10 Things About the Trump Indictment

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Sure, China and Russia are teaming up against the U.S., the war in Ukraine rages on, and the debt ceiling standoff remains stood off.

But/and the wide world of news has narrowed to waiting on this expected Trump indictment out of Gotham City.

Monday’s developments: Bob Costello testified before the grand jury, impugning the credibility of Michael Cohen, who wasn’t called to rebut, while security precautions around the courthouse were taken, Ron DeSantis took shots at DA Bragg and Donald Trump, and those who wish to ignore history and the data and argue with certainty that Trump won’t be helped politically by an indictment took shots at those of us who have actually talked to MAGA voters.

The Associated Press has one tight paragraph explaining the state of play:

The next steps in a grand jury process shrouded in secrecy remained unclear, and it was uncertain if additional witnesses might be summoned. But a city mindful of the riot by Trump loyalists at the U.S. Capitol more than two years ago took steps to gird itself from any violence that could accompany the unprecedented prosecution of a former president, while fellow Republicans eyeing the 2024 presidential nomination sized up how an indictment might upend the race.

I don’t know much about this topic that you haven’t already read or heard, so here’s what I think:

1. Trump will likely be indicted on the telegraphed charges within 9 days.

2. The indictment will likely contain a few new facts that will get rocketed around, but the barriers to ever convicting Trump are both numerous and spread out over months.

3. Ron DeSantis might prove to be every bit as rough and tumble as Donald Trump, but he didn’t prove it Monday.

4. The Reds don’t understand the threat the Blues see Trump posing to our very way of life, while the Blues don’t understand that it isn’t just Matt Gaetz who will feel this indictment poses a threat to our very way of life.

5. Trump might be scared of going to prison but he will channel that fear the way Bill Clinton would – into a feral, determined effort to change the subject and redirect the energy away from him and towards his pursuers, with a forceful rage equivalent to what would be required for a rat to chew clear through FBI handcuffs.

6. The Trump mugshot will launch ten million memes within ten hours.

7. If you knew what the Clintons, the Obamas, and the Bushes thought about all of this, you would be fascinated.

8. The Dominant Media will focus much more on the Republicans who break ranks with Trump than on those who stick with him, while the New York Times will focus obsessively on the tactics of Team Trump.

9. If you think an indictment means Trump could never beat Biden in a general election, you likely already think Trump could never beat Biden in a general election – and you should use your imagination more vigorously and rigorously to think through all the ways that Trump could in fact beat Biden, even if Trump is indicted.

10. There’s a 65% chance we have more shared clarity about where this is going before the next edition of Wide World of News is published, which means there is a 35% chance we won’t know anything meaningfully new. Sorry.

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ESSENTIAL READING

* None, really, under the circumstances, but there is this:

The one dollar falafel balls in my neighborhood continue to be my go-to for evaluating the status of the Biden/Putin inflation.

And/but now this, via the New York Post:

Party’s over, bros.

One of the Big Apple’s most recognizable pizza joints is jacking up the price of its famous $1 slice — breaking the hearts of poor college students everywhere.

2 Bros. Pizza announced the death of the deliciously dirt-cheap delicacy, saying it was forced to up the once-affordable option to $1.50 to take a bite out of inflation costs.

“Over the past few years, we had done everything in our power to keep the cheese slices at $1 while refusing to compromise on our quality,” co-owner Eli Halali told The Post on Monday.

“We were no longer able to break even.”

Also, illustrating the paralysis we are in, here are the top four stories stacked at the top of the New York Post website at this hour:

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Correction: In Monday’s edition, I wrote “Jayhawks” when I meant “Wildcats.”  This was as egregious an error as when I once wrote “Jayhawks” when I meant “Hawkeyes” in a previous edition of the newsletter.  Do I make these mistakes because of an insensitivity to the Midwest? No, it’s for the same reason I sometimes confuse Dick York and Dick Sargent.

These things happen, but my regret remains profound.

See you tomrorrow.