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The Light At the End Of Our Long Dark Tunnel [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-08-16
When something that’s never happened before happens for the fourth time in six months, things can go a couple of different ways.
Of course, we’re talking about the criminal indictments against former President Donald Trump. The latest occurred Monday night in Fulton County, Ga.
To supporters of Trump, this is more gasoline-soaked kindling thrown onto their blazing rage against the criminal justice system. For those rabidly against the former president, this is another moment of ecstasy, to be accompanied by a bunch of clever memes and social media posts that do nothing but diminish the seriousness of these very serious events.
To the country as a whole, this is one more grunting downward push on the crowbar that’s prying our nation apart, complete with calls for civil war on one side and fears of domestic terrorism on the other.
So, it’s not a good situation.
Still, if you take a deep breath and sort through all the noise there’s a calming factor in there that we need to understand: The cases against Trump are now in the courts.
No matter what you think about Trump’s guilt or innocence, this is where we were always destined to be, smack dab in the system designed by our founding fathers to hold us accountable for our actions.
I know, our justice system isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t always correctly ascertain guilt or innocence, but it is a system. A system for bringing allegations before a jury of one’s peers, of forcing prosecutors to put up or shut up, of handing out vindication or consequences to those who stand accused.
That’s why the Right puts so much effort into undermining our confidence in our justice system. Jurys are biased, investigators are crooked, prosecutors are scum. They pile it on because when the trials start, they want us to be predisposed to believe the system is rigged. That their man can’t get a fair shake.
That’s their game. But once the proceedings commence none of that means anything. The only thing that matters are the facts. The truth. And in the court room we have a system for laying that out and letting the chips fall where they may.
That’s why the last place Trump wants to be is sitting before a jury and a judge. There’s no Truth Social in there. No gutless, book-licking politicians bloviating for their man and against the system. No cable news analysts babbling, or newspaper columnists expounding, or Right-wing media lying.
One of the good things about athletics is sooner or later you have to produce. You have to go out on the field, or the court, or the mat and compete. You either win or you don’t. You either can or you can’t.
The justice system will give us the only thing that matters in the way-too-long saga of the worst president in history. It will give us the facts and – this is important – the evidence. It will all be there for us, if we pay attention.
Only 12 of us will have a say in the court room, but there’s a place for all of us in the court of public opinion.
History will be written every time the judge gavels the proceedings to begin. We may not like the outcome – in fact many won’t no matter which way it goes – but we can now take a collective deep breath and hear what both sides have to say.
There’s something calming about that. Something reassuring.
Maybe even a little hopeful.
***
Thank you for reading my post. You can see more of my writing on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Also, please check out my video blog: The 3:13 on Politics.
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