Whether Trump henchmen go to prison or not is less important than how America reacts to these trials going forward. Will there be an Awakening, with Americans deciding that electing criminals to high office is a bad idea? Or will these trials just exacerbate the political divide that is destroying America?
15 felony counts. Fraud, collusion, grand larceny, tax fraud, and more.
Yes. But it's all basically a single crime, albeit repeated for decades, which is being charged in various ways.
Don't misunderstand me. I think defrauding governments of many hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes is a serious crime. (I think paying a 17 year-old for sex is a serious crime.)
But I think that millions of "centrist" Americans will look at such crimes and wonder what the fuss is all about!
Tax fraud? All the cool kids and smart businessmen are doing it and getting away with it. The Trump Organization would have gotten away with it too if not for the Democrats' vendetta against Dear Leader. (And if a youngish Congressman and a girl who's almost 18 — both unmarried — enjoy sex why must government get involved? This isn't Swammi speaking: I'm trying to reflect what millions of Americans will think.)
These MSNBC commentators agree with me.
Did Donald Jr. and other top soldiers in the Trump crime family also benefit from such tax frauds? Probably; I hope more indictments are coming. The goal was to get Weisselberg to flip; indictments increase the pressure.
Again, I regard Trump as a despicable criminal, but his "worst" crimes may be hard to prosecute and may carry little penalty even if convicted.
For example, in the crimes of the Trump Foundation, what caught my eye was a $7 "donation" to the Boy Scouts. This coincided with Don Jr.'s becoming a Scout, for which the fee was ... $7. The pettiness of this astounded me! Trump couldn't fork over $7 for his son's Scouthood; he had to let the "charity" pay. And this "fabulously wealthy billionaire" couldn't write a check for $107 to help out the den a little; they "donated" just the $7 membership fee.
Maybe I'm silly, but it is the $7 tax evasion that disgusts me and sums up the Trump family character. Weisselberg's millions in undeclared income is doubtless duplicated, though more intelligently, by many thounsands of other businessmen.