Published by The Black Commentator, June 18, 2024
Let that reality set in for a minute maybe two – A rich, white man – no matter how vile and unethical – will not suffer the humiliation and injustice that poor and working class people have endured for generations
Jokes and memes are flying but there is no humor in a former president being convicted of 34 counts of felony charges for falsifying business records to hide hush money paid to a porn film actress during the 2016 presidential campaign. Apparently, it wasn’t enough to keep Stormy Daniels quiet because she sang like a canary on the witness stand. This – and the other 50 plus charges trump faces – may not be enough to stop his bid to the White House again.
The public knows a lot about trump and there should be consensus that he is unfit to hold any public office, let alone the highest office in the land. He is a criminal; he has been a criminal. Sadly, I think we will find this is insufficient to tarnish his reputation, bring him down hard, and permanently send him quietly into the night.
The former president’s two favorite adjectives are “rigged” and “disgraceful.” He used the terms to describe his failed 2020 re-election. They were used again to paint the entire judicial process that led to his conviction. Rigged and disgraceful was the process used to harass, humiliate and convict the Central Park Five. Readers may recall that trump took out a full-page ad in the New York Times. Once the teens were exonerated, trump never apologized for his part in publicly degrading the Black and Brown teens for a crime they never committed.
From all accounts, it is unlikely that trump will serve any time for this recent conviction. Legal observers predict that because it is a non-violent crime and there are no official prior convictions, he’s likely to get probation, fines or community service. This is how the racist and classist judicial system operates. A rich, white man – no matter how vile and unethical – will not suffer the humiliation and injustice that poor and working-class people have endured for generations.
The tried-and-true bullying tactics of trump, mixed with his cries of victimhood, are the special ingredients for effective fundraising and inciting his crazed, extremist base. One such zealot already encouraged a repeat of January 6 by calling for 1 million armed trump supporters to “go to Washington and hang everyone.” The orange man used the guilty verdict to raise over $140 million. This is more than Joe Biden and the Democrats have ever raised in any one month.
This is a hollow victory in the scheme of things and trump has so many more cards to play. His legal team plans to appeal this latest conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for some favors from trump appointees. The team has been strategic in stalling the myriad cases playing out in multiple courts across the country until after the November election, such as the appeals court temporarily pulling the reins in the Georgia election interference case against trump.
The former president has made negative history in so many ways, yet he is still standing, still raising money, and still talking trash. Being a convicted felon won’t have the same devastating effect on trump as it has had on Pookie and Ray-Ray. Let that reality set in for a minute or two.
