Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Conservative columnist George Will had an interesting take on the indictment of Donald J. Trump in New York City last week. His thought was that Republicans can maybe now see that they have reached the bottom of a dark pit and now can start climbing out of it.

Mr. Trump was charged with 34 counts of hiding payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, a Playboy bunny and a hotel doorman in business bookkeeping.

The charges were brought by the Democratic Manhattan prosecutor which has Republicans at least claiming the move is solely political. The prosecutor also ran the case before a grand jury of 23 citizens and a majority agreed that the case at least deserved to be heard in a court of law.

The case might have been brought in 2016 because the allegation popped up just before the 2016 election. That raises the question of campaign finance laws as well. But nothing happened because Mr. Trump won the election and there is an understanding that we won’t bother a president with legal matters when he should be concentrating on running the country.

Legal experts are not in agreement that this is a solid case or one which would be easily understood by a jury. Some think it might get thrown out of court in pre-trial motions. For that we will have to wait and see.

But that case may be the least of Mr. Trump’s worries. There is the investigation into the classified documents case, the investigation into whether or not Mr. Trump used undue influence to try to change the vote count in Georgia and what Mr. Trump’s role may have been in the events of Jan. 6, 2021 which he seemed, at least, to have encouraged.

In other words, Mr. Trump has a lot of legal issues to deal with in coming years, none of which is going to make him look any better. So maybe it is time, Will suggests, that the Republicans move on to another generation of leaders by making it clear that Mr. Trump had his presidency and it is time for someone else.

In some respects the same can be said for Democrats. President Joe Biden ran for office because it appeared he was the only Democrat who could beat Mr. Trump in the general election. And he may be holding off on his expected announcement for reelection to see what Mr. Trump or Republicans do about a candidate for 2024.

President Biden, now 80, would be 82 if he won reelection. Mr. Trump, now 76, would be 78 if he were to win in 2024. There are plenty of people who are successful after 80, look at Warren Buffett. But Buffett isn’t on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While he has the weight of a few hundred billion dollars on his shoulders, that is not the same as the future of the free world.

Democrats and Republicans have had some fairly elderly leadership personnel. Sen. Mitch McConnell is 81, Sen. Charles Schumer is 72, Rep. Nancy Pelosi is 83. Mrs. Pelosi had the grace to step down from her house leadership position at the end of 2022.

Somewhere along the line in both parties we have also lost some of the decency and respect to be shown of other officeholders. Some, frankly, probably don’t deserve it but these people have to remember they are examples of how people should communicate in civilized society.

While Republicans and Democrats won’t agree on everything, they should be working together to solve the problems this country faces. And they should do so as representatives of the people. If they want to be respected, they should show respect for others.

There are plenty of problems to solve and nothing will get done as long as each party takes the position that “it’s my way or nothing.” That means compromise is necessary and we must allow our elected representatives room to do that.

A Biden-Trump rematch in 2024 would be a grudge match. The country deserves something much more substantive. Both major political parties owe us that.