After Inmate PO1135809 left the Fulton County, GA jail the evening of August 24, he said being booked there "was a terrible experience." That was after he stood on the tarmac of Hartsfield-Atlanta International Airport and said they didn't teach him about mug shots at the Wharton School of Finance.
Then, he climbed aboard his red, white and blue TRUMP-emblazoned jet and flew off to his luxurious Bedminster, NJ estate, a safe haven unlike that available to any other common criminal.
A Terrible Experience
Certainly, it must have been a terrible experience for Inmate #PO1135809. But what about the terrible experience that he's forced America to endure since his election in 2016?
Our country has never been more divided because of this creature. And what about the terrible experience that we all suffered when we saw his mob attack the U.S. Capitol as they tried, at his behest, to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden?
How about the terrible experience that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endured when the mob was looking for her on January 6, 2021, threatening to shoot her in the head? Or former Vice President Mike Pence, who heard the MAGA mob chanting for him to be hung on the makeshift scaffold they had erected on the Capitol grounds for precisely that purpose?
And what about the terrible experiences of families ripped apart because some members blindly support Trump while others despise him? Or the terrible experience minorities continue to endure because of the racism that has been worsened by his actions and rhetoric? Or the terrible experiences of those who have lost loved ones to mass shootings because he and his Republican cronies refuse to enact any sort of reasonable laws to keep weapons of war out of the hands of ordinary people? Or the threats, and even deaths, experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community because of Trump's rhetoric and actions? Or that of women because of Trump's misogynistic behavior and attitudes?
It goes on and on.
After his release, Inmate PO2235809 posted his mugshot on X (Twitter) and used it to raise money for his 2024 campaign. When have we ever seen a former president of the United States stooping so low as to profit from his own mug shot? Obviously never, since no other president has ever been in that position.
And yet, his lead in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination continues to strengthen as MAGA supporters blindly fall in line. Hell, even most of those who are running against him are afraid to do or say anything that might piss him off.
Inmate #PO1135809 was only one of numerous Republican syncophants who underwent that same mug shot process, including fingerprinting, because of Trump's effort to overturn the election and undo our democracy.
His chief of staff, Mark Meadows also was in that exclusive group, along with his former personal attorney and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Their mug shots are presented here for your entertainment.
They are trying every trick in the book to avoid, or at least delay, their trials -- even to the point of attempting to oust the Fulton County prosecutor, Fani T. Willis.
Since when has any other defendant had the option to get rid of the case against him by getting rid of the prosecutor? But then Inmate #PO1135809 is unlike any other defendant.
On August 21, Georgia Republican State Sen. Clinton Dixon said he would use a new Prosecuting Attorneys Statewide Qualifications Commission established by the state legislature in May to "investigate and take action against Fani Willis and her efforts to weaponize the justice system against political opponents."
So, it is just a coincidence that Georgia Republican politicians created the commission in time for Trump's Georgia indictment for trying to overturn the election. Now, it is ever so handy that this tool is now available to them. The question, of course, is whether GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, who has made no secret of his dislike for Trump, will go along with this sorry gambit.
However, in signing the law that established that Commission in May, Kemp said, “I am not gonna stand idly by as rogue or incompetent prosecutors refuse to uphold the law.” So, we'll see. But if they succeed and Willis is ousted, Kemp would appoint a replacement, which would likely mean an end to the Georgia charges against Inmate PO1135809.
“God Bless President Trump!” wrote House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) announcing an investigation into Willis over the indictment. “The circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Willis.
The Georgia indictment, however, is only one of four cases against Trump, and in at least one other he's attacked officials who could decide his fate. In Manhattan where Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, he and his backers have targeted DA Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., trying to discredit him.
It must be nice to be so powerful that when you are charged with a serious crime you can simply get rid of the prosecutor. Sounds like the action of a Mafia don.
While the law allowing the Prosecuting Attorneys Statewide Qualifications Commission in Georgia to remove elected DAs from office takes effect in October, it is being challenged in court, and the Public Rights Project has filed a preliminary injunction to prevent the commission from launching Willis' removal proceeding while litigation is underway.
All of this is critically important, because many of the charges against Trump would not be subject to pardon either by the Georgia governor or the president, so conviction would almost certainly mean jail time.
For Inmate PO1135809, that would be a terrible experience, indeed.