Guilty or Innocent- Does It Even Matter?

The jury now has the matter of the State of New York vs Donald J Trump in its hands. As we wait for a verdict the question we must ask ourselves is: does it even matter what happens.

We have spent what seems a lifetime watching as Donald Trump spits in the face of conventional wisdom for a politician. Showing absolutely no inclination to work at this task. Not studying but improvising his part. Treating the highest office in the land as if he was still on the Apprentice. Listening to no one and acting as irresponsibly as he chose at any moment. Courting dictators and demanding fealty from those around him as if he were a king. Poking a finger in the eye of political opponents, baiting them, ignoring them, ridiculing them like he was a heckler at a wrestling match. Living a lie as if he has all the answers to our most pressing issues when in reality he is just winging it. His cruelty and his incompetence his constant joint companions. His policies whatever seems to work in a sound bite.

He was a bully, trying to intimidate the leader of Ukraine into doing some dirty work on his opponent in the race for President. He sought favor with the leaders of Russia and North Korea, praising their worst instincts. He abandoned our long time allies, choosing to belittle and chastise them.

At home he praised the racists, the bigots. He created a caricature of those who sought refuge in this country, declaring them to be a scourge upon our nation, as if they were all not worth our time or our compassion. He fumbled, bumbled and stumbled over the one most pressing matter of his presidency, the Covid outbreak.

And he was lacking in any moral structure in his business dealings and his personal life, treating with equal disdain creditors and spouses, cheating on each with impunity.

He has been found by a jury to have committed sexual assault, by a judge to have illegally manipulated his finances when dealing with a lender such that he is presently barred from running his company in NY. His charitable organization a sham, with his greedy fingers caught in the cookie jar. His past littered with the garbage of a life not well spent.

And yet he remains as popular as ever, maybe even more so. Despite his orchestrating a potential coup of the government, attempting through a mountain of lies and manipulations to bring democracy to its knees, Donald Trump is the most likely person to be chosen the 47th President of the United States.

So I ask, what difference does it make, will it make, what 12 people, 12 New Yorkers have to say about him. Did he have sex with Stormy Daniels? Did he conspire with others to pay her off to silence her to help in his run for President in 2016?  Would a finding of guilt make a lick of difference to those who have watched the parade for nearly a decade and still find ample reason to find Donald Trump more than worthy of their loving gaze?

My belief is that this jury will be hung. That there are some always Trumpers in their midst who would not find him guilty of a misdemeanor if he shot someone in the broadest of daylight on Fifth Avenue.

But even should the jury reach unanimous agreement 34 times that Mr. Trump was a bad boy, he is never, ever going to jail. And though a felony conviction would prevent him from being eligible to vote the first Tuesday this November, it would not keep him from being elected this nation's leader that day.

In the end, no matter whether thumbs are up, down or undecided, the needle on Donald Trump's political future will not move. Oh maybe there will be an immediate response, a blip one way or the other. But there is nearly a half year from now until election day and any tremor felt in the wake of the verdict will have dissipated long before then.

So, when the dust settles, this trial will be just another day in the life for this most terrible, despicable man and for the United States. Donald Trump, with all his warts. Love him or hate him.

Only you, not this jury, will render that verdict.