Political Irony

Famously, in his administration, Abraham Lincoln surrounded himself with a “Team of Rivals“. And now – in what might be the other bookend to the Republican Party – Donald Trump has surrounded himself with a “Team of Felons”.

Now that Trump has finally joined the convicted felon club, MSNBC has updated their list of Trump’s team. Here it is:

• Donald Trump was charged, convicted, and is awaiting sentencing for committing 34 felonies.
• Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
• Trump’s former campaign vice chairman, Rick Gates, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
• Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
• Trump’s former adviser and former campaign aide, Roger Stone, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
• Trump’s former adviser and former White House aide Peter Navarro, was charged, convicted, and is currently in prison.
• Trump’s former campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
• The Trump Organization’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
• Trump’s former White House national security advisor, Michael Flynn, was charged and convicted.
• Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering, in addition to a conviction in a contempt case similar to Navarro’s. He’s currently awaiting sentencing.
• Though he was later acquitted at trial, Trump’s former inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was charged with illegally lobbying Trump on behalf of a foreign government. (Elliot Broidy was the vice chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, and he found himself at the center of multiple controversies, and also pled guilty to federal charges related to illegal lobbying.)
• Two lawyers associated with Trump’s post-defeat efforts, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, have pleaded guilty to election-related crimes.

On top of all the convicted felons, the Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud in 2022. Before that, there was his fraudulent “charity”, a fraudulent “university”, and many other criminal scams. What’s amazing is not that he was convicted, but that it took so long.

There is also the civil case that resulted in Trump being required to pay over $83 million dollars to E. Jean Carroll for sexually abusing her and repeatedly defaming her.

And it is interesting to note that the other thing that Trump is famous for is the TV show “The Apprentice”. Is Trump’s criminality contagious?

Once upon a time, the Republican Party claimed to be the party of “Law and Order”. But they are undoubtably going to keep Trump as their candidate for president. A sane political party would have dumped Trump a long time ago.