The social media space is all "a-twitter" about Trump allegedly being arrested for an offense related to alleged "hush money" and Stormy Daniels.
I do not know the precise charge or even if the reports are real; this appears to be a state matter in some way related to either the "pay for silence" act itself or how the money was moved around. Exactly how this implicates a legal violation is unclear until we know what they charge him with, if they do; it is generally not unlawful to pay someone to shut up (witness all manner of legal settlements that include confidentiality clauses, non-disclosure agreements and similar) but there are exceptions.
The outrage on the right is of course predictable.
Personally, I could care less and if you are one of those folks who thinks this is a reason to go to war (whether "civil" or not) IMHO you're out of your mind.
Trump had plenty of opportunities as President to stop the two-faced, "two class" legal system in this nation: One for people who are favored, and another for everyone else. Let's start with Hillary, who he repeatedly said he was going to "lock up." That was not a political claim either; she had clearly, openly and deliberately violated black-letter law relating to classified material handling by setting up an email server in her house and then funneling classified material through it in a bid to prevent all of her traffic from being subject to legally required record-keeping by federal employees. That really is illegal and literally the day Trump was elected he stopped talking about and did not direct his Attorney General to make good on that campaign slogan.
Or, if you want something a bit more personal than some abstract record-keeping requirement who remembers "A girl in Iowa" during Trump's Presidency? In 2021 the accused was found guilty of murder but within a quite-short period of time after the criminal act itself we knew the accused was an illegal invader who had no right to be here in the United States. He, like so many others, was employed by local farming interests -- heavily GOP, of course, since most farming areas are.
Trump had the full authority as President to issue a NPRM and, under proper process, require the use of E-verify for every employer in the United States -- including of course all farmers. Requiring the control number from that system on every 941 that is filed (employment tax return which all employers must file under penalty of perjury, and pay the amounts owed) would have put an immediate, full and permanent stop to the use of "undocumented" labor in the United States provided those who didn't comply were prosecuted. Tax fraud in that sort of instance is ridiculously easy to prove and its a criminal offense. Of course this would have been tremendously unpopular among certain groups of people (farmers in particular) which, in Iowa, are a very serious voting block, never mind in other agricultural states, most of them "Red."
Trump of course did nothing of the sort even though it is a fact that had the convicted individual not been in the nation Mollie Tibbetts would be alive today. There are several other examples and while you can claim that illegal aliens are not "more disposed" to criminal activity if you'd like that is not the point -- the point is they do commit crimes and you can't commit them here if you're not here. Every single one of those crimes is preventable by simply demanding such persons not be present in the United States, and since they're here illegally there is every basis in the law to do exactly that.
So pardon me if I really don't care if a NY Prosecutor makes a public and political spectacle out of this. After all being arrested for whatever Trump is alleged to have done in violation of NY Law pales beside the murder of a 20 year old woman who's only offense was attempting to maintain personal physical fitness by going for a jog, and the wildly outrageous and illegal employment of persons all over this nation that Trump had every ability to stop, as has every other President, and yet he refused because people with political and economic power want to break the law for economic advantage and, in the process, screw law-abiding Americans out of the jobs they would otherwise have at a higher, market-based and law-abiding wage.
This is not, incidentally, the only example. Exactly zero of what was done with his "2 weeks to slow the spread" that turned into a three year disaster was proper. No part of the PREP Act, for example, enables the government to censor information whether directly or by conspiring with others. Yet they did exactly that, did they not? What did Trump do about this? Nothing. Indeed he gave legal force through his HHS Secretary, backed up with billions of dollars, for protocols that were used in hospitals and killed patients, never mind allowing State and local governments to intentionally ship infected people into nursing homes without a single federal indictment issuing against a single person involved. That was and is manslaughter so spare me the outrage since your much-loved Orange Man did nothing to stop or punish it, despite having plenty of federal legal tools with which to do so -- like, for example, removing that which he, personally, put in place through HHS that incentivized these acts.
If Mr. Warp Speed gets the stuff-n-cuff treatment I will quaff two fingers of high-quality single-malt just on that basis alone.
Oh yes, Biden has done the same and more, but Trump had the capacity, as President at the time, to call a hard stop on this insanity in March of 2020 and he not only refused, he personally ratcheted up the fear porn and enabled the lockdowns. Yes, the states executed on that but it was Trump who backed all of it including the "bonus protocols" for hospitals which remain in place today.
So no, I do not care if he gets personally abused by the NY Prosecutor. After the last three years, and putting in place the domestic economic spending policies that are now likely to lead to a catastrophe worse than 2008, never mind further enabling the medical monster that is now one third of the federal budget and yet ridiculously violates 100+ year old felony criminal law (15 USC Chapter 1) on a daily basis am I supposed to care if a bit of karma visits him? Do recall, dear reader, that he did promise to stop that during his 2016 campaign in three separate platform planks and every one of them disappeared, never to be seen again, within minutes of the election being called for him. I stated before the election I would not participate in that sham because I had every expectation he was going to do exactly that -- and I was right.
Whether or not there's an actual offense here I will reserve judgement on until I see the facts -- but in terms of whether I care if Trump gets treated in a different way than anyone else may I note he has, through his political and in fact business life, been the instigator and beneficiary of said disparate treatment all along and pointedly refused as President to enforce the rule of law evenly on more occasions than I can count, so if he gets reamed by his own double standard I not only do not care I laugh at, and shall toast, the irony.
Good luck Donald.
And as for those of you who wish to and are stoking outrage over this?
Go look in the mirror because you, like everyone else's, failure to demand the government actually enforce the law and instead cheering on the breaking of same when when and only when it benefits you is why we're here as a nation today. It is why the BLM riots and arsons went unanswered. It killed your Gram during the pandemic and screwed your kids out of two+ years of education. It is why we're a hell of a mess budget-wise with The Fed and everyone else furiously trying to keep all the plates in the air -- and they're very likely to fail. Now those of you who are "outraged" appear to be engaged in precisely the same selective crap.
No?
Well then where was the general strike in 2008? How about to enforce "lock her up"? How about in March of 2020 when Trump did his little "15 days" speech, which, at the end of the 15 days, he reneged upon directly? Where was in response the "oh, I'm an essential worker while the bar is closed eh? Tough crap; no groceries for you until my friend the bartender is open on an unrestricted basis as before and I can go have a drink -- until then YOU CAN STARVE!" How about in 2020 when you all said the election was stolen? You didn't believe that either, did you?
A general strike is perfectly legal; nobody can compel you to actually work. That's forbidden under the 13th Amendment. Refusing to labor is legal, period, it is non-violent and if in fact half of the 60% of the adult, working-age population, which is the employment:population ratio I remind you, was to stick up the middle finger government would be forced to cave in to whatever the demand is; absolutely nothing in our government or economy can be maintained on any sort of rational basis if half the people in this nation who are allegedly "employed" simply sit at home and refuse to return until the crap -- and screwing -- stops.
Exactly zero percent of those who make such claims actually mean it and will put skin in the game.
Masturbating in public is disgusting yet that's exactly what you've been -- and still are -- doing.