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What goes aroundëƵ

4 min read
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Last week, the lead-up to Donald TrumpëƵs New York arraignment may have caused a record for breathless speculation.

A squadron of reporters followed TrumpëƵs motorcade out of Mar-a-Lago as it wound its way to Palm Beach International Airport.

Reporters and anchors around the planet engaged in rhetorical tap dancing about the importance of the next day ëƵ for the thousandth time!

Cameras were poised to get a glimpse of Mr. Trump as he boarded ëƵTrump Force OneëƵ ëƵ all 10 seconds of it.

That melodrama was repeated at LaGuardia Airport in New York after Trump landed.

What followed looked eerily similar to what happened on June 17, 1994, the day of O.J. SimpsonëƵs ëƵlow-speed chaseëƵ along the highways of Los Angeles.

There were helicopters (or drones) hovering overhead, as if theyëƵd capture real breaking news. Perhaps there would be a flat tire on a freeway ëƵ right on live TV.

By the time Trump reached Trump Tower, and with news anchors growing hoarse in their repetitiveness, he finally emerged from his vehicle ëƵ for three whole seconds.

ThatëƵs it.

I canëƵt say I didnëƵt watch any of it. I can say I kicked myself because I did.

IëƵm guessing, though, that some people might have enjoyed every second of it.

The ëƵCentral Park FiveëƵ may have been ecstatic about Trump getting hauled into court.

In May of 1989, Trump took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, aimed at the five black teenagers who were wrongfully charged with rape, robbery, and attempted murder. That ad, in part, said, ëƵThey should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes.ëƵ

Even after those young men were exonerated, Trump refused to acknowledge it.

I wonder if Hillary and Bill Clinton are interested in TrumpëƵs entanglements.

Trump has implied that the Clintons had something to do with the murder of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster. And during his 2016 presidential campaign, he coined the phrase ëƵCrooked Hillary.ëƵ

Do you think Barack Obama is taking note of TrumpëƵs legal problems?

After all, it was Trump who was the leading voice of ëƵbirtherism.ëƵ

And in June of 2016, it was Trump who implied that Obama was somehow involved in that mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people died.

TrumpëƵs arraignment and trial might not be much of a spectacle to many people. But IëƵd be willing to wager other people are licking their chops with each new legal development.

In June of 2019, AXIOS published an article about ëƵThe 24 times Trump has accused somebody of ëƵtreason.'ëƵ

As a federal offense, the penalty for treason is death. Mr. TrumpëƵs solution for some people who oppose him is death.

ThereëƵs that federal judge back in 2016 who was presiding over the fraud case against Trump University who was attacked by Trump most callously.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel had to sit by while Trump called him a ëƵhater,ëƵ and somebody who was unfair to him because he was ëƵHispanic,ëƵ a ëƵMexican,ëƵ and because Trump was building a wall.

That was in 2016.

Trump settled the lawsuits in 2018, with Indiana-born Judge Curiel awarding the victims $25 million.

What goes around comes around.

Trump appears to be on some mighty thin ice with some of his most recent attacks. The man who is hauling him into court is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

IëƵm not going to claim IëƵm much of a theoretician here, but it probably didnëƵt help Trump when he called Bragg (who happens to be Black) ëƵan animal,ëƵ with all of the historic baggage that insult carries with it.

Or, when he implied that Bragg is beholden to Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

ëƵHe is a Soros-backed animal who just doesnëƵt care about right or wrong no matter how many people are hurt,ëƵ said Trump.

Take note when you see Trump or his fervent supporters complain that heëƵs being picked on unfairly.

You can always refer them to this statement: What goes around comes around!

Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.

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