In a fourth indictment, the depths of Trump’s arrogance, recklessness come into clearer view | Editorial
The charges in Georgia paint a picture of the former president's anger and ego as he was aided and abetted by allies who went along with his illicit attempt to hold onto power.
A sweeping indictment by an Atlanta grand jury marks the fourth time in five months that Donald Trump has been charged with crimes. For two centuries, the idea of indicting a former president of the United States seemed implausible. Trump has made it routine.
Yet each indictment is historic, as Trump’s alleged crimes continue to test America’s legal and political system like never before.
Trump and 18 of his associates were charged Monday with orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Unlike the narrowly focused federal indictment involving Trump’s efforts to remain in power, the Georgia indictment offers a big-picture view of a vast conspiracy to change the outcome of several swing states, including Pennsylvania.
» READ MORE: Donald Trump tried to subvert democracy. He may finally face justice. | Editorial
The 41-count indictment spells out 161 separate acts that Georgia prosecutors allege were taken to further a broad plot to obstruct the election and defraud voters by lying to state officials, creating fake electors for Trump, harassing election workers, soliciting U.S. Justice Department officials, pressuring former Vice President Mike Pence, breaching voting machines, engaging in a cover-up, and pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to “find” about 12,000 votes, as caught on tape.
The indictment paints a picture of Trump’s arrogance, anger, and ego as he is aided and abetted by a band of Republican coconspirators who went along with his reckless attempt to do whatever it took to hold onto power.
It is fitting that the crimes come under Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, originally designed to dismantle organized crime groups. After all, Trump has long operated as if he were a mob boss.
Many of the Don’s associates have also been ensnared, including Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, John Eastman, a conservative attorney who once clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Kenneth Chesebro, an appellate attorney who concocted the fake electors scheme, Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor and Fox News darling who promoted many of the most bizarre election fraud conspiracy theories, and Rudy Giuliani, who went from America’s mayor to holding an off-the-rails news conference at a landscaping business in Northeast Philadelphia and another where hair dye dripped down his face.
Behold the gang who couldn’t coup straight. They make Nixon’s plumbers look like SEAL Team Six.
Many of the details in the Georgia indictment have been previously disclosed by the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol, years of shoe-leather journalism, mainly by newspaper reporters, the four-count federal indictment released earlier this month that detailed Trump’s monthslong efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and by Trump’s own actions and tweets.
Before he was elected, Trump famously said he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and he “wouldn’t lose any voters.” That part appears true, as Trump remains the front-runner to win the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
But Trump misjudged how his cultlike support does not supplant the rule of law. The one institution that has withstood Trump’s sustained assault on our democracy has been the courts.
Trump and his allies mounted more than 50 lawsuits alleging voter fraud and irregularities in several states, including Pennsylvania. The state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court, rejected those suits.
» READ MORE: Here’s what’s most obscene about GOPers crying ‘injustice!’ over Trump indictment | Will Bunch
Four separate grand juries in state and federal jurisdictions in blue and red states have been presented with evidence — often provided by Republican witnesses — of Trump’s wrongdoing and in each instance voted to indict him. The charges in the indictments include paying hush money to an adult film star to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, stealing and obstructing the return of classified documents, including nuclear secrets, and attacking the very heart of democracy by trying to overturn the will of voters.
At each turn, Trump and his GOP supporters claim a “witch hunt” or “hoax” as they attack judges and career prosecutors and try to divert attention — What about Hunter Biden’s laptop? What about Hillary Clinton’s emails? Benghazi! Squirrel! — aided by conservative media outlets. Memo to Trump supporters: Perhaps the reason Trump faces so many criminal charges is because he’s committed so many crimes.
True to form, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republican leaders attacked the Georgia indictment, while Trump used the allegations to fundraise. Even before the indictment was unsealed Monday night, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was on Fox News talking about the need to impeach and imprison President Joe Biden for his unproven role in his son’s legal troubles.
It’s a dangerous game Republicans continue to play by supporting the twice-impeached and now quarce-indicted former president who tried to upend our democracy.