Nobody's Fault But trump's

Update: Thank ye again to Batocchio for including this blog in the Crooks & Liars' Mike's Blog Round-Up! Please stick around and view the other articles I've got, and good luck this summer!

When you consider today's criminal conviction of donald trump, a lot of this is his own damn fault.

He didn't have to run for President in the first place. trump could have literally stayed in his lane as a corrupt businessman, living off of the inflated values of his properties, feeding off celebrity tributes, plastering his name on questionable products, buying up more resorts to mismanage, and none of this would have happened. It's rare anymore for the legal system to chase after white collar crime like fraud, especially on so brazen a scale that trump was doing. he'd been doing this - remember "trump University"? - for so long over the decades it's likely the state attorneys would have never gone after him, and trump would have gone to his grave convinced he was a genius business negotiator feared by his enemies, worshipped by women, and envied by all.

trump's corporation would never have gone under the financial scrutiny that the State Attorney Letitia James eventually deployed, leading to massive liabilities and fines that can well doom trump's entire financial empire (whatever's left of it).

trump didn't have to go out of his way to accuse Barack Obama over Obama's birth certificate. trump could have tamped down his racism and not gotten involved in any of that false conspiracy drivel. But he did, and received the public putdown at that Correspondents' Dinner that apparently triggered trump's urge for political revenge. Now trump's the one facing imprisonment while Obama enjoys a post-presidency as a beloved figure.

If trump hadn't run for President, he'd have never panicked over the possibility of the women he'd had affairs with going public with their stories. he'd have never arranged for the "capture and kill" scheme with the publisher of the National Enquirer to silence those reports, which were part of the charges he'd just gotten convicted. trump would have never paid hush money to Stormy Daniels through his bagman lawyer Michael Cohen, who both testified to what happened during this trial and whose credibility were confirmed by this jury.

If trump hadn't been President, making himself a public nuisance shooting down other allegations of sexual misconduct, it would have been likely one of his victims - E. Jean Carroll - would have remained silent. Instead she spoke up, leading to his defaming her, and leading to civil trials where trump was officially held liable for sexual assault. It is a matter of record that trump is a sex offender.

Even the legal defenses in each of the trials trump faced are his fault. If it were any other defendant with political ambitions, that person and their lawyers would have worked out plea deals. Instead of felonies, there'd be misdemeanors paid off by fines and probation, and the media furor would die down to where a political career was still within reach.

If things had gone to trial, that defendant would have behaved in court, worked to impress and win over the jury. There would have been contrition, admission of lesser unethical behavior, means of convincing the courtroom that mistakes were made but didn't rise to the level of a guilty verdict.

But trump can never do that, can he. In trump's mind, admitting to anything would be admitting he was wrong even in the slightest thing, and he can never admit to that. In his mind, there are Winners and Suckers and himself - a Winner - can never do any wrong. This is why he claims the acts he's done - the bullying phone calls, the attacks on those he views as his inferiors - are "perfect" and shouldn't even be investigated. This is why he cannot act contrite to a judge or jury. This is why he'd rather attack the trials as "witch hunts" and undermine the entire legal system: his narcissistic self-worth can't accept any other option.

This is why his lawyers in every trial kept employing odd legal tactics that outside observers noted couldn't work... and those tactics didn't work. Half the time, trump's lawyers were too busy pandering to their client instead of winning over juries. It was an oddity that in the middle of attacking Stormy Daniels' credibility that trump's lawyer tried to get her to admit under oath that "trump was a good golfer" as though that had any relevance to the trial.

trump's defiance in the face of legal facts made it next to impossible to adequately give trump effective legal counsel. It exposed him time and again as a bullying egotist, making it difficult for any jury to accept him and for any judge to tolerate him.

And so here we are, still in the Darkest Timeline, coping with the reality that the Republican Party - that proudly declares itself "The Party of Law And Order" - has as their standard bearer a convicted felon, a certified sex offender, a known liar and bully. This is who the GOP voters accept as their leader. There is no sign they will be pushing him aside as their Presidential nominee for the 2024 elections.

Gods help us.

Elections matter, America. For all the yelling and screaming by Republicans about how corrupt Democrats are, the fact is clear that the Republicans - led by donald trump - are the truly corrupt party. For the LOVE of God and the Rule of Law and everything America SHOULD stand for, do not vote for trump or for any Republican lackey still kissing trump's convicted orange ass.