The dismemberment of Donald Trump

I’m about to shut down my desktop system. There’s a power outage that’s lasted a while now and the one that supports this system is dwindling fast.


Gilead

Donald Trump

It’s starting to feel like Donald Trump is being taken apart limb by limb. In the moment, we have the Stormy Daniels matter, which may broaden to include the Karen McDougal matter, and, of course, the matters of the January 6 coup attempt and of mishandling of classified documents.[1] But we should not forget his finances, in which the Trump Organization has already been convicted.[2]

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Moreover, amid the speculation surrounding the Manhattan investigation in recent weeks, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal investigations took dramatic steps toward holding Trump accountable both for classified records discovered at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and for the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Meanwhile, in Fulton County, [Georgia], [District Attorny] Fani Willis is investigating Trump’s related interference in the state’s 2020 election, which could well yield additional charges.[3]

What really seems to get Harry Litman’s attention is that judges are compelling the testimony of reluctant witnesses Mike Pence and Mark Meadows.[4]

Harry Litman, “Trump’s indictment is a historic first. Here’s why more are likely to follow,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-30/donald-trump-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney

David Remnick, “An American Tragedy, Act III,” New Yorker, March 30, 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/an-american-tragedy-act-iii

Stormy Daniels


Fig. 1. Stormy Daniels at Ron Jeremy’s birthday party. Photograph by Luke Ford (Lukeisback.com), March 10, 2007, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5.

Even in New York, new developments indicate that [Alvin] Bragg’s case goes beyond the scheme to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels. The 11th-hour appearance before the grand jury of David Pecker, a former chairman of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, suggests Bragg’s office was also looking into hush money paid to model Karen McDougal in a scheme that extended into [Donald] Trump’s presidency. That could broaden the charges to a longer-running conspiracy to deceive and conceal, countering partisans who have attacked the Daniels case as insignificant.[5]

Ron Kampeas, “In American first, Manhattan jury indicts Donald Trump, who promptly invokes Soros,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 30, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/03/30/politics/in-american-first-manhattan-jury-indicts-donald-trump-who-promptly-invokes-soros

Bess Levin, “Grand Jury Votes to Indict Trump: Ex-President’s Odds of Prison Time Just Shot Up,” Vanity Fair, March 30, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/donald-trump-grand-jury-votes-to-indict

Harry Litman, “Trump’s indictment is a historic first. Here’s why more are likely to follow,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-30/donald-trump-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney

Corinne Ramey and Joe Palazzolo, “Grand Jury Votes to Indict Donald Trump,” Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/grand-jury-votes-to-indict-donald-trump-a9512240

David Remnick, “An American Tragedy, Act III,” New Yorker, March 30, 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/an-american-tragedy-act-iii

Perry Stein, “Trump is indicted in N.Y. Here’s what it means and what happens next,” Washington Post, March 30, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/30/donald-trump-indictment-what-it-means/

David Gilbert and Mack Lamoureux, “The Far Right Is Calling For Bloody ‘Civil War’ After Trump’s Indictment,” Vice, March 31, 2023, https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d9p9q/trump-indictment-civil-war-the-donald

Kara Scannell et al., “Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud,” CNN, March 31, 2023, https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/donald-trump-indictment/index.html


  1. [1]Harry Litman, “Trump’s indictment is a historic first. Here’s why more are likely to follow,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-30/donald-trump-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney
  2. [2]Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell, “Trump Organization found guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud,” CNN, December 6, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/trump-organization-fraud-trial-verdict/index.html
  3. [3]Harry Litman, “Trump’s indictment is a historic first. Here’s why more are likely to follow,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-30/donald-trump-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney
  4. [4]Harry Litman, “Trump’s indictment is a historic first. Here’s why more are likely to follow,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-30/donald-trump-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney
  5. [5]Harry Litman, “Trump’s indictment is a historic first. Here’s why more are likely to follow,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-30/donald-trump-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney

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