Laugh and critique it all you want, but the mugshot of former President Donald J. Trump was a moment in history we have never seen. Other countries have put their leaders on trial before. One of the most famous was the Christmas Day trial of Romanian President Nicolae Ceausecu and his wife, Elena, in 1989 where the were given a kangaroo-court tribunal followed by an execution that was so quick that the camera operator couldn’t get it in frame.
Some say that was harsh, but Ceausecu was no angel. He was a dictator some say was responsible for the deaths of 60,000 Romanians and others. He got more than what he deserved. The mugsot of Trump might seem as some as too harsh for a former President. But that’s why we have checks and balances in this country. Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat may have committed career suicide but at least he proved that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
As a former crime/courts reporter, it was a constant complaint from people that we shouldn’t include mug shots or even arrests/charges in the media. On one hand, we would tell people it was public information. On the other hand, we said we can’t discriminate. If someone gets arrested for a misdemeanor DUI, they should be placed right next to sexual criminals and violent offenders.
Celebrities often get their mug shots plastered all over the media and the Internet when they do wrong. Even when former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested, his mug shot was taken. Other mugshots including those charged in the George RICO case including Rudolph Giuliani, who built his career as a former U.S. Attorney prosecuting people of the same charges for which he’s charged. For all those charged, the Fulton County’s Sheriff’s Office had to take mugshots because it wasn’t fair to others arrested and charged in the county.
Sadly, that’s what others have done. While I can understand the reasoning over the Manhattan case where Trump is charged in a “hush-money” scandal with adult film actress Stormy McDaniels with authorities not wanting to take his mug shot there, the two other cases proved they were treating Trump with kid gloves. For what has happened in the Florida and the Washington D.C. area, where he’s facing federal charges under the Espionage Act in the Florida case and in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection coup attempt in D.C., he should’ve been fingerprinted and had his mug shots taken. And he would’ve probably been locked up until he went to trial.
These are serious crimes and serious charges, even if he was a former President. Everyone else woud be in jail right now awaiting trial. It’s crazy that we really don’t have a precedent for how to handle this, because out of 46 Presidents, it’s absolutely something we shouldn’t consider. But maybe we need to start considering it. If you can go almost 235 years and only have one person whjo is the absolutely worst and criminal, that’s not too bad. (Yes, I know many historians have a lot to point out about the other Presidents.)
And as news spread that Trump, who touts himself as a billionaire, couldn’t come up with the $200,000, it makes you wonder how much money he has. I think Forbes reported his net worth is $2.5 billion, but I wouldn’t put it pass Trump paying $1 more than he could for his bail bonds. I don’t suppose any bail bonds agent is going to send out a skip tracer or a bounty hunter out for him for failure to make payments. This continues to show how Trump has been treated differently than others.
Granted, we don’t need bail at all because it’s outdated and just seems to make people with lower-income suffer more, but maybe it will get a dialogue going. The Los Angeles Times posted a op-ed piece about why we should stop doing it. Even if he could pay $200,000 in cash, that’s chum change compared to $2.5 billion, so 10 percent (or $20,000) isn’t much. Sadly it’s more than most people can pay on a bail bonds.
Whether or not Arizona decides to go after Trump and his administration for election issues out there remains to be seen. Trump ought to be glad he’s not facing a murder charge in connection with the Jan. 6 incident. Sadly, he will never really get chargbed for the crime he should – his failure of the Covid-19 pandemic response.
No other President, regardless of who they are politically, would have ever fallen asleep at the wheel as the Trump administration did during the spring and summer months where Covid seem to spread at a rabid rate not seen before in a long, long time. Part of his lack of response, some have hypothesized, was that his administration had heard the deaths were more from African-American neighbhoods and communities. Since most African-Americans seem to vote for Democrats or against Republicans, the Trump Administration is accused of allowing them to die so they wouldn’t be able to vote.
One has to be really low to take a risk that African-Americans should lose their lives so they wouldn’t be able to vote in key areas. On the contrary, I think it was the lack of response to the pandemic that encouraged many people, even those that had supported Trump in 2016, to vote against him. That and his response to summer turmoil following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis is what made people think there is something wrong.
It’s no surprise Trump wants to be a dictator. He worships Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un but won’t be able to match them. He doesn’t have the abilities nor the legion of supporters to allow it. Anyway, all dictators get their due, just like Ceausecu did. And Putin is 70. How much longer does he have? Or when will someone else decide not to take orders and want to give orders? There’s always a bigger fish as the saying goes.
The demographics of Fulton County are about 42 percent African-American. Labat is an African-American. So unless the case against Trump goes really sour for thje state, I don’t think see Labat losing unless Georgia continues to use its infamous tactics. Labat is just doing his job as the county sheriff. But Georgia is a state in the midst of an identity crisis despite its economic prosperity and political change.
The Georgia Republicans are trying to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis but this is only a way for them to delay proceedings as long as they can in hopes that Trump will be allowed to run for President or another Republican President can get in office so they can install Project 2025, a true dictatorship. But following the Republican debates, it may be proof that Trump is losing his steam. And the Republicans might just cut him loose once and for all.
Sadly, I think all of the the six would pardon Trump as soon as possible. I think it would be the first official act for everyone except Chris Christie. No, he would pardon Trump on his last day in office.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 