Trump is using his run for President to shield him from prosecution. He is also using racist White Christian Nationalism and bogus assertions that the U.S. was founded as a ‘Christian Nation’ for the benefit of White people. So why doesn’t the mainstream news disclose these facts in an honest and direct way?
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/07/donald-trump-2024-announcement-prosecution
…..”Donald Trump famously hated the actual job of being president of the United States, given its emphasis on reading documents, listening to experts, and giving a crap about other people. On the other hand, he did enjoy the power, and one aspect of the power he really seemed to like was the fact that, according to his lawyers, he couldn’t be held accountable for any crimes while in office.
Now, at the moment, Donald Trump is not president, and his legal situation isn’t looking so hot. For one thing, the January 6 committee has given the Justice Department a whole bunch of reasons to indict the guy, and on Sunday, vice-chair Liz Cheney said the panel may make its own criminal referral. For another, the Fulton County criminal investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election is heating up and actually appears to have legs. Anyway, can you see where this is going?
The Guardian reports that Trump has told advisers—some of whom believe he should wait until after the midterms to make an announcement—that throwing his hat in the ring early would allow him to “strengthen his argument that…criminal investigations against him in New York and Georgia are politically motivated.” (In addition to the Fulton County probe and the work of the January 6 committee, the former president’s company is also under criminal investigation in Westchester County, while the New York attorney general is set to depose him under oath this month.) As my colleague Eric Lutz noted last week, despite what appears to be an overwhelming amount of evidence against him, Democrats are concerned that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s fear of looking political may result in the DOJ getting cold feet when it comes to prosecuting. “I’m just not seeing the urgency from the attorney general,” Democratic congressman Ruben Gallego told CNN last month. “He’s thinking more about protecting the institution of the Department of Justice. And I appreciate that, but he has to be thinking about protecting the institution of democracy.” While acknowledging that no one is above the law, former senator Doug Jones told Politico, “there are so many more dynamics that I think come into play when trying to indict a former president of the United States for activities that took place in office.” If Trump were to run for a second term, it would, The Guardian writes, “complicate any decision to criminally charge him.”
And while he doesn’t know a lot—for instance, how toilets, exercise, or hurricanes work, or that you can’t get cancer from sound—Trump clearly knows this and wants to use it to his benefit. “The advantages of declaring now are that potential rivals could be dissuaded from running against him,” Carl Tobias, a law professor at that the University of Richmond, told The Guardian. “Meanwhile, the pressure will build for the January 6 committee to move quickly to find as much damning information as it can and refer it over to the attorney general.”
…”One common anti-Trump belief—one might even call it a conspiracy theory—post-2020 is that Trump is running for president again in 2024 mostly as a way of trying to avoid prosecution in the several current and possible cases against him. He frequently talks about how annoying it was for him to leave behind his comfortable life to be president, and he didn’t really seem to enjoy the job much. His 2024 campaign has so far been mostly about bad personal vibes, not building walls and making Mexico pay for them. Almost exactly a year ago, Rolling Stone reported that Trump was “leaving confidants with the impression that, as his criminal exposure has increased, so has his focus on the legal protections of the executive branch.”
True to form, the former president’s lawyers have now confirmed all these suspicions, contending in a court document that his status as presidential contender ought to indefinitely spare him a trial. In a filing last night to Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge overseeing his indictment for mishandling classified documents, they asked that a trial be delayed at least until after the 2024 election.
For one thing, they write, he’s just too busy. “President Trump is running for President of the United States and is currently the likely Republican Party nominee. This undertaking requires a tremendous amount of time and energy, and that effort will continue until the election on November 5, 2024.” As for his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, his “job requires him to accompany President Trump during most campaign trips around the country. This schedule makes trial preparation with both of the Defendants challenging.” Many defendants in criminal cases would prefer to pursue other opportunities instead of face charges, but that doesn’t usually entitle them to indefinite delay. Although some commentators have argued that a current or prospective president ought to be held to a higher standard of behavior, Trump’s lawyers are effectively arguing the reverse, saying he should receive extra forbearance because of the job he’s seeking.
They go on to argue that he simply can’t go through the judicial system now because he is running for president: “There is simply no question any trial of this action during the pendency of a Presidential election will impact both the outcome of that election and, importantly, the ability of the Defendants to obtain a fair trial.” (They do, however, nod to his other legal troubles, adding, “Previously scheduled trials in other matters for both President Trump and
defense counsel make it nearly impossible to prepare for this trial by December 2023.”)
The logistical and political hurdles the Trump team identifies aren’t imaginary. No comparable situation has ever occurred in U.S. history, a fact that Trump attributes to persecution but that’s better chalked up to his uniquely aberrant behavior. But the justice system has to balance interests, and the implications of being able to punt the trial just because he has voluntarily decided to run for president are troubling. It would suggest that as long as you are credibly seeking the most powerful position in the land, you can’t be held accountable for your actions.
If Trump wins, he would have the effective power to shut down any federal case against him. He and his allies are already laying the groundwork for further eroding the political insulation of the Department of Justice, which brought the documents case against him. (He would also presumably argue that, once he was president-elect or president, he would be too busy to stand trial.) If he does not win the election, his legal prospects are bleaker—which gives him additional incentives to subvert the election, just as he tried to do in 2020.”
A Reasonable Point of View 