Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Friday, May 28, 2021

Doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo . . .

Take a walk on the wild side with Just Security's litigation tracker. It seems the Great Pumpkin is facing 10 civil suits and 4 criminal investigations. That's not counting at least two other criminal investigations that could ultimately lead to him. The Manhattan DA and NY Attorney General investigations have apparently merged in some respects, but it is likely they retain some separate elements. I should say that the Manhattan DA's investigation has been publicly said to target the Trump organization, and what specific individuals or entities might be presented for indictment to the grand jury has not been stated.


It is entirely unclear what the consequences would be of a successful lawsuit, an indictment, or a criminal conviction. He settled a lawsuit over the Trump University fraud just prior to the election, and paid IIRC $12 million in restitution. He also settled a lawsuit over the fraudulent Trump Foundation, which was put out of business, while he occupied the office of president. None of this matters in the least to the millions of lost souls who worship him. (Which is indeed puzzling but I've given up trying to understand it.) 

 

I would be very surprised if the Fulton County investigation goes anywhere. The DA already has all the evidence she needs, or ever could be, but she also knows that if she indicts a mob will burn down her office and kill her. So there's that. The Manhattan grand jury has been empaneled for six months, which suggests it will be quite a while before we see any outcome from that. We know that the New York investigation concerns bank, insurance and tax fraud but it may well include other matters such as money laundering. 

 

In any case, let's suppose that sometime in late summer or fall of this year, the grand jury issues a bill of indictment against Dear Leader. It will be a complicated white collar crime prosecution, which will be tied up by lawyers for a long time before it ever gets to trial. Then it will involve matters that jurors and the public will have a hard time understanding, which will be massively obfuscated by lawyers and Faux News. Don't hold your breath, but let us suppose for the sake of argument that he is convicted, maybe next summer. What would be the impact on the mid-term election? I really don't know.

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