I feel as though I’ve been robbed… and I think you should, too. The theft we suffered was not a single event, like a break-in or mugging. It was more like being pickpocketed, in that something of value was taken from us without our knowledge. Unlike a smash-and-grab robbery, however, the crimes we have suffered are multi-dimensional, ongoing, and far-reaching.
I trace the beginning of this crime wave to June 16, 2015 — the day Donald Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower in Manhattan to launch his run for president. “Wow. Woah,” he exclaimed at the time. “That is some group of people. Thousands!” A characteristic lie.
According to news reports those present when the campaign was launched numbered in the dozens not the thousands. In fact, it turns out that the Trump campaign had actually paid $50 to some attendees to encourage their participation.
I mark this as the first-time candidate Trump exchanged self-aggrandizing fantasy for observed reality. There have been countless examples of such dishonesties since then. At his inauguration, for example, he claimed the number of people in attendance to be far larger than it actually was.
His would-be presidential career started with deceit and exaggeration. Once he became president, he continued to hijack our consciousness and walk away with our valuables. Some of the thefts we’ve suffered have been material (e.g., cases of restricted government documents removed illegally). Others have been monetary (e.g., a lengthy list of fraudulent business practices). Still, others are cultural (e.g., the nation’s flagging belief in civic discourse) and even moral (e.g., widespread doubts about the rule of law).
The Observer:No power here. No power there.
Perhaps his most persistent and dangerous deceits can be traced back to his ironic “Stop the Steal” campaign; which, like Macbeth’s murdering sleep, has murdered truth. It began with his failed re-election bid in November 2020 and was manifested most recently in a message that suggested terminating the Constitution. His stolen election is a fantasy — as some 60 court cases and mountains of evidence from the January 6 House Special Committee have shown.
Consider this sampling of investigations which does not begin to constitute a comprehensive list:
• Trump’s role in the riot on Jan. 6, 2020, resulting in death and destruction on Capitol Hill, remains under investigation. The Justice Department has been gathering information about the former president’s culpability.
• A special grand jury was seated in May for a Georgia prosecutor’s inquiry into Trump’s efforts to influence that state’s 2020 election results. Some legal experts believe Trump may have committed conspiracy, election fraud and interference with the performance of election officials’ duties.
• His removal of classified documents to which he had no right after his presidency had ended. This is now in the hands of Special Counsel Jack Smith.
• His eponymous real estate company which was convicted last week of conducting a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities. The company faces multi-million dollar fines.
• New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil lawsuit filed in September after uncovering more than 200 examples of misleading asset valuations by Trump and the Trump Organization between 2011 and 2021.
Trump’s insistent claims of bias on the part of the DOJ do not hold up. The DOJ’s pursuit of his criminality is not a malign witchhunt conducted by a vindictive government, nor is it a smear campaign to silence an innocent man.
Jim Fabiano:It’s time to remember the good now days
What gave rise to these, and other court cases is the corrupt actions of this failed commander-in-thief.
In spite of all that has happened since 2015, I continue to have faith in the justice system. I believe that some injustices can be corrected with comparative ease. Stolen property can be returned. Crimes involving fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy can be tried and punished.
Repairing the culture, however, re-establishing faith in social institutions and restoring civility to our politics will be much more difficult. Punishing the man’s misconduct is essential but it will not begin to repair the damage he has done to our civil society.
Ron McAllister is a sociologist and writer who lives in York.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: The Observer: The commander-in-thief Donald Trump
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