Higher stakes than reality TV
Former President Donald Trump will receive more massive free television exposure in the non-distant future.
Georgia law allows for cameras in the courtroom. Trump’s trial, on charges that he, along with 18 other people, illegally conspired to steal the 2020 presidential election in Georgia will dominate every news network and streaming service when it begins.
Once again, Donald Trump will be the focus of the world’s attention.
This news has created much anticipation on all sides.
Trump’s detractors long have demanded that the many days in court that stretch before the former commander-in-chief be aired for the entire nation. They’re convinced that seeing his many transgressions of the law he took an oath to defend will put an end to the spell he has cast over a significant minority of America’s citizens.
Trump’s defenders, on the other hand, see his trial as another opportunity for their strong man to confront and vanquish those who persecute him—and them. The injustice of it all will become clear when the former president steps into the courtroom and takes the gloves off.
Both sides should be careful what they wish for.
The giddiness with which Trump’s critics seem to view seeing him tried on camera reminds me of that of former President Bill Clinton’s Republican opponents 25 years ago.
Then, the most vociferous GOP stalwarts thought releasing Clinton’s deposition regarding his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky would damn him before the nation.
They gambled that a man who had attended one of the top law schools in America and had spent his entire life honing his communications skills would look bad on camera when his entire career was on the line.
They bet big.
They lost.
Republicans were expected to score huge gains in the 1998 congressional elections, which took place during impeachment proceedings regarding Clinton. Instead, the GOP fought to a draw in U.S. Senate races and lost five seats in the contest for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Worse, the effort to punish Clinton precipitated upheaval among the GOP’s leadership, costing House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, and several other powerful Republicans their positions.
In the aftermath, pollsters and other analysts identified Republicans’ handling of the Clinton investigation as the reason voters turned away from them.
Republicans’ zeal in hunting Clinton turned a man who had engaged in an extramarital affair with an intern nearly three decades his junior—a man who later would be fined for committing perjury—into an object of sympathy rather than opprobrium.
Trump’s pursuers now should be careful not to make the same mistake.
This does not mean, though, that Trump and his defenders should think history inevitably will repeat itself.
One reason Clinton was able to escape the punishment that he likely deserved is that he understood each of the challenges confronting him. He had been trained as a lawyer himself and was smart enough to listen to his legal counsel.
Time and again, even when he crossed a line while under oath, he scampered back in a hurry, tiptoeing skillfully, qualifying his statements at every turn and creating reasonable doubt—and thus plausible cover for his defenders.
Trump, on the other hand, is in the mess he is because, over and over, he has confused the nature of the trouble he is in and tried to apply political solutions to legal problems. He can’t stop playing to his crowd, even when doing so puts him in great peril.
Blaming President Joe Biden and Democrats for the fact that he has to defend himself against charges that he paid a porn star hush money, illegally carried away and refused to return top-secret documents, summoned a mob to help him steal an election and conspired with a coterie of flunkies to fictionalize Georgia ballot totals in his favor may play with MAGA crowds conditioned to accept any whopper that emerges from Trump’s mouth.
But it’s not likely to work with a jury exposed to actual evidence rather than distortions and lies.
Nor is it likely to deter a prosecution team eager to use Trump’s own words against him.
Yes, Donald Trump’s trial will be televised.
Once again, the nation—no, the world—will watch as a man twists and trashes the Constitution he took an oath to defend in yet another attempt to save himself.
That’s entertainment.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.
Former President Donald Trump will receive more massive free television exposure in the non-distant future.
Georgia law allows for cameras in the courtroom. Trump’s trial, on charges that he, along with 18 other people, illegally conspired to steal the 2020 presidential election in Georgia will dominate every news network and streaming service when it begins.
Once again, Donald Trump will be the focus of the world’s attention.
This news has created much anticipation on all sides.
Trump’s detractors long have demanded that the many days in court that stretch before the former commander-in-chief be aired for the entire nation. They’re convinced that seeing his many transgressions of the law he took an oath to defend will put an end to the spell he has cast over a significant minority of America’s citizens.
Trump’s defenders, on the other hand, see his trial as another opportunity for their strong man to confront and vanquish those who persecute him—and them. The injustice of it all will become clear when the former president steps into the courtroom and takes the gloves off.
Both sides should be careful what they wish for.
The giddiness with which Trump’s critics seem to view seeing him tried on camera reminds me of that of former President Bill Clinton’s Republican opponents 25 years ago.
Then, the most vociferous GOP stalwarts thought releasing Clinton’s deposition regarding his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky would damn him before the nation.
They gambled that a man who had attended one of the top law schools in America and had spent his entire life honing his communications skills would look bad on camera when his entire career was on the line.
They bet big.
They lost.
Republicans were expected to score huge gains in the 1998 congressional elections, which took place during impeachment proceedings regarding Clinton. Instead, the GOP fought to a draw in U.S. Senate races and lost five seats in the contest for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Worse, the effort to punish Clinton precipitated upheaval among the GOP’s leadership, costing House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, and several other powerful Republicans their positions.
In the aftermath, pollsters and other analysts identified Republicans’ handling of the Clinton investigation as the reason voters turned away from them.
Republicans’ zeal in hunting Clinton turned a man who had engaged in an extramarital affair with an intern nearly three decades his junior—a man who later would be fined for committing perjury—into an object of sympathy rather than opprobrium.
Trump’s pursuers now should be careful not to make the same mistake.
This does not mean, though, that Trump and his defenders should think history inevitably will repeat itself.
One reason Clinton was able to escape the punishment that he likely deserved is that he understood each of the challenges confronting him. He had been trained as a lawyer himself and was smart enough to listen to his legal counsel.
Time and again, even when he crossed a line while under oath, he scampered back in a hurry, tiptoeing skillfully, qualifying his statements at every turn and creating reasonable doubt—and thus plausible cover for his defenders.
Trump, on the other hand, is in the mess he is because, over and over, he has confused the nature of the trouble he is in and tried to apply political solutions to legal problems. He can’t stop playing to his crowd, even when doing so puts him in great peril.
Blaming President Joe Biden and Democrats for the fact that he has to defend himself against charges that he paid a porn star hush money, illegally carried away and refused to return top-secret documents, summoned a mob to help him steal an election and conspired with a coterie of flunkies to fictionalize Georgia ballot totals in his favor may play with MAGA crowds conditioned to accept any whopper that emerges from Trump’s mouth.
But it’s not likely to work with a jury exposed to actual evidence rather than distortions and lies.
Nor is it likely to deter a prosecution team eager to use Trump’s own words against him.
Yes, Donald Trump’s trial will be televised.
Once again, the nation—no, the world—will watch as a man twists and trashes the Constitution he took an oath to defend in yet another attempt to save himself.
That’s entertainment.
