New Orleans The New York Times wants to know why. Why did Trump hoard secret documents? Why did he fib about it and try to hide them from investigators? I think I know the answer, just like I think they know the answer: that’s just the way he is. This is way late in the game to believe that Trump thinks every move through or elaborately plots the costs and benefits of his decisions. He’s as close as we may ever see to being politically feral.
There’s a lot of tut-tut by some of the pundits about the fact that some of the documents that he tightly gripped had top security clearances, and that he no longer had such clearances. There was an editorial that he should never be trusted with secrets again. These are political digs, not factual matters. Come on now, there are an estimated 1.25 million people, both direct federal employees and contractors, who have security clearances. Trump is no Edward Snowden. He’s no hacker and WikiLeaks-backer, and, for sure, “loose lips sink ships,” and he does have a tendency to run his mouth to his golf buddies and around the bar at Mar-de-Lago, but none of that is disqualifying per se. At this point we all know, that’s the way he is, and, by skin of our teeth, we lived through it.
But, seriously, does anyone outside of the Washington beltway, the ivy tower, professional pundits and talking heads, and down-the-rabbit-hole think tanks, really believe that not properly returning documents is going to get traction with the American people, right or left? Yes, the Trump-haters might have had a fun day at seeing egg on his face, but my advice is, “get over it and get past it.” This issue is not going to play well with people. It’s too small, secret or not. It seems petty and, well, political.
Trump’s a bum and a grifter. Granted. He may end up being held to criminal charges on January 6th, election interference, or fraud with his businesses and taxes. Fair play. But he shouldn’t go down on a technicality, like paperwork, no matter what kind of hoarder and fibber he might have been.
` Justice and the Biden administration need to reach out and make a deal with Trump’s lawyers. Despite the fact that Trump is making political hay out of being the victim here and his base and fan clubs are foaming at the mouth, his lawyers need to do the job that lawyers are hired to do. They need to convince their client that it is in his interest to make a deal, say he’s sorry, plead out on a nolo contendere, or just admit he messed up.
This needs to happen now. This doesn’t work for America or Americans. For all of us who want to see Trump out of politics, the democratic pathway is clear. We need to beat him at the ballot box and let the peoples’ voice and fury be seen and heard there. The last thing we need is to bring him down in the courts, where no one believes justice can be found anymore.