The first ‘witch hunt’ of the century begins

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

And so the retribution gets under way, two and a half years too late. There are three more criminal trials against Trump, in which he has been charged with far more heinous crimes than the first, languishing in the wings of the federal courts of Washington DC (Obstruction of Justice and Sedition), Miami, Florida (Espionage), and Atlanta, Georgia (Election Fraud). Crimes which have been held up by a combination of a delay in pressing charges against Trump by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Trump’s famed legal strategy of Deny, Distract and Delay and the complicity of the most corrupt Supreme Court in the nation’s history.

Whatever we think of Trump, it is a tragedy of humiliation for a great nation to see one of its former presidents to be dragged down the sewer as the defendant of a salacious criminal trial in a courthouse in New York. For the first time in its history.

Trump has pleaded Not Guilty to each one of the 91 felonies, lying that this is another attempt by “Crooked Joe” Biden to “weaponize the Department of Justice” and carry out the greatest “witch hunt” in history, against a man who “has done nothing wrong”. A man, perhaps next only to Jesus in sheer adoration to some, who may be the “most innocent man the world has ever seen”. When the reality is that, to Trump, lying is as natural as breathing, and he is a criminal sociopath who considers himself legally and divinely above the law.

And he blames, again, Crooked Joe and the US Justice system, for delaying the hearing of these trials, which will conclusively prove his innocence to the general electorate before the November election. According to him, the inevitable spate of NOT GUILTY verdicts in all these trials before the November election will persuade the majority of undecided voters to join the cult of morons who believe he has done nothing wrong, can do nothing wrong and will lead the nation to the white, Christian Utopia they dream of, which they are terrified of losing to the brown-skinned, blood-poisoning vermin, who are “invading” the European Vaterland. A classic case of his trademark transference, as the delays have all been caused by his desire to postpone the trials till after the November election. When, as he hopes, he will be re-elected to the presidency and will be empowered to instruct his Department of Justice to dismiss the charges and so avoid imprisonment.

A most distressing sentiment I have gleaned from recent reported interviews with hardline Trump supporters in deep red states like Texas is that while they do not consider Trump fit to be president, while they are disgusted with his vulgarity and criminal behavior, they will still vote for him in November, because “he is better than Biden”.

Even Bill Barr, originally Trump’s loyalist Attorney General, incurred Trump’s wrath by testifying at the January 6 House Select Committee that Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidency election was stolen from him were baseless, that the allegations of election fraud were “bogus”, “idiotic” and “bullshit”. Ever since then, Trump has been insulting Barr in tweets and election campaign rants in his inimitable, vulgar style. And Barr in turn has repeatedly said that a second-term for Trump will be a threat to US democracy. Amazingly, though, at a recent interview, Barr said that when it comes to the crunch, he will vote for Trump in November, because “Biden’s progressive agenda will present more of a threat to the country”.

So the most powerful country in the world may elect a president, a convicted felon, that even moderate Republicans and Independents do not think is fit for the job. However, with seven months to go before the November election, with ample opportunities for Trump to either incriminate himself with his self-destructive, incendiary rants, or be incriminated by the myriad felonies he faces; and for Biden and the Democrats to get the message of a thriving economy across to the electorate; there is enough time for moderate Americans to come to their senses.

In my totally biased opinion, there is really no chance of the re-election of Trump and the end of democracy in the USA. As Winston Churchill famously said, “Americans will always do the right thing, only after they have tried everything else”. And they tried Trump once, a disaster they will not repeat.

The first trial which began on Monday, April 15, was nearly seven years too late, as it concerns the payment of “hush money”, for falsifying election campaign records relative to Trump’s sexual encounters in 2016. These payments were made to porn star, Stormy Daniels ($135,000), to Playboy model Karen McDougal ($150,000) for sexual encounters, and to a Trump Tower doorman ($30,000), who claimed he had a story about a child Trump had fathered “out of wedlock” with an ex-housekeeper at Trump Tower, to buy their silence before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump kicked off his pre-trial whining tweets, sobbing that the cruel Judge Merchan will not allow him to attend his son’s high school graduation, plaintively posting, “Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son, Barron, who is a GREAT student at a fantastic School, that his Dad will likely not be allowed to attend his Graduation Ceremony, something we have been talking about for years”.

Crocodiles have shed more convincing tears. Trump’s relationship with the son born when he was having public sexual encounters with porn stars, was, to put the kindest spin on it, indifferent. Rather like his relationships with most everyone else in the world, except for the grotesque love he has for himself. Also, this is a blatant lie. Judge Merchan has already agreed that Trump would be allowed to attend his son’s graduation if the case is progressing on schedule.

Trump also posted on Monday, “The Crooked Judge” has GAGGED me. Unconstitutional! The other side can talk about me, but I am not allowed to talk about them”. Another lie. Trump is free to talk about the criminal justice system, only he is not allowed to make ad hominem (directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining) attacks and threats of violence against people associated with the case and their families.

Trump then complained that his lawyers were not given “unlimited” chances to reject prospective jurors for the trial. New York state law, like that of every other state in the nation, caps the number of would-be jurors defense lawyers can object to without cause. Another obvious ploy by Trump’s lawyers to fail to assemble the required number of 18 eligible jurors (12 sitting with six alternates), so that the trial is further delayed or may require its move to a jurisdiction where Trump is not hated. Moscow immediately comes to mind.

Over half of the 96 prospective jurors questioned on Monday had to be excused as they admitted their bias against Trump. Tuesday was better. Seven jurors were seated. Though Trump seemed to be so bored with the jury selection routine that he dozed off for a few minutes.

On Tuesday night, Trump violated the gag order, tweeting a comment made by Jesse Waters of Fox News, referring to the jurors already selected: “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the judge to get on the Trump jury”. An obvious case of juror intimidation, threatening both sitting and prospective jurors. Judge Merchan is considering what action should be taken against Trump for this blatant violation of the gag order.

The court was not in session on Wednesday. On Thursday, six more jurors were deemed eligible, making a total of 12 sitting jurors and one alternate for the Trump trial.

Judge Merchan runs his court by the book, and will not tolerate any histrionics by Trump or dilatory tactics by his counsel. He is confident that trial proceedings can begin by Monday, April 22, with a full complement of 12 sitting jurors and six alternates.

At the end of the successful seating of the full complement of jurors and alternates, defense counsel requested the prosecution to share the names of the first three witnesses they plan to call after opening arguments; a courtesy that is normally extended, but not legally required. The prosecution refused, on the basis of the vicious lies and threats Trump had earlier posted against the judge, the prosecution, other witnesses and court officials and their families. When Trump’s defense counsel assured the court that Trump will not post anything about these witnesses in the future, Judge Marchan said, with more than a trace of irony, “I don’t think you can make that representation”.

The other item of speculation is whether Trump will testify in his defense at the trial. Trump himself has stated with conviction that he intends to so testify “as he has nothing to hide, he has done nothing wrong”. News heard by the prosecution with great delight. Trump’s defense counsel will instruct their client not to take the stand, being fully cognizant of the fact that Trump will not be able to speak one word without perjuring himself. But Trump, who has often said that he is a stable genius whose knowledge of the law is paralleled only by that of the great Alfred the Great, the Anglo-Saxon King of the 9^th century, who assembled a code of law in his kingdom that had to be applied to all persons, rich or poor, friends and enemies. A code that was inspired by Leviticus 19.15, coincidentally one of Trump’s favorite clauses in the only Good Book he has read, other than his second Bible, Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle):

“You shall do no iniquity in judgment. You shall not favor the wretched and you shall not defer to the rich. In righteousness you are to judge your fellow”.

It would be child’s play for a man of such religious fervor and devotion to the truth to acquit himself with glory at a witness box in an earthly court of justice in a city which he once hallucinated he owned.

Next week should be most interesting, unless the Supreme Court can come up with yet another ingenious reason for delay. Presidential immunity?