Donald Trump is a master at postponing legal accountability, but two cases targeting the ex-president and his orbit now in the penalty phase show that when the law finally exacts its price, the experience can be harsh and humiliating.
Trump’s lawyers said Monday that he cannot secure a bond to cover a near half billion dollar judgment against him in a New York fraud case while he appeals. The admission is a dent to the mystique of an ex-president who built his brand on the power and size of his “The Art of the Deal” fortune. And it raises the possibility his cash crunch could worsen a growing personal and campaign financial crisis.
And Peter Navarro, Trump’s former trade guru, is headed to prison after failing in his plea for the Supreme Court to spare him jail while he appeals a conviction for ignoring congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony about his boss’ bid to overturn the 2020 election.
Both cases offer a lesson in the potential consequences of the culture of rule breaking and a sense that pervades Trump world that the law is something that applies to other people. They also show that while defiance of laws and customs can be a potent political tool for the ex-president and his advisors, the outcomes of prosecutions designed to enforce more stringent codes of behavior can impose painful legal consequences regardless of politics. In Navarro’s case, his plight as a 74-year-old who is readying himself for the scary prospect of prison highlights the sometime price of loyalty to Trump and the ex-president’s method of turning every legal challenge into a political cause to boost his brand and goals.
Dramas over Trump’s latest legal struggles and his former advisor’s fight to stay out of jail again show how the former president and his associates use every single avenue of…
Read the full article here
