I was fully in the ‘Trump-is-going-to-jail’ camp. I debated it with people. I wrote as much in these pages. I don’t think so as much anymore. Not only do I NOT think Donny is going to jail, anymore, I’ll be amazed if he ever even sees any of his criminal trials start. My mistake? I had faith in the American criminal justice system. I mean, I knew it wasn’t perfect, but, overall, I feel like it does a pretty good job, or did, anyway. But now? Whatever happens with that guy, someone swoops in and saves him.

In the New York civil fraud trial he lost, the judge didn’t just pull a number out of thin air. Because of the statute of limitations, that trial only covered a small portion of the time Donny’s trumpery has gone on . During that time, the judge was able to determine that Donny had stolen something like $355 million dollars through his schemes and manipulations. He added in the interest and – voila! – he had a number. It was just math.

New York law says that if you want to appeal a finding, you have to post a bond equal to the amount you owe. Donny claimed, in court, he didn’t have the money – while simultaneously claiming, in social media, he DID have the money. (He’s lying to someone.) A three judge panel on the appeals court said Donny could just post a smaller amount and it would be okay. To be clear, he still owes the full amount should the appeal fail, but he only has to post 38% of the total amount owed because of…reasons. (Think ‘Special Treatment.’)

Yet again, Donny beats the system. Do you know what happens to a normal (meaning “not rich”) person who can’t pay his fine? They have their assets seized. No one simply reduces the amount you owe. The fine is the fine and if you can’t pay in cash, you can “pay” in other ways. I’m tempted to repeat, the devil takes care of his own. Sadly, this is less metaphysical. Rich people take care of their own – even when “their own” is Donny.

If Donny’s good at anything, it’s undermining people’s faith in institutions. I’m feeling that way right now. I’ve lost faith in America’s legal system. Oh, they set a date for the New York criminal fraud trial? April 15? Whoopee. Do you know what that means to me? It means some other judge better step in by April 14 and save his snowflake ass – and someone will. I don’t know who and I don’t know how. I know it shouldn’t be. But they will.

Set a trial date, BFD. Donny is facing four criminal trials. One of them is overseen by a full-blown MAGA and she resists setting a trial date at all. Between the other three, April 15 is something like the sixth trial date he has faced, but never faces. At this point, I’ll believe Donny faces justice when he actually meets justice – and not one second sooner.

I’ll tell you this: A system of law enforcement that doesn’t apply equally to everyone is NOT a system of justice. It’s a system of oppression…

Now I’m going to pull this thread a little bit and connect a couple of dots, thereby mixing my metaphors. (Please prepare your tin-foil hats.) Getting to the election is important to Donny. He’s not going to win. Not honestly, anyway. But… when is the last time you heard of Donny doing ANYTHING honestly? It doesn’t matter either way, though, because MAGA has a plan to simply install Donny, win or lose, so all he has to do is get to the election.

So, why do I think Donny will lose in November? He lost by 7 million votes in 2020. Since then, which voting group do you see that he might have picked up? I see several he has likely lost. Women, for example. No, not EVERY woman, obviously, don’t be obnoxious. But the GOP ought to see Marilyn Lands’ victory in Alabama as a harbinger. She ran a pro-choice, pro-IVF campaign and won – by 25 points – in Alabama. Apparently, women don’t LIKE being reduced to incubators. They KNOW that was the GOP. They KNOW that hasn’t stopped or even slowed. In fact, the GOP is ramping up efforts to make absolutely certain women suffer even more. Women are voting accordingly.

Latinos? Really? Why, because the border is a mess? Do you remember what Donny did at the border? They separated families. Not just while the families were being processed. Permanently. And they did such a poor job of keeping track, they were unable to reunite children with parents. The Biden administration has managed to reunite some 700 of those families but they STILL have nearly 1,000 to go! Did you forget? I’ll bet the Latino community hasn’t forgotten. Sure, the border is a mess and Biden hasn’t fixed it, but the Dumbass was hardly better and actively destroyed families in order to “discourage” immigration.

Who else? What I see is conservatives snuggling up to alternatives. They tried Haley. Now they’re looking at RFK, Jr. I suspect there are many cons out there who, if asked, will tell you Donny’s their boy but when they actually step into the booth, will vote the straight Republican ticket – and just…skip the ‘President’ box. So I can see several places where he’s lost support but I don’t see that he’s gained support, anywhere. You can’t judge by the primaries. The GOP primaries have been corrupted and controlled by MAGA but MAGA isn’t enough to carry him through a general election. Crazy, stupid, and incompetent was great for the primaries. It won’t be so great later.

Thus, the MAGA plan. (“If you can’t win, cheat!”) The thing about the MAGA plan is that, except for the initial big lie – “abnormalities with the election”- every step would be “legal.” Absolutely wrong and unethical in every conceivable way, but technically, legal. The current breakdown in the House? Dems have 213 seats. The GOP has 218. That’s a five seat spread. There are currently four vacancies, all to be decided by pending special elections.

In what I hope is a helpful move by the GOP, they’ve decided that all donations will be diverted to defending their Presidential candidate through all of his criminal trials. THAT means that none of the down ticket candidates can expect help from the national party, and many of the local parties are in disarray, leaving Dems a money advantage. Still, some of the vacancies are in bright red districts so they may not need help. Worst case? One of the vacancies goes Democrat, three go GOP.

That would leave a seven person advantage for the GOP in the House, and that’s enough to pull off their evil deeds. Get this: if that happens, it would mean the ONLY path the United States of America has toward NOT failing, is if there are at least seven Republican congressmen with integrity who love America more than their party or dear leader. SEVEN Republican Congressmen with integrity? Better get out the torches and pitchforks. I think we’re going to need them…