initially announced his run for president, Donald Trump has dominated the American airwaves. For 8 years and counting, no night passes without some Trump news.
After he lost his reelection to Joe Biden in 2020, many thought, like every other president, he would soon fade away into oblivion. That did not happen. He was later impeached in the months thereafter for his role in inciting insurrection, which did not stop him. For two years after he left the white house, the country continued to talk about him while the January 6 Select Committee investigated his actions for a possible criminal referral. The Department of Justice (D.O.J.) also began to examine his attempt to hold on to power after a disastrous loss. None of that derailed Donald Trump’s popularity for good or bad.
Then on March 30, 2023, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him with 34 separate counts for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up the hush money payments he paid to an adult film star, which was intended to cover up his extramarital affair while his wife was allegedly birthing their son Barron. His indictment and arrest were the first in history. The headlines screamed, “..first time U.S. president has faced criminal charges”—NBC, “Donald Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges” – New York Times, “Trump criminally charged in New York, a first for U.S. ex-president” – Reuters. On and on, the sobering reports blanketed the nation’s news stands.
It was all round unsettling news capable of tanking any political figure but not the Donald. Instead, his poll numbers soared. His ardent supporters dug their heels. His close rival, Ron Desantis vying for their party’s nomination in the primaries, saw his popularity nose dive while Trump’s number took flight. His fundraising turbocharged to 18 million dollars in the first quarter of 2023. And he continued to beat all his opponents combined.
On June 9, 2023, his legal woes throttled further. Jack Smith, the special counsel tasked to investigate his post-presidential transgressions charged him with 7 counts of mishandling and withholding the nation’s most protected secrets from conspiracy to obstruct to willful retention of documents and false statements, in violation of the Espionage Act. If found guilty, Trump could face up to 20 years or more in federal prison.
In a palpable and reasonable environment, these set of charges would drive the dagger in the political heart of any politician, bury their chances to ever run for any political office for eternity. But all indices point out that our times are anything but reasonable or typical.
This is why despite these charges Donald Trump is not tarnished in the eyes of his donors and followers. It is unheard of in the history of American politics. His closed competitor continued to sink in the polls amid multiple reboots while he continued his upward rise and raked in millions in dollars. His campaign reported that in the months between the New York indictment and the Mar-a-lago document indictment, Trump amass more than $ 35 million. It is manifestly evident that Trump is reaping a political windfall than an impediment from his ponderous legal troubles.
Instead of derailment, Trump has been hauling in cash. His alleged misdeeds have become a blessing in disguise, at least for the short term.
All he had to say to his donors in his campaign speeches is tell them he is a victim of a political witch-hunt by the democrats. “They’re not coming after me; they’re coming after YOU,” he often said in his usual stomp. And his raucous underlings would buy it hook, line, and sinker rewarding his campaign coffers with more cash while he smiles like a bandit fleeing after a successful bank raid.
Then came this week, the latest round of indictment to hit Trump from the special counsel’s office. The prosecutor detailed his criminal role in the days and weeks leading to the January 6, 2021, insurrection against the United States and his attempt to illegally hold on to power after losing the election. The charges range from conspiracy to defraud the United States to depriving Americans of their sacred right to vote. The most cherished value of the American experiment. And, let’s not forget, “unleashing his rabid mob on the United States Capitol. A uniquely American-style coup d’etat.
Although, no one can tell the future and it is quite possible that Trump may beat the rap, here is why I think that this indictment of all three will actually sink him and we will be free of him once and for all.
Remember the January 6 select committee investigation that took more than a year? They unearth a mountain of evidence against Trump which they have turned over to the special counsel. And much of the evidence we witnessed on live television.
We know how he mounts pressure on local state election officials to not certify the actual election results. In Michigan, he urged the canvassing board in Wayne County not to certify Joe Biden’s win in Detroit. The same tactic was employed against the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona. In Georgia, he pressured and even threatened Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to reject or undo statewide certification. We recall his infamous phone call with the secretary where he stated “The people of Georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry, and there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump said on the call. “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have… Fellas, I need 11,000 votes; give me a break.”
From text messages which showed his attempt to use alternate and fraudulent fake electors to truncate Joe Biden’s win to pressuring the Vice President to reject Biden’s votes when reading aloud the electoral college votes during a joint session of Congress. And lest we forget, when all his gambit failed, he summoned and unleashed his mob supporters to storm the capital, harass lawmakers and disrupt the counting of the votes.
Unlike the document indictment in Florida, where a Trump lackey, Judge Aileen Cannon, is selected to preside, the Jan. 6 indictment is in Washington, D.C. where Trump is likely to face a Judge who plays by the rules. He will get a fair and speedy trial to be concluded before the 2024 general election, and he is more likely than not to be convicted and sent to prison.
Make no mistake, Trump’s day of reckoning is looming, and we will finally be cured of this potent political disease.
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Email: JlaBode74@gmail.com OR Twitter: @Obanor
