On Tuesday, ex-president Trump got the kind of sordid notoriety that only a true publicity hound could relish: He became the first former or current president to be charged with a crime. The Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, cited Trump with 34 felony charges related to a $130,000 hush payment to former porn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump. Trump allegedly had his lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, pay Daniels $130,000 to keep her story out of the National Enquirer just weeks ahead of the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. 

At the time, Trump had recently been hit with the Access Hollywood tapes in which he boasted of grabbing women inappropriately, promptly his campaign team to fear that a scandal featuring a sexual affair with a porn star (while his wife, Melania, was at home with their infant son) wouldn’t look good to some family-minded voters. Cohen, one of the few charged with crimes in Trump’s service who was not pardoned, was convicted of tax fraud and campaign finance violations related to the same incident and served time in prison. Cohen became a witness for the prosecution. 

Three other cases — Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, his refusal to turn over classified presidential documents, and his role in trying to reverse election results in Georgia — are on deck. Trump, of course, uses lies, deceit and accusations to deny responsibility. Nothing new there.

Only one question lurks: Will the Republican Party follow Trump, who any reasonable person now knows is seriously flawed and not fit to be president, to the bitter end?

Angelo Lynn