Trump is a Criminal

It’s Time to Start Saying It, Everywhere

Charlie Neibergall/AP

This may be the week where Donald Trump is finally indicted for the events of January 6th. When he is– and it is a when, not if– that will mark the 5th case against Trump that is currently ongoing. There is no way he is going to escape liability on every one. The chickens are finally coming home to roost.

Simultaneously, though, we’re seeing the GOP double down on Trump as the 2024 nominee, with allegations of the “deep state” being responsible for Trump’s indictments, with certain far right figures calling for civil war in response. 

But let’s just deal with reality here for a second: the GOP frontrunner is now facing criminal prosecution in New York City and the Southern District of Florida (37 counts!), his company is facing liability in New York State for tax fraud, a federal grand jury is about to indict him in Washington D.C. for crimes related to the January 6th insurrection, and Fulton County, Georgia also has him in its sites for election interference.

That’s leaving aside the ongoing matter of Trump’s civil defamation of E. Jean Carroll, which is set for trial on a second set of claims right when primary season gets underway next year, with a jury already having found him liable for sexual assault in that court.

In other words, today’s GOP has decided that their best candidate for the presidency in 2024 is a man who is likely to be serving time in prison by the time we get to the November election.

---

---

It’s madness, but it is madness that’s fueled by propaganda. 

How do we get around that? We start telling the truth.

And I’m not talking about telling the truth in snarky memes, or demands for retweets, or YouTube videos. I’m talking about telling the truth to your friends, your neighbors, other parents in the school pickup line, at your grandkids basketball game, in calm but direct. “Trump is a criminal” needs to be a dominant theme between now and next November.

And not just because it’s fact, but because the practical considerations are also real. How is it going to impact our national security if Trump is reelected from prison? How could he possibly be expected to govern? These considerations are an open door to talking with disaffected voters about the importance of showing up.

And please don’t mistake me: what’s at stake everywhere right now is deadly serious. Trans and LGBTQ+ people are under direct and immediate threat across the nation. Abortion has vanished in half of America. Slavery is apparently equivalent to vocational training if you happen to be a student taking a “history” class in Ron DeSantis’ Florida.

The easiest way in to deep canvassing, though, is to identify common needs and fears. Don’t we want, at the bare minimum, to not have the international humiliation of electing a president who’s in prison? Don’t we want, at the bare minimum, to have a government that functions in moments of crisis, like hurricanes and wildfires and ongoing climate disasters? Don’t we want, well, a democracy?

Consider the talking points. Consider how you’re going to approach them in every day conversation. “Trump is a criminal, and he can’t govern from prison” seems to me to be an excellent place to start.