DRAINING THE SWAMP
Some of those who became American politics junkies during the rise and fall of Donald Trump are probably finding it relatively easy to kick the habit now that things have returned to something approaching normality.
Although near-normality in the United States includes crippling partisanship and the Republican Party’s ongoing assault on the democratic process, we’ve come to view those things in a similar light to elected judges, monetised hot gospelling and gun fetishism: alarming but predictable by-products of the uncontrolled American experiment.
Prosecutors are investigating potential solicitation of election fraud, false statements, oath-of-office violations and racketeering.
Meanwhile, those who, secretly or other wise, miss the Trump Show are left wondering if there will be a sequel in which the eponymous protagonist makes a comeback or gets his comeuppance courtesy of the long arm of the law.
On the face of it, an epilogue in which Trump winds up in a prison jumpsuit matching his complexion is more likely, since he faces an impressive array of legal threats:
1. The Manhattan investigation into Trump’s and his company’s business dealings, including hush-money payments to women with whom Trump had affairs before running for president but after marrying Melania.
In 2018, Trump’s former fixer turned bitter enemy and hostile witness, Michael Cohen, admitted arranging payments, in violation of campaign-finance rules, to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal to buy their silence during the 2016 election. He was sentenced to three years’ jail for doing what he insisted was Trump’s bidding. (Throughout proceedings, Trump was referred to as “Individual-1”.) Although claiming Cohen acted on his own initiative, Trump reimbursed him for the hush-money payments.
It’s not clear whether, under New York state law, Trump could be prosecuted for campaign-finance violations (Cohen fell foul of a federal investigation). In New York, falsifying business records is a misdemeanour, which has a two-year statute of limitation. If, however, it was found the falsification was intended to conceal other crimes,
