Spoiler: no one cares except nerds

  • FungiDebord [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    The issue which was recognized by everyone when it appeared that the other trials were going ahead (every pundit said this was the weakest case and the one most plausibly lawfare but that's fine, the other ones are really serious!), that the media has conveniently forgotten/ignored now that this runt trial is the only thing they'll get to cover, is that Trump's criminal liability is three degrees/orders away from the actual interesting or sordid facts underlying the case; the whole thing is too confusing, and it's unintuitive which bad acts are proscribed by the state and which ones are bad but guess what fuck you. Trump fucked a pornstar, which is juicy, but not illegal. Trump paid an NDA regarding that fucking, which is juicy, but apparently also not illegal. He knew that his agents were paying that NDA but doing so not in accordance with the correct procedural declarations, which is a misdemeanor, maybe, but also, occurred well after the election, so in no way was outcome determinative in his election. But disrespect of forms can be a felony if tied to other patterns of malfeasance or something, which is alleged here, that Trump or his agents buried Stormy just like they buried bad stories about Trump from hitting tabloids, but get this -- burying stories, on its own, is not illegal either. All the things that seem bad, that in a democracy, the public interest in disclosure of pertinent information about potential sovereigns would be outweighed by private wealth, are not illegal. What is illegal is that Trump was too cheap to pay out the money to cover this up himself, for the sake of some form. How could anyone, if they came to understood it, come to care about this at all?

    Illustrative: there was a story shared here weeks ago, that the prosecutors were noting in evidence that Trump did or did not have a preference for using oxford commas, and that was supposed to be inculpatory evidence, as indicia that he was aware of the payments by his agents, because some memoranda written by these agents regarding payments had or did not have that comma-- as if the agent would or wouldnt have used the comma but-for dictation from Trump. Absolutely insane, that means nothing, who fucking cares!