Felonious Trump
Where Do We Go From Here?
Trump is a felon now. He’s been a felon for about a week, and I’ve been trying to figure out how I feel for most of it.
If you follow me on social media you know that I have not exactly been all aboard the Stormy Daniels Election Interference Train. I’ve argued that the triviality of this case diminishes the other, far worse crimes Trump has committed — crimes that I believe should land Trump in jail for the rest of his miserable life. Unlike Trump’s treasonous actions between November 3rd 2020 and January 6th 2021, and unlike Trump’s egregious mishandling of classified documents, business fraud is the kind of low-level criminality we usually overlook in former Presidents. The political motivations behind the Stormy Daniels trial are obvious, and I didn’t like the precedent such a trial establishes.
This is the least popular take I’ve ever had. I have won no friends with this take. I will win no friends with it today.
Over the past week, I have tried to write both a defense of that position and a long and joyous mea culpa, but neither worked because I don’t fully believe either position. This guilty verdict places us in a weird and unprecedented situation. It will take decades for the consequences to play out.
Here is my analysis, for whatever it’s worth:
