Why Did Bragg Do It?

 

Donald Trump is a dangerous enemy of the United States who should be prevented from holding office in this country again. One way to do this is to convict him of one of his crimes. Based on what is known publicly, federal prosecutors have a strong case on both his attempt to overthrow the election in late 2020 and early 2021 and his later behavior with classified documents, and local prosecutors have a strong case on his attempt to get officials in Georgia to manufacture enough fake votes for him to have won that state. In contrast the case brought by Bragg in New York City seems remarkably weak as to both fact and law and unlikely to stick.

There are two easy conjectures about why Bragg’s case came first. The naive explanation is that Bragg acted on his own out of a disinterested commitment to justice without consulting or taking orders from anyone, and that the other cases, driven by a concern for justice and the good of the country, will go on independently to an appropriate conclusion. The cynical explanation is that the people calling the shots in the Democrat party, fearing they will lose in 2024 to anyone not named Trump, decided to work to make sure they will be running against someone named Trump. So they sent Bragg out with an indictment on a case so weak as to support Trump’s claims about being persecuted, stir up Republicans voters, and give Trump a political boost. The feds and the people in Atlanta would then keep investigating and stalling for at least another year until the stupid Republicans select Trump, and the Democrats get four more years.

It will be months before we learn which conjecture is closer to the truth. But in recent American politics the on base plus slugging number of cynics has been pretty high, and the evidence here supports cynicism. The grand jury in Georgia has  made its recommendations without any further action. Trump has said and done enough on record and in public to justify action in the federal cases, but nothing has happened. Bragg has put off his action until next winter and spring, just in time to give Trump help in the primaries. I hope that the  naive explanation will be more nearly accurate, and that Smith-Garland and whoever is calling the shots in Georgia will do their duty, irrespective of the needs of their party, but a person shouldn’t bet his grocery money on it.