On Oct. 17, 1931, at the Federal Building in Chicago, Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. The charges, of course, were a proxy for a litany of more slippery crimes. Still, that was the end of Capone’s power; Frank Nitti took over as boss of the Outfit, the power of which gradually diminished. Capone was reduced to playing banjo in the Alcatraz band.
On May 30, 2024, Donald J. Trump, the former president of the United States, was convicted of 34 felony charges revolving around the falsification of business records. The charges, of course, were a proxy for a litany of more slippery crimes, not at all the crimes of violence for which Capone was notorious, but indicative of a general disregard for laws and the legal system especially when they conflicted with personal gain. The verdict, though is unlikely to mark the end of Trump’s influence, there being no obvious candidate to take his place running the Republican Party. The 34-time felon won’t be joining the house band at Mar-a-Lago; he will be appealing the New York state charges and also running again for president of the United States.
Yes, if you were still wondering, a convicted felon can run for president. Yes, he still can serve as president, if the voters so decide.
To most observers on this truly unbelievable day in New York City and America, including us, the evidence against Trump always looked persuasive. The idea that he would disguise hush-money payments to prevent personal scandal as payments to his lawyer fit with Trump’s casual modus operandi of years standing, his palpable belief in his own abilities to escape legal consequences for his actions. The prosecution’s array of witnesses, some former Trump supporters, one notably a former porn actress, were highly credible.
The more interesting issue was whether the prosecution should have been at the level of a felony or even brought at all in the partisan context of a presidential campaign and, to a lesser degree, whether or not some of the decisions made to ensure the successful prosecution of this case also make a successful Trump appeal more likely. Many thought it would.
Minutes after the verdict, and to no one’s surprise, the steely-eyed Trump called the trial “disgraceful” and “rigged.” Moments later, surrogates were calling this “show trial” the sine qua non of election interference, a weaponized, politically motivated prosecution before a crooked judge, a trumped up misdemeanor deserving only of energizing the former president’s supporters. The true verdict, they said, will come only from the New York Appellate Court, or maybe even the U.S. Supreme Court, where several justices owe Trump their jobs.
Whether a majority of the American people will view this trial as justice or odious political warfare remains to be seen. That reckoning will be painful. And, inevitably, divisive.
Here’s what does not remain to be seen. This was an extraordinarily strange and sad day for America, irrespective of party affiliation and of what might happen on appeal. We’ve said many times that we believe Trump’s past actions, especially those on Jan. 6, 2021, are disqualifying for a second presidential term, and the spectacle of a former holder of the nation’s highest office being found guilty by a jury of his peers on 34 felony charges should bring no one pleasure, even if it eventually proves to be a turning point in the presidential campaign.
America’s international standing is only diminished by this singularly undignified spectacle. At dinner tables Thursday night, parents had to explain what had occurred to the former holder of an office that generations of Americans have respected. In class Friday, the civics lessons will have to address hush money, scandal sheets and sexual activities. Surely, the Founding Fathers could never have anticipated a world where a former president, now a convicted felon, was driven from a courthouse in his motorcade through the city that nurtured his career.
Trump’s political legacy will be as a bringer of chaos and division, a reality that was never clearer than on Thursday evening, as a fist-pumping Trump ginned up his supporters while trying to turn the situation to his political advantage.
On the one hand, the legal system worked and proved that no one is above the law; you could disagree with the pursuit of Trump and believe in the system. A jury of Trump’s peers did their job to the best of their ability, no doubt with considerable worry about the consequences.
On the other, there were signs Thursday of yet intensifying national division, as ever amplified by a sharply partisan media which thrives thereupon. It is never good for a democracy when a substantial portion of the populace believes its courts are rigged. And we cannot recall a moment when that was more clearly the case. Both Democrats and Republicans are of that view, depending on which court is at issue. It is one of the nation’s most serious internal dilemmas and will take years to fix.
Today, though, we put the principal blame on one man: Donald J. Trump. He should not have falsified business payments. He was running for president of the United States.
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