A Long Drawn-Out Reckoning

Public reckoning over The Big Lie on widespread election fraud, the violence of Jan. 6 and the attempt at overturning voting results may be upon us in the form of multiple indictments and civil trials, but the process is stately amid a flood of impatient emotion on all sides. Apart from Donald Trump’s constant complaints of victimhood, because the American legal system depends so much on procedure, it feels as if we’re moving in slow motion towards the inevitable courtroom dramas and, ultimately, to verdicts. What is noteworthy is how much the legalisms, both for individual protection and to assure governmental restraint, are at odds with the realities of the parallel political system that thrives on 24-hour cable television and instant analysis of the very smallest of legal developments. At times, it appears from watching the pundits that little else could be occurring in the news. We’re in a hurry to digest and understand the portent of small omens in legal filings or courtroom scheduling or even the perceived need to go on air to argue the outlines of the next legal argument. At the same time, the modern legal gladiators are overly concerned with necessary delays, filings of arguments on the tiniest of procedural points, decisions on courtroom venues and the political leanings of would-be judges and courts. The very same Donald Trump whose lawyers say in public that he needs two-plus years to prepare a legal defense is all over social media within hours of any perceived bad publicity from an arraignment or indictment, liberally spraying and dismissing the people, charges, and perceived witch hunt that has led to this moment. Within a day of a mug shot, his campaign is gloating about the fund-raising from merchandise that promotes his ignominy. <a href="https://terryschwadron.medium.com/a-long-drawn-out-reckoning-2c59d7f9b43">Read More</a>