Contributed by Joe Montero

Donald trump is making headlines again. This time it involves his formal arrest and being charged with 24 felonies. A felony is a charge that can carry a prison sentence. Those against Trump feel that it’s about time he got his just deserts. Those for him see an injustice.

Part of the case is unlawful cover up of payments made to three individuals who had damaging information.

Video from SBS

This is what it looks like on the surface. But there are other dynamics going on here. The observant will notice that the whole episode has ben turned by media into a Hollywood style blockbuster focused on the personalities and sensationalism, and not the fundamental issues. This is not about justice. It is about the show.

For the Trump camp, this works as the launch of the 2024 presidential election campaign, and it might just work. Trump is an odious man who has been given the opportunity to position himself, once again, as the victim of vested interests and defender of working men and women.

It is a lie that works for two reasons. Working men and women are hurting and their faith in the institutions of the United States has been weakened. Trump knows what they want to hear and delivers it in bucket loads.

As he suggests, his is a political case. State persecution is taking place. Trump may be guilty of the charges and deserves punishment. What he is being accused of here is an everyday practice in his business empire and the corporate world. One that is usually allowed. An exception is being made in this case, because of its political nature.

Trump is not likely to be defeated in the court. Only a political movement effectively dealing with the core issues hurting American working men and women and offering real solutions will do this. But the Democrat machine won’t take this on. It prefers to run a charade.

Behind it all is a battle between two factions of the Wall Street political elite. They control the Republicans and Democrats. The war between them is not over the needs of the people. It is about the protection of the interests of the elite.

If we want to see how this operates, just consider the Trump and Biden administrations. The difference is marginal in most key areas. In domestic policy the variation is that one side uses anti-establishment rhetoric to establish more repressive form of government. The other relies on slightly softer approach. In foreign affairs it is that the Biden administration is more aggressive. Both work towards ensuring that the few at the top remain in charge.

Consequently, the political battle between the factions is retained within narrow limits, insults directed at each other, and never to truly mobilise the population to fight for their shared rights. This limitation is driving the Democrat machine and its supporters to believe that reliance on legal means to remove Donald Trump is the answer. By doing this they leave the door open for their nemesis to grab the presidency again.

This trial won’t be over soon. The next hearing will not be held till 4 December. Just in time for the Christmas break. Trump get to walk and go on with his campaigning, and his legal team will use every means to keep on stalling until election time and effective immunity. It will be too late to continue.

At least, this seems to be the plan. And if it works, the Democrats will have found that they had side tracked themselves, putting all their eggs on the prosecution, instead of working hard to win the trust and support of the population. Not a smart move.

Perhaps those in charge don’t want this. It would mean a commitment to new policies, instead of continuing with the slightly gentler form of neoliberalism and home and an aggressive imperialist policy abroad. They would rather have Donald Trump than this.