On Thursday afternoon, after less than 10 hours of deliberating, 12 ordinary jurors hailing from New York City found the former president guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal alleged affairs that threatened to implode his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump’s reaction was as expected: The soon-to-be convicted felon emerged from the Manhattan courtroom defiant, declaring the verdict a “disgrace” while attacking the judge, the venue, the prosecutors and the judicial process itself.
Reactions from rank-and-file Republicans were just as predictable. Members of the so-called party of “law and order” were quick to defend their presumptive presidential nominee, shamelessly echoing his outright lies that the case was a “purely political exercise,” a sign of a “corrupt and rigged” justice system, and election interference “brought forward by Joe Biden” and his “allies.”
On Monday, August 6, 1945, after six months of intense firebombing of 67 other Japanese cities,...
In its 38 years of existence, the USA TODAY Editorial Board has never endorsed a candidate for president....
