There’s a point at which ignoring reality doesn’t work anymore. Even a professional misinterpreter of real-world things like Trump has now passed that point. Trump’s obsolete script for everything, aka “It’s the Radical Left” could easily bring down him, his entire family, and many associates.
The sheer scale of routine fraud in the indictments poses a few questions:
- How much did Donald Trump know about matters related to these indictments?
- If he knew nothing, why (and how) did he know nothing about his own organization?
- These indictments cover a 15 year period, alleging systemic fraud, tax evasion, et cetera. Have you remain ignorant for a period of 15 years about the conduct of business in your own company?
- An interesting revelation shows that two sets of books were kept for transactions. What kind of absolute imbecile maintains records of proof of fraud?
- Many of the indictments referred to “routine” fraud. This is not high finance; it’s regular milking of cash cows, fringe benefits, and other very well-known internal illegal activities.
For someone who claimed to have run a country, it’s not a great look. The Trump White House was famous for chaos, disorder, and almost unbelievable sloppiness. This was “management by press release”, on the assumption that somehow facts change to meet press statements, however ludicrous those statements were.
Dead man walking to 2024
It is just possible that Trump may not yet have realised that all these indictments rebound directly on him. Trump only ever accepts responsibility for what he thinks is good. He never accepts responsibility for anything else.
He may actually believe these indictments have nothing to do with him. Given the quality of legal advice he’s had recently, he may not even know that his organisation has just gone straight over a cliff and is taking him with it.
The trouble for him is that every single indictment may include his personal involvement, directly or indirectly. His level of involvement in any single individual transaction for activity is naturally subject to question. Involvement may also lead to charges against him.
We’re not just talking about a few incidents. There seems to have been a very large numbers of incidents over many years. If Trump is a party in any way to things like tax evasion and many other matters raised in the indictments, he’s very much a dead man walking. These are criminal offenses, fraud is a crime, not a felony, and that is pretty much that, legally.
2024 would be completely out of the question. His followers may be able to ignore the sheer squalor and mediocrity of his behaviour, but prosecutors and the courts definitely won’t. These possible legal challenges, if true, would be unavoidable, extremely lengthy, and extremely expensive. A remake of The Apprentice, (with subtitles for the incredibly naive) would be more likely than a 2024 presidential run.
If these charges are upheld, the Trump organisation is also effectively dead. This very heavily indebted company is now facing risks of calls on loans, a massive credibility gap with creditors, possible seizure of assets, and a set of books with the credibility of a post-it note written in crayon.
One of the more interesting, and irritating, things about Trump and his organisation is the fact that all numbers are always blurry. No two sets of figures I’ve seen have ever agreed on anything in the last five years. Even the amount of debt and assets combined don’t add up to credible figures.
Collateral damage, and lots of it, for Trump associates
Associates of Trump also have something to worry about. Like the Epstein case, many other people are likely to be drawn into the black hole these indictments will create. Some of these people are true “something in a suit” nobodies; many of them, however, have very high profiles.
Blaming employees for minor transgressions is one thing. Trying to avoid responsibility for systemic criminal activity as described by these indictments is quite a different thing. Blaming business associates and political connections is on a whole new order of difficulty. The standard excuses and simplistic rhetoric simply won’t cut the ice with anyone.
Is it possible to believe that a self-proclaimed Great Stable Genius was completely unaware of so many illegal activities in his own organisation for a period of 15 years? What sort of management is that? “Incompetent” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Trump associates of all kinds may be dragged in to the legal blender/juicer over a period of years. Some of these are federal crimes, some state crimes, it’s a very long list.
Trump can be as blasé as he likes. It’s unlikely that his associates, however, will be happy about any level of involvement in this meltdown. Given his very high turnover of friends and associates in the last four years, a very large number of people may have reason to fear prosecution.
So many discredited Trump officials and appointees took a very similar course when indicted – Blame Trump. With these indictments, very large numbers of people taking the same course is highly likely. This response could lead to a virtual NASA database of new allegations against Trump.
This is the beginning of the end. The Trump and his shoddy circus act may be pulling down the tents for the very last time. A disgraceful no-class no-brains no-honesty period in American history may finally end with a thunderous crash of trashcan lids and a virtual choir of “I didn’t do it!”.
Trump is the epitome of America’s social, moral, and cultural constipation. An all-out national enema may not be pretty, but it’s what’s needed.
