Trump and many on his orbit are pending prosecution for criminal conduct. This is not entirely unprecedented in the USA, but it is by far the largest group.
Important day, not sure how many were watching this though…
Today was a historical day. Though many people might not realize yet the exponential importance of what happened today in our country. For anybody who was not aware, today former President Trump and several of his closest allies and advisors were referred for criminal prosecution by Congress. These four prosecution referrals are in regard to the violence and attack to Capitol on January 6, 2021.
This means that the prosecutions, if adopted, would be conducted under the purview of the Department of Justice (DOJ). In other words, this criminal referral does not on its own means that the DOJ will pursue these cases as stipulated, but it will likely require a formal response, nonetheless.
Not surprisingly, the country has been divided between those who are very well aware of what happened on January 6, 2021 – and a pretty sizable part of the country who have no idea about the significance of that day. Yes, that’s true – blows my mind too, there are plenty of people who had no idea that Congress was stormed by force. Be it as it may, it has been 1 year, 11 months, and two weeks – that’s 713 days since January 6, 2021, was attacked to the time this criminal referral was finally delivered. To get to this day, a lot happened in our country in those 713 days.
What are the charges? – Criminal Referral of President Donald J. Trump to the Department of Justice.
Former President Trump along with some of his closer implicated supporters – or “co-conspirators” as designated by the January 6th Committee. These individuals are being referred by congress for violation on the following four statues. Only Trump was recommended for all four, while the implicated supporters were recommended for some, but not all of these. The men being referred to DOJ for criminal prosecution are Donald J. Trump, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani.
Others I am not mentioning, were not referred for criminal conduct, but they are significant because they refused to cooperate with the congressional hearings. This is despite these are people sitting in congress right now. And yes, all these people were in fact in the building when the attack occurred. To clarify these Congresspeople were issued Congressional subpoenas to testify to the Committee, and they refused. I’ll let you ponder a of why they refused. I have a feeling that I will write about it sooner than later.
First Criminal Charge Reference.
- Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
“…corruptly… obstructs influences, or impedes ay official proceedings or attempts to do so…”
18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)
Second Criminal Charge Reference.
- “Conspiracy to defraud the United States
“…conspire ither to commit any offense against the United States, or defraud the United States…”
18 U.S.C. § 371
Fourth Criminal Charge Reference.
III. Conspiracy to Make a False Statement
“…in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Government of the United States… makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement…”
18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001
Fourth Criminal Charge Reference.
- “Incite,” “Assist,” or “Aid or Comfort” an insurrection
“…incites,… assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection… or gives aid or comfort thereto…”
18 U.S.C. § 2383
As you read my words, depending on your current political leaning, some of these topics might be uncomfortable for you today. Don’t worry, virtually everything we are going to talk about is a matter of public record. In fact, if you look at all the evidence leading, during and after January 6, 2021, it will take you several months to read it all. Therefore, I will not be debating on the merits for these legal proceedings. With that said, I’ll be happy to continue a conversation based on what is cognizant of all the factors that led to the premise of these events, and the resulting criminal referral. In my humble view, there are a lot of lessons learned from this entire debacle.
Particularly, because I am very sure that there is a lot of emotional charged opinions in the minds of both die-hard followers and non-fans of the former President. Unfortunately, the objectivity of the facts on January 6, 2021, have been obscured by political leanings. And that is understandable, because politics has become a very visceral part of many individuals’ identity. But we have to realize that opinions, and feelings are not always the same as facts. Facts are impervious to emotion, and it is in these emotions where a lot of misinformation can be inserted by unscrupulous actors. Often these misrepresentations are presented as empirical facts. But it takes just a bit of scrutiny to figure out that the math does not add up.
In fact, this scrutiny is what unconsciously will drive some people into anger – especially if the facts are rocking their world. Generally, those who were very fervent supporters of something (or someone) they deeply believe in, if they find the math is erroneous – of that there is a possibility they might have bought into a false narrative, they will tend to double down. Not just in politics, but really about anything that is significant enough to them.
It is a normal part of being human, nobody wants to be pointed out they have been mistaken, or worse being victims of a misrepresentation. But learning from facts honest introspection is something we have to be able to identify in order to reach the actual truth. Sure, there will be stages of grief, but it is very liberating once we reach the other end. Moving from falsehoods to undisputable facts will make us all better people.
Let’s get some context on the cult of personality.
Spoiler alert, the former President fans have unfortunately been presented with half-truths on the on the arguments for/against the January 6th Committee – for the most part. This fervent support has been changing rapidly lately, but it has been eroding for a long time.
As the support to the former President has been dwindling from his own party. The so called MAGA Republicans are becoming a minority in the party. However, they do remain very vocal supporters. Unfortunately for many of these MAGA supporters they did find themselves fighting for their freedom after the attack to Capitol on January 6, 2021. Much like I predicted when I wrote my article back then, a lot of Trump’s supporters who stormed the Capitol used “the President told me to do this” as part of their defense.
Some of the MAGA supporters felt disappointed and even betrayed by Trump and started to move away from his rhetoric. This was of course a harsh transition for them. This exodus was very clear in the aftermath of the last three big electoral events since Trump’s term in office ended. Candidates who were endorsed by Trump were largely defeated by whomever was their opponent. This of course creates a precarious situation to the Republican Party as a whole. True that there were millions of people who supported and still support Trump, but there are several more millions who do not, and Trumps support continues to dwindle rapidly.
Why am I talking about Trump’s cult of personality? Because it is a catalyst… like of hate the guy he has been able to convince millions of people that he was the answer they needed in the country. However, if you’re familiar with Trump’s career and life, then you’ll realize that he was no different his entire adult life. The difference is that now he had a much, much larger platform. But make no mistake, he had disappointed a lot of fans and supporters throughout his entire time in the private sector.
For example, Trump University was not an actual university, and he had to settle after a class action lawsuit that defrauded his students. I won’t go into all his controversies – first because there are too many. But also, because he’s also under criminal and civil litigation all over the place right now. This is another prediction I made back when I wrote my other “Today in America” articles. Anecdotally, back in the 80’s even my late mother was such a big fan of his, I remember her thinking how he was the portrayal of success. All in all, according to USA Today, Trump had to deal with 4,095 lawsuits in the last three decades. I cannot think of any other celebrity or public figure who had been sued that much. And yes, you can look at each lawsuit yourself as a matter of public record. If you have the time and inclination to do so. I’m sure that you can find a pattern even if you don’t read them all. Afterall, if you’re a fan, this would either vindicate your support – or perhaps change your mind. You’ll never know unless you look.
And of course, we could assume that once a person reaches a certain level of success there will be many who will want a “piece of the pie,” right? Well, no. There are plenty of people even richer and more successful than Trump who are essentially unknown, and their legal battles are nowhere near as chaotic as his. The other fact is that if somebody issues a lawsuit, there has to be some merit to any case, otherwise it will be dismissed, or worse, it will just be a very expensive ordeal what will yield no viable results. In other words, even though we do live in a sue-happy country – there has to be some sort of valid conflict to start the argument in the first place.
Trump’s history of getting in legal trouble was not unnoticed at all before he ran for the 2016 Presidency. In fact, some of his most contentious opponents who turned somehow into his most fervent supporters stated this fact as much. But then again, we’ve seen them flip flop one way or the other throughout the years. Want examples? Sure, look at Senators Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Matthew McConnel comments about Trump before he was the Republican nominee for instance. That was not only limited to politicians, look into Kellyanne Conway, or even Tomi Lahren “support” before Trump became the Republican nominee. In fact, these same people were warning the public against Trump, as they saw what could best be described as red flags. Yes, even back then. Makes you wonder, huh?
The only difference between them, and everybody else who never bought into Trump, is that the latter did not change their mind about Trump. But, these mentioned, and many others ebbed and flowed their support for Trump. Sometimes condemning Trumps narratives and actions, but then going back to provide support. Some would argue that this “fluid” support was politically motivated. But for example, do you think Trump and McConnel – who played a very significant role in shielding Trump are in speaking terms? Well, they are not. Trump had some very inflammatory things to say about McConnel and used a racial euphemism against McConnel’s wife – who by the way was also Trump’s Transportation Secretary.
I intent to write a separate article about Trump’s various legal problems, and why is that important. It should be obvious, because he’s a former President of these United States.
Meanwhile, remember that the United States of America does have a system of check and balances, and nobody is above the law. However, for several years Trump has been able to get away with things nobody else has been able to do. And this unfortunately has prompted him to make some additional very poor decisions. One very important one pertains to the highly classified information he had in Mar-a-Lago. I’ll write an entire article just about why this is so damaging. And before anybody says, “what about Hillary?” – I’ll say, “what about?” it does not F-ing matter, because those are two separate cases, and I don’t need to be a big fan of Hillary, nor Trump to know that anybody handling classified information cannot be cavalier about it. And most definitely, this information belongs to the U.S. Government. And no person, to include a Former President is allowed to keep any classified material. There are very stringent rules for handling and storing of classified material for a reason. And yes, there is paperwork to safeguard even whatever is stored in a person’s head who has been authorized to read classified material. This by the way was another big red flag many of Trumps non-supporters feared he could do. So that fear became a reality.
Lastly, I could go on about the $99.00 NFT trading cards he released. That I found actually pretty funny, and it is going to be dedicated on its own rant article. Yes, mostly because I find it hilariously tragic, but for now I’ll say that many of his most fervent supporters were not happy with those NFTs. And if you see it from a more strategic stance, that was a bad move. Especially now that his seat is being threatened by current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is very much likely going to run for President, though the has not announced it yet. But a lot of Trump’s clout is transferring towards DeSantis.
You don’t have to be a fan of DeSantis to realize that he’s been playing the game very well, as far as how he’s been posturing himself to gain the support of his party. That does not necessarily mean that he’s a great choice for a presidential position. But then again, politics is a very intricate game. And the game is that the candidates are only as strong as the followers, and followship is a very fluid reality in politics.
So why do we even care about this criminal referral?
Simple, the purpose of this Congressional Committee was to set the precedent that nobody is above the law. Only Four times in our history we have seen something like this going on – though never quite like this last one. First with Senator McCarthy in the 60’s. Then it was Watergate with President Richard Nixon, and twice really with Trump. The twice impeached President Trump has enjoyed a lot of support, but he has also directly attacked some of his former supporters.
One example, Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence and Trump became estranged after January 6, 2021. Afterall, the crowd erected gallows and this same crowd was chanting “hang Mike Pence” – and pence was only 40 feet from the crowd who wanted to kill him as the Secret Service was leading Pence to a safer location. Despite this, you might be disappointed to hear that Pence is against Trump being criminally prosecuted.
This story is far from over. But at this point in our American history, we have to realize that it is up to each one of us to understand the intricacies of what is going on the political discord. There is a lot of misinformation, I just want to do my part by noting these important events in our history.
If you like, love or otherwise are a fervent Trump supporter, that’s your right. Just realize that he has disappointed and attacked a lot of his closest followers. You owe it to yourself to check why so many have lost trust in him. Afterall, when you’re in the side of the facts any scrutiny, big or small will not change the facts. Go ahead, learn as much as you can – read from sources you agree and disagree with. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Also, if you see a source that is for or against Trump (or anybody for that matter), stop and think what that supporting or dissenting voice has to gain with their narrative. There are still plenty of factors pending. But make no mistake, today was a historical day in the United States of America. HLC