Trump’s vulgar conduct the norm, not exception in US politics
Ensuring Socio-economic JusticeCrescent International
Ramadan 12, 1444 2023-04-03
Daily News Analysis
The hype created over former US president Donald Trump’s indictment on hush money paid to a porn actress is both sickening and quite amusing.
The Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of March 30 remains sealed and will be announced in a New York Courtroom before a judge on April 4.
According to Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, as well as other sources familiar with the matter, the former president faces more than 30 criminal charges related to business fraud.
One case relates to the cover-up of hush-money paid to pornographic movie actress Stormy Daniels in 2016.
According to Daniels, she had a sexual affair with Trump in a Lake Tahoe hotel.
She was paid $130,000 through Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen before the 2016 US presidential election in exchange for her silence about the affair.
Interestingly, Trump is not being charged with paying hush money to a prostitute to buy her silence.
It is not illegal in the US to do so.
At the heart of the case is the issue that payment was made to Daniels a month before the presidential election in 2016.
Trump’s opponents argue that the money was paid out of election donations which amounts to a campaign violation.
Trump’s indictment has been turned into a political circus.
This is what America’s politics are all about: a circus in which a number of clowns perform as the puppet masters pull the strings from behind the scenes.
Senior Republican politicians and other Trump supporters have rallied behind him alleging the charges against the former president are politically motivated.
They may have a point but the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been investigating the former president on a number of cases involving business fraud, not paying taxes as well as payment of hush money to the prostitute.
Ever the narcissist and courting controversy, Trump is bound to exploit this latest controversy as well and turn it into an opportunity to present himself as a “martyr”.
His appearance in a Manhattan Court tomorrow (Tuesday April 4) will provide just that and the media frenzy that will accompany it.
Both his opponents and supporters will be out in force in New York tomorrow.
Trump’s opponents frame the case as “nobody being above the law”.
This is quite admirable but alas, not true.
Those who ordered the arrest of people, tortured them—sorry, subjected them to ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’—and the illegal invasion of other countries to murder millions of innocent people are still walking free.
Here is what is known about the charges against Trump.
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating hush-money payments before the 2016 election totaling $280,000.
The aim was to buy the silence of two women who claimed Trump had sex with them.
In addition to Daniels, the other woman is Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, who received $150,000.
Trump’s former lawyer Cohen told in sworn testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in 2019that he was reimbursed a total of $420,000.
This was for his role in the payments, in part to cover his taxes and a $60,000 bonus for himself.
The payments were made—some in checks signed by Trump—in $35,000 monthly installments under the guise of a legal retainer, Cohen said.
The lawyer admitted he created a shell company called Essential Consultants to pay Daniels and hide the deal from his wife.
Initially, Trump denied the payments but later acknowledged reimbursing his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen.
Cohen served jail term for his role in the illegal acts.
Legal experts have said the charges under New York law against Trump could include a misdemeanor for falsification of business records.
These could also include allegedly calling the payments legal fees, linked to a felony for a campaign finance violation because of the benefit to Trump’s presidential campaign.
Of course, Trump insists he is innocent and the Democrats are lying.
It will become apparent tomorrow who is lying.
Will Trump end up in jail?
This will depend on whether the judge in the New York court can muster the courage to deliver justice.
One thing, however, is certain.
America is a rotten and corrupt society.
Vulgarity is the norm, not the exception.
Remember, Trump is on record as saying that if Ivanka were not his daughter, he would be dating her.
We know what that means.
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