Another Hack Writer

        I have, on several occasions, expressed my contempt for the lack of journalistic due diligence and integrity of a number of op-ed writers often featured in the local paper. I must add to that list yet another name, that of one Ben Shapiro.

        In a recent column which begins by deconstructing the recent Trump felony conviction he wrote this: “The counts had to with falsification of business records. Or election fraud. Or more tax returns. Or…. something. Nobody really knows, and apparently it was unnecessary for the jury to agree on the crime in order to find Trump guilty of one.”

        The above word salad reeks of Trump himself ranting nonsensical gibberish when he has no real message.

Let’s first look at facts (remember facts?)  The first statement is correct and had Mr. Shapiro quit when he was ahead I wouldn’t be writing this. The trial and the charges attendant to it was based on numerous violations of a New York State law which makes it a felony to falsify business records, since New York State is one of forty-three states which collect a state income tax. New York’s isn’t the highest, but at 8.82% is in the top ten. The law is an effort to prevent falsification of income or other non- business expenditures as business expenses to avoid paying tax on them.

The “election fraud” comment is, simply put, a blatant lie, having zero interface with the charged offenses. If any mention was even made regarding elections it would have been one of the Trump rants for which he was finally gag ordered.

 The “tax return” comment is only germane in that the falsification of hush money payments as business expenditures had the effect of reducing tax liability.

As for “nobody really knows” …The DA knew, the Judge knew, attorneys for both sides knew, and the jury knew, since they were, as usual, instructed specifically regarding the nature of the charges. Consequently, they were unanimous on the sole actual crimes charged – falsifying business records.

Another implied and equally spurious allegation is twofold. Many of the MAGA persuasion toss around the claim that somehow the whole thing was a result of Biden “weaponizing” the Department of Justice, when, in fact, it was about the violation of a state law prosecuted by the State of New York. No DOJ interface. None, Zip, Nada. The second part of the MAGA rant implies that Trump was singled out and that his prosecution was unusual. In truth, there is a downloadable PDF which runs to twenty-four pages of specifics regarding individuals and organizations who have been charged and convicted under this statute.

In fact, the Trump organization made that list in 2021, for millions in tax fraud but the accountancy firm was charged, and one person took the bullet of jail time, a hefty fine and loss of certification.

In the matter at hand, there were two factors which, while not subject to prosecution, per se, were root causes of the whole mess.

 The first was Trump’s concern that the fact that he had been shtupping a porn star while his wife was pregnant might become public knowledge and hurt him politically. His intent was to avoid that by buying her silence with what amounts to a hefty bribe.

The second is Trump’s well-known aversion to spending his own money, of which he has far less unencumbered than he would like us to believe. Had he simply written a personal check to Stormy Daniels there would have been no crime (other than being a sleazy adulterous shithead) no trial, and no felony convictions.

The issue is the hiding of the money as legitimate business expense, avoiding attribution of the true nature of the expenditure and (here comes the crime) writing it off as a nontaxable deduction. If this sounds “picky” try filing your own income tax, state or federal, with a deduction claimed as “$130,000 for hookers.”