Letter to the editor: What if Trump hadn't been POTUS?

In addition to the Stormy Daniels incident described in the op-ed “This is just the beginning for Trump” (April 5, TribLIVE), the 34 counts in the indictment against Donald Trump include “catch and kill” actions to suppress stories potentially damaging to Trump’s presidential hopes. Prosecutors claim payments were made to kill stories about Trump’s alleged affairs at a time when he was already being criticized for disgusting statements he had been recorded as making about his interactions with young women.

I believe that if not for payments made by others and later reimbursed by Trump to suppress three different stories, it is fairly likely that Trump would not have won the election. At least recordings of his conversations make it clear that he was worried about this. What this means it that focusing on the idea of indicting and possibly convicting a former president misses an important point. In the absence of these illegal actions, Trump likely wouldn’t ever have been POTUS! That’s why these charges are so serious.

Of course within our judicial system, Trump is presumed innocent. But he and his sons are not innocent of verbal attacks on the judge of this case, and the judge’s wife and daughter. In fact, his sons posted pictures of the judge’s daughter in a clear attempt to intimidate the judge. The judge has already received death threats. How this case and Trump’s responses to it get him more support from Republican voters is really hard to understand.

Robert J. Reiland

O’Hara