Machiavelli, Trump, and a Stripper

As you read this, it’s the first day of jury selection in former President Donald Trump’s New York fraud case. It’s the first time in history a former president has faced felony charges. But, then again, we’ve never had a former president like Trump-wealthy, mouthy and brash. I’m reminded of something Gerald Clarke wrote in his biography of Truman Capote, “…his swans and peacocks were, on close examination, no better than their servants. To the contrary, they were often far worse; bound by neither ordinary financial nor moral restraints, they were denied no sin…” That’s Donald Trump in a nutshell, say anything, do anything, the rules don’t apply to you, a lie is as good as the truth any day of the week-it’s all about me. The facts of the fraud case are simple; a rich guy married to a trophy wife, bangs a stripper, and gets caught. Rich guy is running for president, passing himself off as champion of the Christian right, and trophy wife has an airtight pre-nuptial agreement larger than the gross national product of a medium sized African country-Oooops! The solution is simple, get one of your fixers to buy off the stripper. It worked pretty good for awhile, then the stripper talked and Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, started grinning- he had a fraud case. It definitely meets the statutory requirements for a fraud case, if it was anyone of us, this case would never see the inside of a criminal court, it’d be settled in divorce court, but we’re dealing with Trump, whose mouth and reputation have made a lot of enemies. Is Alvin Bragg using Machiavelli’s theory that, “…the end justifies the means…” of course he is. Is Trump a victim of governmental overreach, maybe, maybe not. I don’t feel sorry for Trump in the slightest, but I’m also not aware of anything in the criminal codes that allows prosecution of somebody for simply talking and acting like an asshole …I’ve got mixed feelings about this and will gladly listen to any of you with thoughts on this issue….