What Trump's Indictment Really Means

This sordid case is merely the first motion in a lengthy legal drama (criminal and civil) that will continue until Trump’s death, and quite likely beyond it.

The indictment of former President Trump on what is being reported as more than 30 felony counts of falsifying records with the intent to defraud is being widely described as both unprecedented and historic. Both descriptions are true, but perhaps not in the obvious ways in which the media is currently framing them.

Yes, the indictment of a former President has never happened before. But remember, Trump ran as a “billionaire businessman” and the prosecution of business fraud, money laundering, and various forms of thievery, conniving, tax evasion and extortionate criminal activities comprise the bread and butter of prosecutors from Maine to San Diego. There’s nothing unusual about this case from that perspective.

And yes, the indictment itself is also historic. Sadly, the nation’s history is defiled with the name “Trump” on the pantheon of the U.S. Presidents and we must include him as a historic figure, now facing a criminal trial. Put it in the history books for sure.

But I think this sordid case is merely the first motion in a lengthy legal drama (criminal and civil) that will continue until Trump’s death, and quite likely beyond it. Election fraud. January 6th. State cases. Federal cases. Civil cases. The fraudulent nature of his business. The depths of the criminality of Trump and his family - his company and his gang of political collaborators - will eventually be explored in court. That’s truly unprecedented. 

And the reason is this: Trump tried to destroy American democracy. 

Since Gettysburg, no one has come closer to succeeding. Trump and his extremist racketeers represent the high water mark of radical right wing authoritarianism in this country. They are part of a nearly global movement to crush democratic values and install a neo-fascist order in major industrialized nations. You can see the patterns not just in Russia, where Trump’s hero-father figure Vladimir Putin (and co-conspirator) rules with terror, but in democracies like India, Brazil, Israel and Turkey. There are hints and political successes in France, Germany, England and Italy. We’re not alone, but it’s cold comfort.

Here in the United States, these far right wannabe generalissimos are losing - but they came close, and it’s not quite over. Trump’s current fascist frenemy and GOP presidential rival Ron DeSantis is busily turning the state of Florida into a far right hellscape. We’ve seen the cruelty and scapegoating - women, transgender people, minorities, immigrants. Anti-Semitism is exploding - every mention of “Soros” is a yellow star forcibly sewn onto the jacket lapels of a reliable historical scapegoat. Asian-Americans are beaten. Black Americans are killed. Guns are rampant. The hateful Proud Boys march openly. The clenched fist rules the political street in too many places. It’s a stew of poison and gut-ripping broken glass.

Does any of this end with Trump’s indictment? His trial? Other indictments? I don’t think so. The hate runs too deep. The vein is rich with seething xenophobia and violence. But it does matter that institutional America is refusing to stand by and watch democracy and decency swirl around the drain. You so rarely hear that, by the way - “institutional America.” Elected government. Nonprofit organizations. The Democratic Party. Labor unions. Business. Community organizations. Committees. Organized movements. Yeah, the much reviled “establishment.”

Yet a strong institutional center - and I don’t mean in terms of right-left, but in contrast to extremes - is what binds what we call “society” together. And that center is rejecting the hate of Trump and the vile MAGA putsch. Make no mistake, the stakes are as high as they can be for this country - I’m talking camps, the suspension of civil liberties, executions and possibly genocide. We’re only human, we Americans. Nothing intrinsically special.

And humans have done this throughout recorded history. Man’s inhumanity to man can and will happen again. We’re seeing it in Ukraine right now, perpetrated by Trump’s ally and totalitarian partner.

Hell yes, it can happen here. Ask someone who hails from the community of native peoples of this continent - or whose ancestors were human chattel dragged here in chains and systematically tortured into labor.

So yeah, Trump cheating at business - and being caught red-handed with a paper trail that would convict the Pope - is both unprecedented and historic. 

But it’s up to us to preserve that precedence: to be a nation of laws.

And it’s up to us to write this next chapter of U.S. history: the defeat of this deadly fascist movement.