Commentary

COMMENTARY: NYC DA Alvin Bragg’s Unsealed Jabs No Knockout Punch, but Just the Beginning of Trump’s Woes

Don’t be fooled by the Republican spin. The historic indictment, arrest and arraignment in New York City of the twice-impeached former President Donald J. Trump was not, as one might say, “weak sauce.” You try defending yourself from 34 felony charges and see how weak the rule of law is.

Published

2 years ago

April 8, 2023

Oakland Post

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See him at www.amok.com.

By Emil Guillermo

You try defending yourself from 34 felony charges and see how weak the rule of law is.

Trump, the one-time leader of the free world, who still has an illogical hold on the Republican Party, was welcomed into the criminal justice system just like any run-of-the mill Oakland gang member.

And as he sat in court with his attorneys, a tough looking, COVID-mask wearing African American woman police officer, with gloves and handcuffs at the ready, made sure the disgraced president made nary a false move.

All he had to do was scowl and enter his “not guilty” plea.

And that is the point of the entire exercise. He was treated as no different from you or me. His executive privilege, his white privilege, offered him no comfort. No one held the door open as he passed during his “mini-perp” walk into the court.

Before the law he was just a guy with a funny hairdo.

Trump would not be in this predicament if there was no reason to believe he broke real laws in the state of New York. District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the evidence was voluminous.

“It is 34 business records, 344 statements … that were concealing criminal conduct,” Bragg said at a news conference. “Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements?” Bragg asked rhetorically. “The evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election.”

Bragg said the felonies center on Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that kept “damaging information from the voting public.” He said it was part of an illegal scheme that exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap, and then were mis-characterized as income to Cohen rather than as hush money to Daniels.

After the hearing, Trump said on social media that “nothing was done illegally.”

But did it interfere with the 2016 election?

When it comes to the BIPOC community, AAPIs are among the Trumpiest of them all.

Let’s look back at 2016.

Trump got 34% of the Vietnamese vote; 35% of the Chinese vote and 28% of the Filipino vote, according to the Asian American Voter Survey.

The hush money payments to the porn star came days after that damning Access Hollywood tape was released in October. Would another sex scandal have ended Trump’s campaign against Hillary Clinton?

Trump and his backers hold their nose and insist no crime was committed. But even if he survives the New York indictment, there are at least two or three more indictments to come out of the Georgia voting irregularities case, the Florida documents case, and his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. All are independent of one another and promise a walloping combination that could catch Trump off guard.

Frankly, I would have indicted Trump for his use of the ‘China virus’ and ‘Kung Flu’ slurs that resulted in nearly 12,000 instances of hate transgressions from major to minor against AAPI during the pandemic.

But those aren’t indictable crimes. Just his unindictable crimes against humanity. Still, as an overall BIPOC community, it’s safe to say we have seen enough of his recklessness firsthand.

As the former president makes history today, the larger question is why would any of his supporters continue to back him? Time to move on for the good of the country.

Even Trump at his height of powers would say, “I prefer my political leaders not to be indicted.”

What about those who say Trump’s “innocent until proven guilty?”

Merely a legal standard that applies to those who may serve on one of the specific juries. But it doesn’t necessarily apply to you, the average citizen, says MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.

I tend to agree. We’ve seen with our own eyes Trump in action. We didn’t need this week’s throwback to the OJ/White Bronco caravan on Monday. Nor did we need to follow the minute-by-minute of Trump’s nascent perp-dom.

Americans should blow out the Trump gaslight now. We can still be fair-minded when the trial or trials actually begin and we can watch the rule of law in action in our democracy.

Then we’ll see if Trump is innocent without his spin, lies or bluster.

His new role? The disgraced former president, the forever defendant.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See him at www.amok.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

Published

17 hours ago

October 13, 2024

Oakland Post

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Commentary

Harris Dominates First Presidential Debate as Trump Struggles to Defend Record

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Vice President Kamala Harris positioned herself as a problem-solver, taking on issues like housing, childcare, and the economy. In her opening statement, she outlined her “opportunity economy” plan, which focuses on bolstering the middle class. “I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America,” Harris said. She detailed a $6,000 child tax credit as part of her plan to support young families.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris during their first presidential debate Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Photo: Screen capture from ABC News feed of the debate.

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Vice President Kamala Harris decisively took control of the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, delivering a performance that put Trump on the defensive for much of the evening. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News kept a tight handle on the debate, significantly improving from CNN’s June handling of Trump and President Joe Biden.

The debate began with a surprise as Harris approached Trump to shake his hand and introduced herself as “Kamala Harris,” an unusual move that set the tone for the night. Trump’s trademark scowl stayed in place throughout the debate, as Harris pressed him on his legal woes and diminished his record. Displaying her prosecutorial skills, Harris consistently turned the conversation toward Trump’s convictions, his business fraud case, and his role in the January 6 insurrection.

Harris positioned herself as a problem-solver, taking on issues like housing, childcare, and the economy. In her opening statement, she outlined her “opportunity economy” plan, which focuses on bolstering the middle class.

“I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America,” Harris said. She detailed a $6,000 child tax credit as part of her plan to support young families.

Trump, by contrast, criticized the Biden-Harris economy, calling it “the worst period of time” he had seen. He defended his tariff policies and took aim at Harris, labeling her a “Marxist” while also accusing her of copying his economic policies. “I was going to send her a MAGA hat,” Trump quipped.

Abortion rights were another major focus of the night. Trump, when asked if he would veto a federal abortion ban, declined to answer directly, stating, “I won’t have to,” and arguing that the end of Roe v. Wade had satisfied everyone. Harris, in turn, vowed to restore Roe’s protections through federal legislation if elected.

“I pledge to you: when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,” she said.

As the debate went on, Trump repeated several conspiracy theories, including a claim that migrants were eating pets in U.S. cities, which Muir quickly fact-checked. Trump doubled down, citing “people on television” as his source. Harris largely let Trump’s more outlandish statements pass, opting to stay on policy while allowing the moderators to address his factually inaccurate remarks.

In one of the most heated moments, Harris invited viewers to attend a Trump rally for themselves, commenting, “He talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and windmills causing cancer. You’ll notice people start leaving his rallies early—out of exhaustion and boredom.”

Trump, visibly irritated, retorted that he holds “the most incredible rallies in the history of politics,” but the debate soon returned to more substantive issues like crime and inflation.

The night clearly contrasted Biden’s earlier debate with Trump, as Harris managed to keep Trump on the defensive. Trump continued to fixate on conspiracy theories and past grievances, while Harris stayed focused on presenting her vision for the future.

With fewer than 60 days until the election, the debate sets the tone for what will likely be a hard-fought campaign. As the debate ended, Harris closed with a message to the American people: “This is about who we are as a country. The choice is clear—between chaos and leadership, fear and hope.”

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Commentary

Opinion: In First Presidential Debate, Harris Exposes Trump’s Inadequacies

She’s still calling herself the underdog, but the biracial woman from Oakland, half Black and half Asian American, just changed the race for the presidency of the United States. If you ever doubted Kamala Harris’ ability to be our nation’s leader, everyone who watched Tuesday’s debate saw how fully capable she is of the job. She belongs in the White House.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Screenshot from Presidential Debate.

By Emil Guillermo

She’s still calling herself the underdog, but the biracial woman from Oakland, half Black and half Asian American, just changed the race for the presidency of the United States.

If you ever doubted Kamala Harris’ ability to be our nation’s leader, everyone who watched Tuesday’s debate saw how fully capable she is of the job.

She belongs in the White House.

Harris not only bested Donald Trump in arguing the facts; she showed how totally inadequate Trump is to again be our country’s Commander-in-Chief.

Harris deftly made her case on issue after issue, while baiting and manipulating Trump on the economy, on abortion, and on immigration.

Imagine how Putin and other world leaders play Trump. Harris exposed Trump for all to see. It wasn’t exactly an “emperor has no clothes” moment. It was more like “the twice impeached, convicted felon on 34 counts” has no business running for president. Trump is unfit mentally for the job, if not unfit morally.

It must have been a disappointment for deep MAGA to see their candidate so incapable of holding his own against Harris. At one point, she had him defending the crowd size at his rallies after she said people were leaving because he was boring.

And then instead of real policies that impact our lives, the former president spoke passionately about… his crowd size.

When that happened, I think everyone could see: Harris ate his lunch.

Going into the debate, the consensus in this tight race was that it was a virtual tie with Trump one point ahead.

But after their first meeting ever in a head-to-head-match up, CNN’s instant poll showed Harris winning the debate well beyond any margin of error, 63 percent to 37 percent.

There’s more distance between the two than previously understood. The debate exposed that.

TRUMP’S LIES

At the beginning of the week, I said the only way Trump could win the debate was if he “played nice.”

But the bully just couldn’t do it.

Acting presidential was just one lie Trump couldn’t pull off in another debate night mired in Trump lies.

Did his administration really do “a phenomenal job in the pandemic” when over a million Americans are dead? Is Kamala Harris “a Marxist and everybody knows it”? And what about those cat-eating immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, where every local official confirmed to news organizations that the story was false. There was even a lie on that Trump lie, when the former president said the immigrants were eating cats AND dogs. No, it’s just one lie. Just cats is enough.

And all that was just a fraction of the lies Trump told in the 90-minute debate.

Still, even with all that, I wouldn’t say Kamala Harris “whooped” Donald Trump.

It was more like general domination.

In fact, she had him at “Kamala Harris.”

When Trump seemed to dismiss the possibility of an opening handshake, Harris forced the issue. She walked toward Trump’s podium, reached out her hand, and introduced herself by name.

That gesture put Trump on the defensive all night.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See his micro talkshow on YouTube.com/@emilamok1