Editor’s Notes: i) We have divided Part Two of Thomas Gotowka’s essay into three sections. We published Section 1 on Sept. 13 at this link and Section 2 on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at this link. This is the third and final section.
ii) This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.
The Lady May Caper
Former Trump senior adviser, Steve Bannon, was collected by the USCG from the 151-ft., $28 million mega yacht, Lady May off the Connecticut coast, within sight of the beach houses in Westbrook, early Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020.
Within hours, he was in handcuffs in federal district court in Manhattan, where he pleaded not guilty to accusations that he and two others siphoned money from a fundraising campaign, “We Build the Wall”—one of Trump’s top projects.
Bannon is accused of diverting nearly a million dollars for personal expenses and charged in what federal prosecutors said was a scheme to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fundraising campaign.
His colleagues, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, were sentenced to just over four years and three years in prison, respectively. The fraud charges against Trump’s former chief strategist and the two others are outlined in a federal indictment unsealed in New York Thursday.
Bannon pleaded not guilty by video conference from a holding cell. Afterward, he was released on $5 million bail, secured by $1.75 million in assets.
“Hush Money” Trial
On May 30, 2024, Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to the reimbursement of hush money paid to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, to cover up a sex scandal around the 2016 presidential election, making him the first American president to be declared a felon.
During the trial, Trump took to social media to ridicule presiding Judge Juan Manuel Merchan as a “highly conflicted” overseer of a “kangaroo court.”
Election Interference Trial
In the July 1 ruling in Trump v. United States, Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion said the court is sending the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to decide “in the first instance” how the immunity test applies to Trump’s case. As you might recall, the SCOTUS ruling said former presidents are entitled to at least presumptive immunity for all “official acts.”
It is now up to Judge Chutkan’s court to determine whether his conduct in trying to subvert the 2020 election was “official” or “unofficial.”
The “Same ol’, Same ol’”
In an April interview with Time, Trump did not rule out the possibility of political violence if he loses the November election. “I don’t think we’re going to have that. I think we’re going to win,”
If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election,”
Last year he warned on social media, “… of problems if things go wrong for him, before he faced any of his four criminal indictments, that “false” charges against him would bring “potential death & destruction.”
In March, during a campaign rally where he talked about the auto industry, Trump said that the country “would face a “broader bloodbath” if he’s not elected in November. He expanded on that “thought” and turned to immigration, but this time warning of Biden’s “border bloodbath.”
“It’s destroying our country … ” He continued, “Every state is now a border state, every town is now a border town … Because Joe Biden has brought the carnage and chaos and killing from all over the world and dumped it straight into our backyards.” Trump then said “It’s a very bad thing happening.” “It’s going to end on the day that I take office, which will be Jan. 20;” at which time he will presumably initiate his plan to deport 15-20 million people in an effort to make the U.S.A. a “sundown” country.
Still speaking with Time, he referred to his frequent, phony claims of widespread election fraud and said, “I don’t believe they’ll be able to do the things that they did the last time. I don’t think they’ll be able to get away with it. And if that’s the case, we’re gonna win in record-setting fashion.”
Immigration and Southern Border Security
I believe that I’ve demonstrated that Immigrants seem to be Trump’s favorite go-to rant or “off-script” disconnect when he pushes his word salad aside.
In Part 1, I noted Trump’s statement that immigrants who are in the country without authorization are “poisoning the blood” of America. He also repeatedly states his same old claim that “millions of immigrants in the country illegally came from jails, prisons, or mental institutions. — or have been institutionalized in their home countries.”
When Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Walz as her running mate, Trump posted “He’ll unleash HELL ON EARTH and open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable” (Trump’s upper case letters)
“They’re coming in from China — 31, 32,000 over the last few months — and they’re all military age and they mostly are men,” Trump said during a Pennsylvania rally in the spring. “And it sounds like to me, are they trying to build a little army in our country.”
There is no evidence, that “fighting age” males from China are somehow embedding themselves in the United States.
There is no evidence to support any of Trump’s claims.
The Irony
Trump’s position on immigration has always seemed bizarre to me. Trump is the son, and grandson, of immigrants: German on his father’s side, and Scottish on his mother’s. None of his grandparents, and only one of his parents, was born in the United States or spoke English as their first language. (His mother’s parents, from the remote Scottish Outer Hebrides, lived in a majority Gaelic-speaking community.
Two out of his three wives were immigrants from Eastern Europe.
Congress
Despite his obsession with immigration, Trump lobbied Senate Republicans in private conversations and in public statements on social media to oppose the bipartisan border bill, a significant legislative effort aimed at overhauling U.S. border and immigration policies and a key legislative achievement on a pressing national priority.
Trump opposed the bill primarily because he planned to campaign against Biden on the issue in November and didn’t want Biden to score a victory in a politically vulnerable area.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged in a private meeting that Trump’s animosity toward the border deal puts Republicans in a serious bind as they try to move forward on the already complex issue.
So, he killed a key bit of legislation to assist his campaign?
Author’s Comments
Again, I do not support Trump’s candidacy. I feel that he is a man of severely compromised character; — not what we should want in a President of the United States. His repeated insults directed at our veterans and military heroes; and the praise he has directed at authoritarian despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un make him particularly ill-suited for the President’s concomitant role — Commander in Chief of America’s Armed Forces.”
As I wrap up, I quote Vice President Harris’ comments in Milwaukee in July, where she used her record as a state prosecutor to draw a distinction between herself and Trump. “I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” she said. “Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, and cheaters who broke the rules for their gain. “So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type.”
Coincidentally, she also took action against the sham Trump University.
I want to leave you with an article from The Code of Conduct for the Armed Forces of the United States, which Candidate Trump may not have encountered in his high school military training:
Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
In closing, may God bless America and may God protect our troops.
About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.
Sources for Sections 1, 2 & 3 of A 2024 Election Epic—Part Two: Content of Character
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