Guilty
Trump Organization Found Guilty of Tax Fraud
Hi everyone!
Apologies for not posting the past few days, I’ve had some things going on.
Today, I have some big news: the Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud. That’s right, the man himself’s company was just indicted.
Here are the specifics:
The Trump Organization was indicted of a “15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities,” according to Reuters. Apparently, the Trump Organization – an international real-estate operator – was paying personal expenses for top executives, including car fees. The company never recorded these payments. Plus, the corporation had been paying those same executives extra bonuses as they saw fit, which is also illegal. All of these, testimony verified, were signed and delivered by none other than Donald Trump, who is campaigning to become president again in 2024. After deliberating for 12 hours (over two days), the jury found the organization guilty on all 17 counts of tax fraud.
The fine for the crime is a little over a million dollars – a paltry sum that the Trump Organization can absorb easily. This case is more significant because it is a blow to the company’s leader, Mr. Trump. This is among the first times that he has faced a severe legal setback, and it may not be the last.
Several more cases can be added to Trump’s legal woes. He is currently facing a lawsuit from the New York State Attorney General for fraud (we mentioned an interview between the two in a previous post, where Trump said absolutely nothing besides his pleading of the fifth), and is being investigated by the Department of Justice for his handling of documents at his Mar-a-Logo estate. There, the government has found dozens of sensitive papers, with some even being labeled “top secret.” And, of course, there is the infamous Jan. 6 attack, which is being investigated by a congressional committee. This committee has signaled that they will be filing charges, though it isn’t clear if they will be taking Trump to court.
These legal troubles are only the beginning of Trump’s problems. Ever since he announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, it is becoming more and more clear that Donald Trump is not politically invincible. His many questionable actions in the past and present are coming back to bite him, one of which being his having dinner with the antisemitist singer Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes. His meeting with these terrible people is being criticized across the board, even by Republicans. Several have specifically called Trump out, and even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made a roundabout denouncement:
“I don't think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party.”
Unfortunately, many Republicans have decided to avoid speaking for political reasons. Denouncing Trump could mean losing your position. McCarthy’s statement wasn’t very adequate either, since in the sentence directly following the above quote he backed Trump’s unproven claim that Trump had no idea who Fuentes was.
Despite the uneven Republican response, the fact that any Republicans are calling out Trump is telling. More and more Trump backers are stepping away, including ordinary voters. Some of this is because Trump will be having a significantly stronger challenger for the presidency: Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis has been a rising star in the GOP, a star that in some ways has outshone Trump. DeSantis was not the favored Florida governor by the former president, but DeSantis beat all his challengers with ease. He has signaled his desire for the presidency, and many people are turning away from Trump to support him instead.
Ever since 2016, maybe even before, Donald Trump has had an iron grip on his party.
That power may be coming to an end.