All Eyes on the Presidency
Tuesday’s conviction of Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, and the plea deal reached by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen represent a stark divergence from the historical norm. In the United States, few people of Cohen’s or Manafort’s wealth, status, and political connections are ever convicted of anything.
As with so many things, Trump’s bombast, unrestrained self-interest, and delusional relationship with facts have brought to their natural conclusion the absurdities of an American system that has so often enriched the few at the expense of the very many. Manafort and Cohen most likely believed they would never face justice for their crimes, because the American criminal-justice system so rarely prosecutes men like them for the crimes with whom Trump had extramarital affairs.
