When I think about all the misery Donald Trump has brought to our nation — especially to women, people of color, and those of us who take pride in being progressives who’ve been fighting for better lives for our people as he made life worse — I still feel sorry for those who enabled him, some of whom I thought were better people.
I know that 34 guilty counts for anything in court sounds like a lot — especially when someone has run smoothly, without penalty, for all he has deliberately done to hurt others, including his own family. Mary Trump, his niece, has stood up and tried to warn us who Donald Trump really is.
Alvin Bragg Jr., Manhattan district attorney, was taunted and threatened with a baseball bat by Trump when Bragg decided to try the case against him. Several lawyers, including people who should have been encouraging D.A. Bragg, were complaining about how weak the case was. Alan Dershowitz, an attorney who was well thought of at one time, called it one of the weakest cases he’d ever seen.
Well, D.A. Bragg persisted, and left many of the critics in shock when the jury announced 34 counts as GUILTY!
New York v. Donald Trump is the first time any of us could ever believe Trump would have to pay for his sins. Even if the case is unfairly overturned someday, at least for a brief time, he had to know what it is like to mistreat so many people. So many had believed he would never suffer for a day for his lying, cheating, falsely accusing others when he was the guilty one, disobeying the law because he thought he was immune to punishment of any kind.
Writing about Trump’s behavior brings no joy because I know what offensive lessons he taught to young people, to racists who cheered him on knowing what he so often did would hurt someone, to political leaders who urged him to do what they knew was wrong, who couldn’t do the job they were elected to do because they were afraid to differ.
Every time I saw Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Byron Donalds cheer Trump on in all of his wrongdoing, I cringed because I knew no real Black man would be so supportive of the misery Trump continuously caused to others.
Trump now holds the distinction of being the FIRST U.S. PRESIDENT CONVICTED OF CRIMINAL CHARGES! Still, elected officials in the Republican Party immediately began lining up in defense of Trump, calling for the Supreme Court to overturn the conviction! This came after Trump lashed out at the judge, who, by the way, gave him the longest rope to hang himself while in court! Once convicted, it didn’t take him long to lash out at the prosecutors and the jury that convicted him.
I remind you that it was Trump who wished the worst for our dear sister Marilyn Mosby, who truly does deserve a pardon after all the great work she’s done for her community. (Sign the support petition at www.JusticeforMarilynMosby.com.) Compare the behavior of the two, and you will see a true champion for the people in Ms. Mosby, but see someone in Donald Trump who deserves no sympathy for his efforts to overturn our democracy, as well as life choices for women, and wreck racial progress by overturning Diversity, Inclusion and Equity that was bringing some measure of justice to non-white people and women.
For once in life, at least The Donald has learned he’s not in charge. We’ll see if the Supreme Court has the guts to uphold his convictions. We, the people, can play a part in teaching him a lesson when we go to the polls to vote!
Williams is president of The Dick Gregory Society (www.thedickgregorysociety.org).