Trump likes to claim he is a victim. He shoots himself in the foot then cries "I've been shot in the foot, oh poor me, send me money". His two federal indictments are good examples. I read an interesting article about Attorney General Merritt Garland. He was the prosecutor for the Oklahoma bombing case right about the same time the OJ Simpson trial was happening. The article states that Garland was appalled by the circus atmosphere of the OJ Simpson trial. If you heard any of the testimony by the Congressional January 6th committee they were frustrated that Garland did not engage the committee nor ask for any of their testimony. Maybe he knew investigating Trump would create that circus atmosphere he disliked.
The National Archives requested that Trump return documents that he took with him. Trump delays refuses and claims the Presidential Records Act allows him to keep the documents (more about this later). This goes on for 18 months then the Justice Dept. has to get involved and the potential circus that Garland hates is bound to start. Then Trump announces his candidacy and Garland has to bring in a special prosecutor "Jack Smith." Smith begins to look at everything Trump and opens the January 6th investigation. Had Trump just given the documents back there is no Jack Smith and probably no January 6th investigation/indictment. Not giving the documents back was Trump's shot in the foot moment.
Trump the "send me money" guy tells his followers echo by Fox News he is a victim of government weaponization. The Presidential Records Act and his ability to declassify documents gives him the right to keep theses documents. So I read the Documents indictment and the Presidential Records Act ( spoiler alert if you believe Trump don't read either of these documents) and on the first page of the Presidential Records Act it blows Trump's claims out of the water.
I was home on January 6th and decided to watch the rally turned riot in real time not filtered by Cable news. They beat the stew out of the Capitol police that day. I decided to watch the House hearings and saw almost all of the testimony. So when Trump "the send me money I am a victim" gets indicted and claims that he has first amendment rights to even lie about the election outcome he had a point. So I read the indictment. The best analogy I've heard goes something like this:
You go to your accountant and complain about how much tax you pay you hate the IRS you hate the government wasting your tax dollars and you want your accountant to audit your returns. This is all good free speech and no crime is committed but when you tell your accountant to file a false tax return and he agrees, that's a criminal conspiracy and is not covered by the First Amendment.
The indictment pretty much jived with the January 6th hearing's testimony I watched but the specificity in the indictment was chilling. To use my example Trump and his co-defendents repeatedly asked the accountant to file false tax returns! If it quacks like a duck walks like a duck its probably a duck.
If you believe his First Amendment defense do not read the indictment. Had he given the documents back there might be no January 6 indictment. Thus the foot shot!!
Here's my Trump metaphor: Trump likes attention, we can all agree on that. I see Trump wearing a cowboy outfit and hat like we had when we were kids. He is riding a big black horse in a circle kicking up a dust cloud and shooting at his enemies but only John Wayne can actually ride a horse and shoot to kill. So Trump fires his bullets but no kill shots he just wounds people. Jack Smith is sitting in a deer stand with a rifle.
I will leave you with that image.
Reese Reynolds