In a recent New York Sun article by Lawrence Kudlow, a former Trump appointee, current Fox News commentator, and show host, Kudlow calls NYC’s potential prosecution of Trump a “Russian Hoax to the 10th Power.”
Kudlow, who is not a lawyer, refers to Alvin Bragg, the NYC prosecutor, as “radical left.” As someone who practiced law for over 40 years, I laugh at the hubris of a right-wing radical calling a city or county prosecutor a left-wing radical. Try telling that to all of those defendants, guilty or innocent, who Bragg prosecuted and tried to send, or successfully sent, to prison.
‘Prosecutor’ and ‘radical left’ are oxymorons. Trump and Kudlow? Drop the oxy—they are just morons. Kudlow’s reference to a “Russian Hoax” is all you need to know about his politics.
To buttress his ‘lay’ legal analysis, Kudlow turns to another Fox News veteran, self-proclaimed ‘constitutional legal scholar’ Jonathan Turley, who calls the potential prosecution “high on ratings, short on the law.” refers to the prosecution as “legally pathetic.”
I’m not contending that the case against Trump is a slam dunk. Some of the arguments made about potential prosecution inadequacies ring true. I’m not necessarily suggesting that a case should be pursued. However, unlike these extremely biased commentators, I believe that any prosecution of this former president should be considered in the context of an entire lifetime of bad, perhaps criminal, behavior, dishonesty, double-dealing, lying, cheating, and defrauding our citizens.
Unless Ron DeSantis has his way and persuades America to completely sugarcoat history, Donald Trump is likely to be remembered as the worst president ever. We’ve had criminal presidents before—Richard Nixon comes to mind. Bill Clinton lied under oath about his sex life, which fits the definition of a ‘crime.’ But no president in history has broken more laws or treated our citizens more dishonestly than Donald Trump.
A Brief, Non-exhaustive Laundry List:
Before he became president, Trump sexually assaulted several women and paid them to keep quiet about his misbehavior. He cheated on his wives. He created ‘Trump University,’ cheated his ‘students’ out of their hard-earned money, and then shut down the company. Multiple lawsuits resulted from his fraudulent behavior and he settled the cases for $25,000,000. Count the zeroes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s twenty-five million. Trump, the man who cried “only the mob takes the 5th” when he was running for president, was deposed in the NYC case and took the 5th Amendment nearly 450 times.
In the 1970’s he and his father were accused of discriminating against minorities who sought to rent units in his apartment buildings. The Trumps settled with the government, promising not to discriminate in the future and submitted to regular reviews by the Urban League. This self-proclaimed ‘business genius’ has put four companies into bankruptcy, failing to pay or short-paying multiple creditors. He has also settled multiple lawsuits filed against him for his shady real estate practices, including failures to pay workers and contractors at various sites.
In 1987, the FTC fined Trump $750,000 for anti-trust violations. In 1991, Trump was found guilty of hiring undocumented Polish workers to tear down a building, conspiring to avoid paying union pensions for workers.
In 2016, while running for president, his presidential campaign spent over $55,000 buying Trump’s own book. Get the idea? Donor money sent to the campaign is used to buy books and send the proceeds to Trump. His “Trump Foundation” may have broken IRS rules by paying to resolve his personal and business legal disputes and making other questionable purchases.
After this snake oil salesmen became president, two of his companies were found guilty of tax fraud, and his long-time accountant and attorney went to prison. When neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Trump announced that there were “good people” among the marchers. He has been accused of multiple questionable campaign finance violations, obstructed the Russia investigation, and then the investigation into the misconduct of Michael Flynn. He left office with 700 pages of classified documents and lied about it, leading to an FBI raid.
When he lost the 2020 election, he refused to accept the results, conspired to overturn the election, then conspired to inspire an insurrection. He invited the protest, charged up the angry crowd in a speech on the morning of January 6, 2021, then dispatched this angry mob to the United States Capitol. He didn’t lead them to the Capitol, as he promised—he watched the insurrection unfold on television, in safety, witnessing the murder of a police officer, and doing absolutely nothing to stop the siege for several hours.
Short on the Law?
Kudlow and Turley may be correct. Trump’s behavior in paying Stormy Daniel’s hush money, may be “short on the law.” However, if the charges are brought, please remember they are being pursued in the context of a laundry list of dishonest and unethical past behavior.
Kudlow claims that “the political left will go to any means to stop Trump from becoming president again.”
Funny. Where was Kudlow when his hero boss was conspiring with the Russians in 2016 to stop a woman named Clinton from becoming president? Where was his political outrage then? Kudlow decries the “political circus” that this prosecution might create, but where was he in 2016, when his hero boss was demanding that the FBI investigate certain emails? Wasn’t that “alleged affair many years ago,” Larry? Wasn’t it meant to circumvent Clinton from becoming president? Kudlow’s short-term memory and hypocrisy are stunning.
Kudlow’s last comment is his funniest. His refers to his article as being in “opposition to the leftwing weaponization of our legal system, which is despicable.”
After all, who has abused or weaponized our legal system more than Donald Trump? Anyone? Give me a break! Can the Republican Party please move on from this despicable candidate and nominate someone worthy of the office? Please?
Mark M. Bello is an attorney and award-winning author of the Zachary Blake Legal Thriller Series, ripped-from-the headlines, realistic fiction that speak truth to power and champion the rights of citizens in our justice system. These novels are dedicated to the social justice movement. They educate, spark discussion and inspire readers to action. One of these novels, Betrayal High, was written in response to school shootings. For more information, please visit www.markmbello.com. Mark also hosts the Justice Counts podcast with Lean to the Left editor & publisher Bob Gatty, presenting bi-weekly interviews focused on social justice.