Donald Trump faces four indictments, 91 criminal charges and hundreds of years of maximum prison time combined.
This is a former president who — according to the latest grand jury indictment in Fulton County, Georgia — participated in a “criminal enterprise.” Trump and 18 co-defendants are accused of trying “to unlawfully change the outcome of the election” in 2020. Among the 13 felony charges he faces is one count of violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act and two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery.
Most of those charges are related to a fake elector scheme by the Trump campaign in which a slate of “alternate” electors in Georgia would cast electoral votes for Trump instead of Joe Biden. The president of the most powerful democracy in the world allegedly tried to steal an election.
We can’t say it often enough: This is serious. Americans cannot shrug this off or normalize it, no matter how many times Trump gets indicted. Yet it feels like business as usual. Not only is Trump favored to win the GOP presidential nomination, he’s also neck and neck with President Biden in the 2024 general election, according to a July poll by the New York Times/Siena Poll.
MORE THAN A CULT
Trump’s support cannot only be explained as the product of the cult-like power he has over his MAGA base, which accounts for roughly 40% of Republican voters who believe those indictments are nothing but a conspiracy against him.
Because the DOJ is shrugging it off. What is anyone else supposed to do about it? Do a citizen's arrest? Fly down to Mar-a-lago and protest outside his country club? The Government is literally giving him 24/7 protection day in, day out and almost half the electorate doesn't think he did anything wrong OR just doesn't care and wanted him to be crowned King of America. What else are Americans supposed to do?
As far as not putting him in custody. For almost anybody else that had done a fraction of what Trump has done, they'd be behind bars by now waiting for their trial. Trump has been a free man this entire time, talking trash and juicing up his people to potentially commit more violence. That he's still allowed to walk free after being extremely reckless with National Security secrets seems like a travesty. Just accidentally misfiling something is enough to land anyone else in hot water, Trump blatantly broke rules left and right and even conspired to hide material from investigators. It's mind-boggling that it's gone this far without him being locked up by now.
He is being tried for his crimes. That you want him treated arbitrarily worse in the meantime just seems capricious. The decision to keep someone in custody while they wait for trial is made on a well established set of principles, not based on your need to see him humiliated for your entertainment.
The DoJ following procedure is a sign that they are taking this seriously and not just pandering to people crying out for blood and entertainment.