Donald Trump's endless first-term bleating about crime and how he was the only one who could bring an end to it was always a joke. It took on new levels of ridiculousness when he spent the next four years accumulating a dizzying number of felony indictments and, eventually, 34 convictions. (There would certainly have been more if he had actually faced trial for stealing classified documents and attempting to steal an election.)
Trump's alleged crimes weren't bloodless "white-collar" matters, either. Jan. 6, of course, was a violent assault on the Capitol. A civil jury also found Trump liable for sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll, which is anyone's definition of a violent crime. But American political discourse left behind quaint concepts like "making sense" years ago. Trump forged ahead with claims that he would "dismantle the gangs, the street crews and the criminal networks that are ravaging our towns," even though he and his Jan. 6 co-conspirators look an awful lot like one of those "criminal networks."
