As presidential campaign reaches stretch run, former president Donald Trump’s criminal calendar is packed
In the good old days, American presidential campaigns began on Labor Day, usually with an obligatory parade in Detroit, and continued in earnest for the next nine weeks.
One would think that would provide voters plenty of time and opportunities to consider the candidates, and the issues of the day, and come to a reasoned decision. But today we live in a world of year-round campaigning, and the 2024 election campaign arguably began shortly after the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and the inauguration of President Biden two weeks later.
Former President Donald Trump will have a very busy month in September, and not just because of the many rallies he will attend. On Sept. 5, there will be a hearing before federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, where she must decide what portions of Trump’s indictment for fomenting the insurrection can survive the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a president’s “official acts” are immune from criminal prosecution.
On Sept. 16, New York state Judge Juan Merchan will hold a hearing to decide whether Trump’s 34 felony convictions should be set aside due to that immunity ruling. While Trump’s convictions for falsifying records concerning hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels pertained to conduct when he was a candidate, before he took office as president, his attorneys contend that evidence was wrongfully admitted in view of the new standard of presidential immunity.
Two days later, on Sept. 18, Trump (seen above in a public domain photo posted on wikimedia commons) will appear for sentencing in the hush money case. Theoretically, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Unsurprisingly, Trump is seeking to delay that sentencing until after the Nov. 5 election, and any prison or jail sentence is likely to be put on hold, pending appeal, regardless of the election outcome.
Meanwhile, Trump is suing the U.S. Department of Justice for $100 million in damages for the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago mansion in 2022. The FBI was armed with a warrant to search for illegally held classified documents, of which they found many. If Trump had simply handed over the documents when he was first asked to do so, one imagines that no criminal charges would have been brought.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the federal documents case, holding that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. Other courts have upheld the appointments of special counsel, and her decision is being appealed.
It has often been noted that Donald Trump could avoid being sent to prison by simply winning the election in November. In our 250-year history, we have never had a presidential candidate who faced such stark choices. While the Republican Party has championed the cause of “law and order” for more than 50 years, and continues to do so, especially with regard to the crisis of refugees seeking to cross our Southern border, Trump’s base seems to be strangely unperturbed by his status as a convicted felon who is awaiting sentencing.
At 78, Trump is the oldest major party nominee for the presidency in American history (Biden was 77 when nominated four years ago) and it is quite possible that J.D. Vance will assume the reins of power at some point if the Republican ticket is successful this fall.
Under either Trump or Vance, we can sit back and see how successful the administration is in enacting the goals of Project 2025. They may purge the federal civil service of all employees who are not Trump loyalists. They can abolish the federal Department of Education, do away with Head Start, end all funding promoting a transition to green energy, authorize drilling for oil, coal and natural gas on federal lands. and quickly end all support for Ukraine’s valiant effort to retain its independence from Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Of course, that is only a partial accounting of the wish list that Trump’s loyal supporters have drafted.
If Trump is defeated, but Harris’ margin is fairly narrow in the seven infamous swing states (Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona), we can expect the most extreme branch of Trump’s MAGA movement to take up arms and fight to reverse the result. The “Project 2025” that element anticipates is nothing less than a civil war.
Jay Davis is a retired Rapid City attorney who regularly writes for The South Dakota Standard.
