At least it is with four new counts of fraud and obstruction. We don’t recall if it was this emotional when Truman spent years castigating Eisenhower, dragging him in front of a local court and attempted to have the General of the Army cast into the Federal correctional system. In handcuffs.

We know, a better example would be Dick Nixon getting run out of town. But there were no handcuffs in that one, or at least ones you could see. The late afternoon reports were that a recent former President is accused of four new charges of criminal conduct against the Republic. He is supposed to appear in a courtroom for arrangement and the new standard for political opponents, a perp walk.

We were interested, of course. CBS used to be one of the Big Three, and still has tremendous influence. Their headline has coming along ways since Walter Cronkite kept us apprised of a commodity he called “the Truth.” That has become a mutable commodity, and we accept the new headline: “This is a breaking news story and will be updated.”
“Broken” might be better, though. It is the third indictment against a former President of the United States. Can you imagine a situation in which someone here in the District decided you were an inconvenience and national security considerations merited breaking you financially before locking you up?

The timing was partly theatrical, with the 45-page indictment handed down by a grand jury shortly after new developments in the two strings of legal shenanigans. Part of it is artificial political entertainment in the slow news season, and there are fourteen months of it to come. But did you ever thing that simple disagreement on a national policy could place you in opposition to an institution with unlimited funds and time to destroy you?

That is a new sort of American political process. The one in which the process itself is made so unpleasant as to be part of the punishment before judgement is actually passed. Considering the current inversion of time and law, the third indictment might be the charm. This way, court appearances can be coordinated with electoral benchmarks for maximum effect.

We will see what the show is like tomorrow. This ordinary Wednesday is already coordinated to have the hours of two working days before the appropriate narrative of impartial justice is applied tomorrow for broad and persuasive dissemination.

Just like the Framers would have wanted, you know? We are all equal, sort of.

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com