Peer Pressure. . .

(Peer Pressure. . .)

A wild time to be alive ! Today is tax day when millions of Americans have to donate the yearly pound of flesh to Uncle Sam. The War in the Near East still rages and Donald Trump is again in a New York courtroom where jury selection in the former President's so-called "hush money" trial. The whole case stems from an attempt by Trump to "buy" the silence of adult film star, Story Daniels by Trump's "fixer" Michael Cohen, who paid the actress $130,000T. Such payments are not necessarily unique but New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, decided that the Trump action was illegal and assigned a 32-count indictment.

Like any other American, Trump is allowed the Constitutional protection of a speedy trial with a jury of his peers. However, this is New York. Trump has no peers. That is why this venue was chosen so that result could be all but pre-determined. It is going without saying that this is the first time that one Party is using its levers of power to prosecute the leading contender of the Opposition.

However, this could not happen any other way. It is election interference because it has to be. That being said, Trump and his defense team are not without measures of their own. Prospective jurors have been given a 42 item questionnaire to determine how they might rule. But the trial is what Alfred Hitchcock would call a "Magoffin." Like letters of transit from Casablanca or the actual exorcism from The Exorcist. The money shot in this case will be the eventual verdict.

Speak of trials of the century. O.J. was just put to bed, literally. In Trump's case. once a jury is empaneled. to varying degrees of hostility towards the former President, the trial can begin. the event will be a cause cèllébe. This is true not only in the courtroom but across vast segments of the media as well.

That being said, Bragg's case is weak. He is using his own sense of pretzel logic where his legal theory is being contorted. The case ability to stand on appeal could be problematic. If the whole thing turns out to be a waste of time. and Trump is not only not convicted but could be acquitted. That being said, Bragg took this case after many others passed. All along, however, the objective here is to keep Trump off the Campaign Trail.