A Stormy Campaign

A conversation with friend and colleague Charles Madigan about the Trump indictments and the Republican party.

Charlie:  The Republicans are circling around Donald J. Trump to join, once again, in what I can only think of as a festival of remarkable dishonesty, starting, of course, with Trump and then cascading down through a political party that is obviously still afraid of him.

Trump and his myrmidons (and that’s exactly what they are) are doing everything they can to diminish what may be coming from a Manhattan prosecutor, a grand jury charge based on an investigation of a $130,000 hush money payment to the colorfully named exotic and photogenic ...ummmm...person... Stormy Daniels.

They are using all manner of sleight of hand to try to achieve this, including the relatively unique argument that what Trump does with his own money is Trump’s business and his business alone. Okay, I will buy that. I will accept that Trump dug into his own pocket to pass money to one of his dingy lawyers to quiet Ms. Daniel’s storm. I suspect he also reimbursed himself claiming it was a legal expense.

For the record, Trump denies he had an earlier affair he was trying to hush up in the heat of a presidential campaign. This, of course, tests logic given what he has had to say about women in the past.

Then why the well-documented payment? 

Everyone seems to be focused on the impending indictment (if that’s what it is) instead of what I would view as the larger issue, hush money to keep sex out of the conversation. Do we want a guy in the White House who pays his girlfriends to shut up? Of course not. But once again we have behavior that taints the whole process, even as Trump is preparing to get into the race. Instead of running away, a number of Republicans are stepping up to wave their MAGA flags and call it all politics.

As for Trump, he should have learned by now what happens when he calls for his supporters to protest, which he is suggested if he is indicted, or arrested, or whatever he has in his head. What are you thinking about these developments?

Jim: I’m expecting a stormy Republican Presidential campaign. Sorry about that, Charlie. I think the anticipated indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a grandstanding stunt by a politically ambitious New Yorker that plays right into the hands of another New York politician now living on the east coast of Florida, the mecca of GOP royalty. This is the wrong case at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. We are talking about indicting a former US president.

photo by Max LaRochelle

The charges that should take precedence against Trump before the election involve the far more consequential questions of conspiracy and racketeering being considered by Georgia state prosecutor Fani Willis. The evidence that Trump and his cabal of election deniers tried to pressure Georgia state officials to help overturn the 2020 election is powerful. As an American citizen, I’m far more enraged that Trump tried to undermine a fundamental tenet of democracy by denying voters the president of their choice in a fair election. 

So, what if some horny old sore loser had an affair with a buxom porn star? Sure, he probably broke the law with hush money payments to cover up his alleged tryst. But those charges pale in comparison with credible accusations that Trump took the oath for the highest office in the land and then tried to subvert the will of voters. The truth of those accusations is what Americans need to know before they head to the polls. Is this the man Republicans are thinking about nominating for president? If so, that speaks more about the party than the man. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has strong evidence that Trump and his minions conspired to overturn an election, a ritual at the core of our democracy. Let’s not even mention the other federal charges against Trump.

Want to Make America Great Again? Put Trump on trial for the right charges at the right time before anyone votes and let him defend himself. The New York trial will be a circus that will create a tidal wave of wealth for Stormy and Trump.

Charlie: I must agree with you Jim on the nature of the charges Trump may face. The Porn Star Payoff might tickle the sensitivities of folks on the woke left, but the election tampering charge, however it turns out, says more about Trump than his list of silenced girlfriends. And even if all this pushes Trump off stage (not likely because it fuels the fires of his martyr syndrome) the alternatives in the GOP are not healthy political choices.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has what should be a solid background for a run for the White House, but in many issue areas, he is like Trump, but with brains. He seems intent on pushing a culture war against LGBTQ and “woke” Democrats that says nothing at all about national policy. Teachers are going to hate him for his right wing approach to education. He talks like the kind of guy who might endorse book burnings! (Except, of course, for his own). Another option, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley isn’t very well known and will have a lot of trouble getting known in a contest where Trump and DeSantis will be trying to chop each other to pieces. Former Vice President Mike Pence has a base, but probably no support among Trump loyalists. Ted Cruz? No way. Chris Christie? Used clothing.

Joe Biden is indeed older than anyone, but also a lot smarter than any of the other potential Republican candidates. He is golden on the issue of Ukraine, fixing roads, bridges, even people’s water pipes, in a very visible way all over the nation, and the ideal person to call Republicans out on their suggestions about cutting Social Security and Medicare. In short, I’m expecting hard time for the Republicans. I don’t feel badly about that because they have damn well earned it.  

Jim: I agree totally about the Republican alternatives to Trump. DeSantis is Hitleresque in his attacks against LGBTQs. His attacks on education appeal to his base but sound eerily like book burnings. I thought we were past all that. This is more like a circus than an election. Poor Trump. He didn’t get his indictment yet.

I think President Biden may benefit from all of this. So will the national political press. There’s nothing like a Trump on the ticket to boost the numbers over at Fox News and the big papers that dominate election coverage. I hope some Republicans will come to their senses when they look hard at the consequences of inaction in the looming battle over increasing the nation’s debt limit. If only a handful of Republicans join Democrats to avoid a disastrous debt default, a debt limit victory could put a dent in the armor of Trump and DeSantis, both of whom are using the issue to appeal to their base. I’m rooting for President Biden in all of this even though I think the Democrats would be better off with a younger candidate.

—James O’Shea and Charles Madigan

James O’Shea is a longtime Chicago author and journalist who now lives in North Carolina. He is the author of several books and is the former editor of the Los Angeles Times and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. Follow Jim’s Five W’s Substack here.

Charles Madigan is a writer and veteran foreign and national correspondent for UPI and the Chicago Tribune, where he also served as a senior writer and editor. He examines news reporting, politics and world events.