Everyone is familiar with Law and Order. It is difficult to channel surf without coming across at least one Law and Order episode. Its two note theme is iconic. Its distinctive format divides a show into a police and courtroom sections. In Donald Trump: The Law and Order movie, we have now entered the courtroom portion of the show. It easily could run for years. It will still be going when we prepare to celebrate the 250th birthday of the country.
What have we learned so far?
MONEY
Lately there has been a lot of discussion about the money problems for the defendant in financing his defense in the multiple cases. Financial analyses show that the money coming in is insufficient to meet the expenses of the money going out to the lawyers. One presumes the lawyers know to get paid in advance and are paid on a timely basis. That is easy because the money is not the defendant’s. So the problem is not the shortage of money but that the ability of the defendant to scam MAGAs sufficient to match the ever increasing legal costs.
This condition raises a number of issues.
1. Now that all the courthouses have been identified, the legal expenses will increase substantially especially for the discovery process.
2. Will the defendant pay the legal bills of his co-defendants?
3. Will the defendant pay the travel expenses of his co-defendants?
4. How will his co-defendants react to the prospect of having to pay their own way just so the defendant can get away with his criminal activities?
The answer to these questions are not known at present. But, to venture a guess, some indicted co-defendants or people who will soon be indicted may disagree with the policy of DELAY, DELAY, DELAY. They do not have the money to support dragging the case out for as long as possible
CONTROLLING AN IMMATURE CHILD
As stated many times, the defendant is an immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old. Based on his brain scans he should be tried as a juvenile and not as an adult.
However, he is being tried as an adult. That means there now are figures of authority telling him where to go, when to be there, and what he can and cannot see. We are dealing with a situation where multiple chiefs of staff and counsel in the past have been unable to control him. Of course, they all worked for him. Still there is no reason think the defendant will act any differently based on the guidelines of the DC and Fulton County judges and possibly even the Trump judge.
The consequences of defying their instructions are likely to lead to charges of contempt. No ne knows when he will cross the line but it I virtually inevitable that he will. This means long before he faces the issue of prison time, he will be confronted with jail time. It probably will not take many days in jail to get the message across. A short time in jail may even have the effect of putting the fear of prison in him more than he has already. It is a place where he could be spending the rest of his earthly life based on the sentencing guidelines for the crimes he has committed. That fear and only that fear may be sufficient to get him to behave. However, once out on the campaign trial, it is hard to see how he can resist going one step too far.
DEMENTIA SENTENCE
The sentencing of people in their 80s is rare. There are people in their 80s in prison, but they had been sentenced at much earlier age. By coincidence, there was a huge article this Sunday in The New York Times on “Inside a Dementia Unit in a Federal Prison.” The article recounts how people in prison may not even know why they are in prison or even who they are. They, certainly may have lost the ability to groom and take care of themselves. Prisons in effect have become old age nursing homes.
Putting side the general social question of what should be done with older prisoners, let’s focus on the defendant and co-conspirator #1. These two men in the late 70s now. By the time the prison door clangs shut on them they will be in their 80s. I do not know the ages of the other defendants but age may apply to them as well.
Consider what prison would mean. Imagine what prison life will be like for some so fastidious about his appearance. His hair color will become normal. His hair style may be more unkempt. His bald spot may become more obvious. His attire will be standard issue and not custom order. He will be the center of attention only to the Secret Service agents assigned to watch over and ensure he will not commit suicide.
Plus the change will be abrupt. One moment he will be living the life of luxury in one of his own homes. Then PUFF, in an instant, he will give all that up for federal prison life. The change will be swift and traumatic. A short stint in jail may sober him up to the stark reality of the rest of his life in prison but you never know. On the other hand, it is easy to imagine even babbling “the election was stolen” and the most corrupt in American history.
Keep in mind that 2022 became an election about whether the election of 2020 was stolen. Sometime next year, we will start hearing about how the election of 2024 is rigged despite all the efforts at voter suppression. So it is only natural to expect him to keep reciting these mantras for the rest of his life.
A TALE OF TWO JUDGES
The concurrence of two federal-level cases involving the same defendant will allow for a case study on judicial behavior. One judge appears to be a no-nonsense judge dedicated to moving the case along. The other seems to be a Trump judge.
In each case there will be motions and counter motions with the defendant seeking to DELAY, DELAY, DELAY the case until after the presidential election in 2024. The reason he does not want a speedy trial that concludes prior to the convention presumably is because he knows he is guilty. Otherwise he would want to enter the Republican arena as the victorious warrior who vanquished the vaunted deranged witch hunter. Obviously that possibility has never crossed his mind.
Instead the judges will perpetually be in his crosshairs as he files motion after motion to delay the trial. The judges already know this is his modus operandi so it will be interesting to see how they respond. Will they take the bait? Apparently one judge gets legal advice from watching Foxhub.
THE BUS
Who will be thrown under the bus?
For the Georgia co-defendants, they may be quite willing to throw the defendant under the bus. These people led comparatively normal lives and would like to return to them. Some of their colleagues already have by cooperating. There is life after Trump in Georgia as multiple state officials have shown. The Georgia defendants have nothing to gain by being loyal to the defendant who is not loyal to them.
One might say the same for 79 year-old Giuliani. What is he waiting for?
For others, they may be waiting for the 2024 presidential election. Hope springs eternal. If Putin can hang on until then so can they. Only when all hope of a pardon is gone will they begin to think about abandoning their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed be his name. And if he is not paying their legal bills, they may even choose to abandon ship even earlier.
FATIGUE
Right now the MAGAs can say it is all the cases are political and dismiss them from their minds. But there may be a breaking point.
As they watch co-defendant after co-defendant flip to the dark side, how long before MAGA’s see the light?
As they watch one Republican witness after another for the prosecution, how long before MAGA’s see the light?
For even the most devoted of Law and Order fans, there are limits as to how many one can watch. Binging has its limits. At some point relitigating 2020 as the basis for a political platform may not be enough especially if it is not working. At the end the movie Truman, when people who had watched that show for years, saw the truth being revealed, they changed the channel and moved on. It will take a while, but eventually Donald Trump: The Law and Order movie will no longer be enough for people who want to move beyond 2020.Then and only then will they denounce Trump. Otherwise we may have to wait for the election in 2028.
