Last Thursday, former President Donald Trump officially became what he's truly always been—a felon.
Throughout his life, this consummate con artist's privileged status has allowed him to operate outside the lines. First, as a spoiled juvenile delinquent who enjoyed bullying others and flaunting his family's wealth; then as the hand-picked scion of a father who instilled in him a passion for greed and a proclivity for prejudice; later as an unscrupulous businessman with a history of tax evasion, a reputation for stiffing laborers, businesses like "Little Moscow" in Florida, and the Trump Ocean Club in Panama that have continually reeked of money-laundering, and outright frauds such as his fake universities, and his dealings with the Bayrock Group, like their shaky Fort Lauderdale project.
He's also a serial sexual predator.
Even these many, many crimes seem small in comparison to the crimes, scams, and outright public chicanery he pulled off after entering the political field, beginning with his racist assertions that Barack Obama, our first Black president, was not truly born in this country. Let's not forget, either, that even before his heinous actions on Jan. 6, leading ultimately to the deaths of at least seven people, Trump was first impeached after allowing the people of Ukraine to die from Russian assaults after he delayed much-needed weapons while he sought out damaging information against his chief political opponent, Joe Biden. Recently, he effectively recommitted this crime when he forced his minions in the House to tie aid to Ukraine to a border bill that they refused to compromise on. More delays, more deaths.
Why is Trump so comfortable with allowing thousands of people to die to serve his own personal and political ends? Because Donald Trump is and always has been a psychopath with a criminal mentality. Like Henry Hill, all his life he's never really wanted to be anything but a gangster. It's why he venerates dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. From a young age, Trump learned from his father and from influential figures in his life like the notorious Roy Cohn that all is fair in the quest for power and money. And so, Dirty Donald will say and do pretty much anything to fill his bank account and stroke his ego. In fact, he considers anyone who doesn't put themselves before others as weak and stupid.
The notion, then, that Donald Trump cares about his country or the problems of average Americans is more than laughable, it's ludicrous. We're all just rubes in his sick game, and Trump preys on the gullible. It's what's bailed him out all his life—his ability to sell people myths and establish elaborate cons based on his own supposed genius and infallibility.
In the 1990s, when he was essentially going broke, he rebuilt himself by creating a DJT stock that he pumped with unabashed promises of riches before leaving his investors holding the bag while he made off with millions.
Now he's got a new stock called ... wait for it ... DJT! And his supporters are buying it once again. Why? Because they're buying into Trump–buying into the big con, and that's the only game Trump plays, folks. Someday we'll look back and realize that Dirty Donald was truly the greatest of all time at the big con–better than Charles Ponzi or Yellow Kid Weil or even Bernie Madoff. Trump has pulled off the greatest scam of all-time—convincing millions upon millions of Americans that he is somehow an honest man, and that President Joe Biden is the devil incarnate.
A good con man sees the con all the way through and makes off with the bucks. A great con man leaves those he's duped somehow feeling that they weren't tricked at all and so they keep paying off. Trump's supporters have become effectively impervious to his wrong doings. Many have bought into the notion that he's some sort of martyr, protecting them from the evils of over-reaching libs. For those people—the ones who will buy his trading cards or golden sneakers or the latest election lies he's pedaling—Trump's conviction on 34 counts last week probably won't make a difference; they'll likely adore him all the more now for his supposed "persecution."
For the rest of us, though, it perhaps offers some semblance of hope that maybe there can still be some justice in this banana republic of ours. Trump has gotten a pass so far on pretty much everything he's ever done in life, including Jan. 6 (courtesy, in part, of the Supreme Court) and his obvious efforts to overturn the will of the American people as expressed through a true and fair election.
It's hard to say what punishment Judge Juan Merchan will see fit to bestow upon Trump. Trump will appeal the decision and the process will have to play out. In the end, it'll likely be up to us, the American people, because we're one election away from finally sending Trump where he's always belonged—to prison.
Ross Rosenfeld is a political writer and educator based on Long Island. Follow Ross on Substack.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
