Well, the jury rendered its verdict in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump.
As a lawyer for almost six decades and a former trial judge, I was really impressed by the job the judge did in conducting this truly difficult trial.
Both sides did the best they could with what they had, and the result could have gone either way. By that I mean all the relevant evidence was before the jury and they could have either all agreed that the prosecution proved the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (which is a very difficult burden in any case) OR they couldn’t so agree, in which event the verdict would have been not guilty or there would have been what is called a hung jury. A not guilty verdict does not mean innocent, but only that the government did not meet its high burden of proof.
Regardless of the outcome, the system worked, and it did so under tremendous stress.
The defendant was held in contempt about ten times, and the judge exercised an unusual degree of restraint, especially when there were verbal attacks against the judge, court staff, witnesses and jurors, some of which attacks having predictably resulted in death threats. I was amazed that our former president was not jailed for such contempt but suspect that if his public diatribes continue between now and sentencing, that we will all witness a sentence of incarceration come 11 July.
For the most committed followers of our former president, this was a politically motivated and legally questionable effort to derail his campaign. But all of us who followed the news had a chance to hear the evidence, and a jury found him guilty of all 34 counts. I feel it is ironic that during a campaign for a second term as president, Mr. Trump is convicted of falsifying business records to conceal an illicit payment to prevent publication of highly inflammatory information on the eve of his election to his first term.
Like many Americans, I wish we had a different choice for our next president. Trump clearly lacks the basic character that most of us would want in a president. He just doesn’t get it. He thinks soldiers who die or are seriously wounded fighting for our country are “suckers.” He thinks POWs like John McCain are “losers.” He is the only president to ever assume that he could pardon himself for crimes he committed, or pardon those with whom he conspired. He calls the January 6 rioters “patriots” and “victims” who were only exercising their first amendment rights. He is a serial womanizer who compares his younger female conquests to his wife and daughter. Most of all, he has befriended dictators who seek to destroy our way of life, undercut our alliances within the free world and so consistently spread lies to his followers that they now live in an alternative reality.
I am astounded that politicians like Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio and so many other Republican leaders have continued to support Trump and rebroadcast his lies and doomsday threats. Are there no true statesmen left? Where are the military veterans on the Republican side? Cowardice seems to be the common thread among these politicians.
And let’s look at President Biden. He is older than me, and that is saying a lot. I don’t see how he musters up the energy to maintain the pace of his work. He has been in the DC political power system for almost half a century. But will he make it another four years? I personally admire the empathy he shows to those whom Trump either ignored or disparaged. But as Commander in Chief, he has shown weakness and indecisiveness. Once it was clear Congress would not act to stop the bleeding at our southern border, a strong president would have acted unilaterally and swiftly in the manner of Andrew Jackson and let the politicians in Congress complain about it later. A strong president would have cut off funds and weapons to Israel once it ignored or rejected his pleas for more precise targeting, ceasing attacks upon civilian refugee camps and facilitating delivery of food and medicine to the civilian population of Gaza. Sure, Republicans would have howled, but most American people of all generations want us to avoid being a party to genocide. I support Israel, but how ironic that a country created by a resolution of the UN General Assembly routinely ignores that body’s resolutions. They are rapidly becoming a pariah state, and we are being dragged along with them. When will it stop?
Perhaps Trump is right, that our democratic republic is headed over a cliff. No one at the start believed it would last forever. But I have hope that our people are basically good and that just like the jury in today’s criminal case against Trump, they will turn out in November and do the right thing. If they don’t, then my children and grandchildren are going to live under an increasingly authoritarian system. I know what that feels like and I greatly fear it could be our future.
Perhaps our partisan politics and party system need a makeover. Look at how Alaska changed its election process and greatly reduced divisive gridlock. It’s all about the primaries. That is where most elections are decided at the state level.
Please, do we need a major external attack to bring us back to a semblance of national unity? I hope not. There is still time for people of goodwill to come together and start working on the challenges of our time.
My faith teaches me that God is ultimately in control of all this chaos. Not that He caused it, but that He can intervene if and when and how He chooses—working through men and women of good will. Tonight, that is my prayer. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.
By the way, 57 years ago today, I drove from Waco, Texas after completing law exams to Dallas, where I was married to Betty Jane Hess, a truly remarkable woman who put up with me for almost 45 years and now is with Jesus. Thanks, Boo Boo.
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