Trump ducked criminal charges - right into the most powerful office in the world | Sidney Blumenthal

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : But, again, Trump had already succeeded, with the timely aid of a helpful judge, in moving any trial beyond the election.
60% : Trump appealed to the supreme court.
57% : On 15 November, Trump announced his presidential campaign.
54% : McConnell wanted the seat available for a Republican president to fill, and it was filled by Trump, who followed the appointment of Neil Gorsuch with Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett off the Federalist Society list.
52% : Trump will be scot-free.
51% : Smith can write a final report to be released before Trump takes office.
45% : Trump himself has escaped into the White House, which the US supreme court has declared the citadel of official immunity.
44% : After Trump, it was complacently left to stand.
44% : Garland, by his desire to avoid being seen as partisan, created the critical space for Trump to reemerge.
41% : In evading legal consequences for his actions, Trump was handed a chillingly simple strategy: just run for president againDonald Trump's most vital campaign did not involve his political consultants, the hysteria of his rallies, the paranoid TV spots about migrant murderers and transgender bogeymen, his blathering on "bro" podcasts or the prancing of a hopped-up Elon Musk.
41% : McConnell felt he had used Trump for his own purposes.
38% : Then, it waited until 1 July, the last day of its term, to issue its decision that Trump as a former president and private citizen had a presumption of "absolute immunity" for his "official actions".
38% : In New York, on 26 November, Trump will appear in a courtroom to be sentenced for his 34 felonies falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign that also factors in his 10 counts of contempt of court.
36% : On 28 March 2022, the US district court judge David Carter, in ruling that Trump's legal adviser John Eastman must turn over his relevant emails to the committee, stated that it was "more likely than not" that he and Trump "corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021", and that they staged "a coup in search of a legal theory".
36% : If and when the case proceeds, Trump as president cannot be tried until his second term ends in 2029.
33% : "The three-judge appeals court panel ruled expeditiously against Trump on 6 February that "any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution".
31% : But on the morning after, the justice department informed the press that it would seek to close the cases against Trump.
30% : Then, on 1 August, he indicted Trump for January 6.
30% : He could not accuse Trump of crimes for which he lacked the evidence.
30% : His opinion severed the conservatives from their originalist mythology to shield Trump.
29% : As Trump eluded trial after trial, their looming shadows faded.
29% : For Trump to succeed, justice had to fail.
29% : None of the four had a more sustained personal relationship with Trump than McConnell.
28% : Without his enablers, Trump would not have been protected.
27% : If Trump were to be found guilty, he could never again run for federal office.
27% : Cannon was on the Federalist Society list when Trump ticked her off for appointment.
27% : Trump cannot pardon his co-conspirators at the state level.
25% : "Garland was punctilious in his belief that pursuing Trump reflected a partisan impulse.
25% : His indictments of Trump in the documents case came on 9 June 2023, following by additional ones for obstruction on 27 July.
21% : Trump had to get away with his crimes to survive.
18% : McConnell fell back on his political instinct that Trump was utterly discredited, though there was a risk that he might support Maga candidates to primary Republican senators who voted guilty as revenge.
18% : "The Justice Department's painstaking approach to investigating Trump can be traced to Garland's desire to turn the page from missteps, bruising attacks and allegations of partisanship," the Washington Post later reported.
16% : Before the vote on 13 February 2021, McConnell declared Trump "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day", but sidestepped convicting him by asserting that the penalty could not be applied because Trump was no longer president.
16% : McConnell pointed out that Trump would be held accountable in criminal trials.
14% : "After Trump was impeached for the insurrection on January 6, McConnell wavered on voting guilty.
9% : While it cut out some of the most dramatic evidence against Trump involving his pressure on vice-president Mike Pence to toss out the legal electoral college votes and his manipulation of the justice department, the filing was still damning.

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