It’s hard not to feel a sense of the weightiness of this moment. But it’s worth resisting that feeling, stepping back from it. It grants Trump too much. If you brazenly commit crimes again and again there’s a good chance you’ll get charged with a crime. That’s normal and commonplace. It is as predictable as night following day, the order of the seasons. This case doesn’t even include the constitutional wrinkles of judging actions as head of state. These are alleged crimes Trump committed as an ordinary citizen: theft of government documents, obstruction of justice, lying to federal agents.
Nor is there really any defense. He was not allowed to have the documents; he clearly did have them; he was asked to return them; he refused. Critically — and I think this is what assured an indictment — he is alleged to have taken multiple affirmative acts to conceal his possession of the documents. That really locks down any space for claiming a good faith misunderstanding.
Resist some of the drama.
