Trump’s Legal Woes

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According to David A. Graham of The Atlantic, “merely keeping track of the many cases against Donald Trump requires a great deal of attention, or both.” I say it’s going to take all of that and more to keep an eye on the 91 felony counts spread out across two state courts and two different federal districts that Mr. Trump is facing not to mention the civil lawsuits.

The 77-year-old is the first former president in US history to be criminally charged and that hasn’t been held against him so far. He seems to be doing fine and well as he makes his way to meet up with Joe Biden in November.

Let’s look at four of the upcoming cases that could spell trouble for Mr. Trump.

A payment of $130,000 was made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep the affair quiet, hush money so to speak. Trump, however, is denying he even had sex with her but I guess that’s what cheaters do. That aside, the former president is accused of falsifying his business records and saying that the expense was for legal fees. He’s facing a whopping 34 counts of fraud under campaign finance laws.

Trial is scheduled for 15 April.

Next in line is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case on whether Trump illegally conspired to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden. We know he did but that’s besides the point. He’s been charged with four criminal counts which includes conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.

Trial has been postponed until the Supreme Court decides if a former president should be prosecuted like any other citizen. Justices will hear the case on 25 April and make a decision by June. I think this one will be in his favor.

The next one is a huge racketeering investigation led by none other than Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis and she had this to say about the upcoming trial. “I do think that there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming.” Trump and 18 other defendants are accused of conspiring to overturn his narrow defeat in the State of Georgia 2020 election.

Trial is set to take place at the beginning of August but a date has not been set yet.

The Mar-a-Lago documents case is next. It focuses on whether Mr Trump mishandled classified documents by moving documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence. Most of the counts are for the willful retention of national defence information, which incidentally falls under the Espionage Act.

Prosecutors want the trial to start in July but Trump and his lawyers want to put it off till after the presidential election.

There you have it. The former president and the current Republican nominee is facing an explosive amount of legal battles that could derail his run for the presidency, however, as I have said before “Orange Jesus” is like a cat with nine lives. If you ask me, he’s going to walk away with a light tap on his fingers, a cat that swallowed the cream smile plastered on his orange face and a HUGE click of his heels as he goes on his merry way only to create more havoc in the near future.

A Nightmare in the Making

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A nightmare is defined as “a very unpleasant or frightening experience or prospect.”

And the nightmare is getting real! Donald J. Trump has won South Carolina’s Republican primary beating Nikki Haley in her home state and it seems that a rematch between Trump and Joe Biden is inevitable. Trump for his part took the stage and declared, “You can celebrate for about 15 minutes but then we have to get back to work.”

“Orange Jesus” is a nightmare in the making and it seems that it will go on for quite sometime from the look of things. Mr. Trump seems to have an iron grip on the Republican Party not to mention his supporters and if that’s good or bad is besides the point. The fact is the man has 91 felony counts against him, add to that his incoherent babbling which makes you want to grit your teeth and the role he played in inciting the January 6 riot at the Capitol should be enough to stop him in his tracks but he is moving at high velocity towards to the White House and this should scare the bejesus out of anyone but only in America folks. He is looming large and hissing at the fringes and still there is no end in sight and that is scary to say the least.

The man with the unruly hair, the copious orange tan and with his stupidity in tow is heading into Super Tuesday on March 5 with the confidence of a bull in a China shop as if he has already won the race. If he loses, he will throw his temper tantrum, cry foul and maybe even demand a recount. He’s the same 5-year-old in a grown man’s body. Nothing has changed there. When he doesn’t get his way, he will stick his thumb in his mouth, stand on his head and scream bloody murder for all to hear.

Ron Kaufman, a Republican presidential strategist had this to say:

“There isn’t anyone who doesn’t perceive Trump as being the nominee, including Nikki Haley. Whether you like it or don’t like it, everyone understands he is the perceived nominee.”

That right there ladies and gentlemen is the stuff nightmares are made of!

“They said all dreams come true, they forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams too.” Unknown

DA Fani Willis Dilemma

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Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis brought her indictment charges against former President Trump and it went like this:

“Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” Furthermore, “That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.”

The 41-count indictment involved Trump and 18 others which included such big names as Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman. The indictment also charges Trump and his co-conspirators with conspiring to commit election fraud. The crux of the matter lies on two presumptions. First, the indictment rests on state law charges which means Trump can do little little to derail it even if he were to return to the White House because clemency power does not extend to state offences.

Secondly, if the trial is televised and it probably will be because Georgia law allows cameras in the courtroom, citizen Trump will be front and center and on full display. This might not be to his advantage as “Orange Jesus” is known for opening his mouth and inserting his foot in it.

It was looking like a slam dunk case for all purposes if it wasn’t for Fani Willis doing the unthinkable. She is accused of having a romantic relationship with special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, a member of her team which brings about ethical misconduct on her part and may be enough to derail the case and have her removed from the State’s election interference case. Trump and his allies, co-defendants, are claiming that the relationship is a conflict of interest and Willis should be removed from the case and that the case is also politically motivated.

If that isn’t a right royal mess for Ms. Willis, her combative nature on the witness stand and her bombastic testimony with her screaming, “I’m not on trial here!” got our attention, that along with, “When I travel, I always pay cash,” testimony. There were almost no receipts to show for money changing hands and that in itself is a dilemma my lady.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney had this to say:

“Fani Willis made a terrible decision to date Nathan Wade, and that may bring ethics issues for her, but her testimony dispelled any kickback scheme that would disqualify her. Nothing about this effects the fair trial right of Trump and co-defendants.”

However, Doug Weinstein, a Georgia lawyer wrote, “I respect her and her office, and putting the Trump trial at risk in this fashion, even if she did nothing wrong, demonstrates poor judgement.”

It seems Ms. Willis has got herself in a pickle this time, perhaps she should take this phrase to heart, “Never eat where you sh**,” and things might just work out better for her the next time around.

Trump Win

The man of the hour won and some of us cried. Nothing surprising here but still fact is stranger than fiction. A friend wrote this, “Trump is going to make the economy better and control the border is what people are saying but ignorance is overwhelming in America.”

Wearing Cheshire cat grins on their faces, Trump stepped onto the winner’s platform to deliver his victory speech flanked by former rivals, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Ramaswamy once said when pressed by George Stephanopoulos about Trump’s actions of January 6th, “I would have handled that situation very differently than Trump did. But I do draw a distinction between bad behavior and illegal behavior.” Tim Scott whispered three words, “I love you,” and the response in return was, “That’s why he’s a great politician.” Cringeworthy! Absolutely. They looked like the cats who swallowed the cream or rather, the cat who swallowed the canary!

He went on to eye his one standing opponent. In his normal fashion, he opened his mouth and this is what he had to say,  “I said, wow, she’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win. She lost. Let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night, She had a very bad night,” and more significantly, “I don’t get angry, I get even.” His victory speech was littered with false claims but that didn’t wipe the grin off his face. ”They used Covid to cheat,” “they lost by a whisker,” and “they want to raise your taxes times four.” He knows naught of what he speaks folks. 

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” MLK

However, this says it better I think. ”In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” Napoleon Bonaparte

Nikki Haley for her part made her concession speech looking poised and ready to do battle. Claiming that the GOP race is “far from over” she went on to say, “Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat.” And she might be right there. The lady is determined, has the smarts to do it but it will be an uphill battle for her.

Let’s see, Trump is facing numerous indictments both from the state and federal levels including DOJ’s and Jack Smith, Special Counsel’s investigation into his alleged attempt in trying to overturn the 2020 elections which led to the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. He calls it a “witch hunt” but facts are facts. Will the so called “witch hunt” help to wipe off the Cheshire cat grin off his face? Let’s hope so. THERE IS STILL HOPE!

Then There Were Two

Ron DeSantis throws in the towel. He officially dropped his bid for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination on Sunday saying, ”If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops, more interviews, I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time or donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory.” I’ve got to hand it to him, the man knows when to fold ’em and when to walk away as the lyrics to The Gambler song goes. As if that wasn’t enough to rock the Republican world, he went on to endorse Agent Orange and that was surprising. A friend said, “Can you believe it? What a loser!!!” Loser or not, DeSantis jumping ship means there will be two left standing.

Trump, the frontrunner, is pleased as punch to say the least. On hearing the news on Sunday, the man who is known for throwing insults, was magnanimous in his praise as he always is when things go his way. ”I’d like to take time to congratulate Ron DeSantis, (not Ron DeSanctimonious) a really terrific person (see the oozing?) ……for having run a great campaign for president.”

Nikki Haley, the other one standing, was in a high school auditorium plugging her campaign. She asked, “Can you hear that sound? That is the sound of a two person race.” She will get her wish of standing shoulder-to-shoulder or going one-on-one with the man who doesn’t care if it’s right or wrong, if an election has been won legally and one who will stoop to nothing short of instigating a coup because he didn’t get his way. He is still walking with his head held high and with a smile plastered on his “orange” face.

There you have it. It’s going to be a two-person race and it’s coming down to the wire. The question is, do they even have to duke it out? Isn’t it a foregone conclusion? The orange giant is looming larger than life and like a bad dream that will never go away! I swear the man has nine lives or more, now if he’ll only put it to good use. No chance of that so we’ll have to grit our teeth, clench our jaws and see how this will play out.

I’ll take anyone BUT you know who. Four more years of GREAT! HUGE! and MOI! MOI! MOI! is not my cup of tea and neither is a daily dose of MAGA greatness and stunted vocabulary!

A great start to a new week don’t you think? Lord have mercy!

Trump Win

The man of the hour, Donald J. Trump, stepped onto the platform to acknowledge victory. His hair was perfectly coiffed, no runaways this time and with a smile plastered on his orange face and with his over-inflated ego in tow, he oozed graciousness and something more.

He pledged to seal up the border, stop the invasion of immigrants from the southern border, harness liquid gold or rather oil and to straighten out elections. A chant of, “America First,” broke out from his supporters and with an adoring smirk on his face, he said, “Iowa we love you. Just go out and buy larger tractors and more land. D’ont worry about it.”

The Indian-American entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy in his Third presidential debate said, “What I would tell Bibi is that Israel has the right and the responsibility to defend itself. I would tell him to smoke those terrorists on his southern border” and if elected, “I will be smoking the terrorists on our southern border.” It didn’t quite work out for him. Coming in fourth place didn’t quite make his dreams come true, he has dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump in hopes of achieving his goal from the sidelines, the “smoking” part I mean.

In his toned down victory speech, Trump called on his opponents to join him to unify America. He actually went on to praise them saying, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, “actually did very well,” and praised Vivek Ramaswamy for doing a “hell of a job.” However, his insults of past calling Nikki Haley a “Globalist Rino” and saying, ”she can never win in the General Elections because she doesn’t have MAGA and never will.” He went on to add, “Ron Desanctimonious at least is MAGA-Lite.” None of that was front and center this time. He even went on to use their names instead of “bird brain” for Nikki Haley and “DeSantimonious” for DeSantis.

A gentler Trump? A unifier? Don’t bet your bottom dollar on it! The question is, what if he had lost? Fraud! Recount! Fight! Fake! These are all words we’ve heard coming out of the sore loser or sour grapes Trump. Winning at any cost is his motto so don’t let him fool you folks. It is still there. What? The five-year-old who loves throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get his way is still there and the man who will go to great lengths in trying to overturn a legitimate election result is still there too. It is just a matter of time before the real Trump will show up in all his true colors and I don’t just mean “orange” either!