Trump Facing Systemic Payback

The 41 charges listed in the Georgia indictment range from making false statements to soliciting public officials to violate their oaths, among others.

Over the course of his career, former President Donald Trump has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits, mostly linked to his real estate activities. And in many of these cases, he has shouted, denounced, accused, tried to portray himself as a victim, deferred charges and reached out-of-court settlements.

But probably very little of this litigation has involved an indictment charging him with engaging in racketeering or organized crime, based on efforts by Trump and his associates to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

Trump and his supporters claim, without evidence, that there was fraud in the election. But the indictments allege that in maneuvering to prevent a succession of power and subvert the system, Trump and his alleged co-conspirators committed a series of crimes.

In the fourth round of indictments filed against Trump, a grand jury voted to charge Trump and 18 of his associates for actions they allegedly took or conspired to take to pressure state officials into overturning the results of the Georgia vote, including lying about procedures.

The U.S. presidential election is the result of elections in each of the 50 states, where electors cast a ballot for the candidate who won the majority in their state.

The 41 charges listed in Georgia range from making false statements, soliciting public officials to violate their oaths, forgery, influencing witnesses, computer theft and perjury; all these charges, including those under a state statute normally used against members of organized crime.

Some analysts believe the case has already been brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith in indictments filed in two previous prosecutions, especially in relation to the actions leading up to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021 when a mob of Trump supporters forcibly seized the Capitol building in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the election results.

Trump and his allies now claim they are being targeted by a government that they say is using prosecutions as a political weapon, an argument that resonates with a section of America’s white population, especially lower and lower-middle class Americans.

But it remains to be seen whether this apparent popular support for Trump will last in the coming months, especially as the many trials begin to expose the evidence accumulated against the former president and his lawyers under accusatory light.

And worse still, it remains to be seen if support will continue in the face of the apparent outrage over charges the U.S. political class wants to pay back to Trump and his associates for trying to stay in power at all costs — even using the threat of violence despite proof that they lost.