Whether you love Donald Trump and are daily festooned with MAGA paraphernalia, or despise everything about him, if you reflect on Trump’s trials you may have a real whiskey, tango, foxtrot moment.
The problem isn’t the indictments and whether they are bogus and political or sound and prudent. The lawyers and the courts will duke it out and someday we’ll know, or at least we’ll have the best answer the system can produce. No, the issue is Trump’s bail.
According to “How Courts Work” posted on the ABA website September 9, 2019:
Bail is the amount of money defendants must post to be released from custody until their trial. Bail is not a fine. It is not supposed to be used as punishment. The purpose of bail is simply to ensure that defendants will appear for trial and all pretrial hearings for which they must be present.
That probably comports well with what you thought – the purpose of Trump’s bail is to ensure he doesn’t skip town. In the Fulton County case, his bail was set at $200,000.
Perhaps the Fulton County court is unaware Donald Trump is running for President of the United States, is dominating his Republican competition, and often leads his likely opponent in the general election, Joe Biden. Skip town, Donald? Biden should be so lucky.
Or maybe the Fulton Country court is unaware Donald Trump may be the most recognized man on the planet. There may be an igloo in Antarctica he could hide in, but that’s about it.
Is the court aware Trump is surrounded by a large team of Secret Service agents? Slip away unnoticed? I think not.
Finally, surely the court must have noticed Trump thinks he’s innocent of all charges and will bring enormous legal talent to bear to prove it. You don’t bolt if you truly believe you’re going to win.
So, what’s the point of requiring a man to post bail when he has a metaphysically measured 0.00% chance of skipping town? To try to embarrass Trump further. But the real effect is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the prosecutor, country District Attorney Fani Willis, is far more interested in the politics and the fame than she is the law.
If Trump were willing (I heard this notion so it’s not original with me), then he should change his mind and tear up the bail agreement. Show up, be arrested, and then be taken to jail. The Secret Service would immediately invoke their federal authority and force the county to empty out the jail to ensure the former President’s safety. Then watch the thousands, then tens of thousands, then more and more come to the jail to protest. Even MSNBC would be forced to cover it.
Or, more likely, watch the Court and Willis squeak like little mice and say, never mind, Mr. Trump. See you in a few weeks. There would be plenty of embarrassment, but not for Trump.
This is in no way a defense of Donald Trump. It is yet another indictment of our justice system run amok in political mud. And it is a call to American jurists to remember that the rule of law only prevails when lady justice holds the scales, blindfold securely in place. If the jurists who know best won’t police the system, then those who know far less will, and then we really will want a blindfold.
JD Foster is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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