Longtime readers know this place has a lily pad theme because its original mascot was a frog in handcuffs, a nod to Ambassador Joe Wilson’s fervent desire to see Karl Rove “frog-marched out of the White House” for vindictively and recklessly exposing his wife as an undercover CIA officer. It was highly gratifying that the now departed Wilson became an admirer of my work and requested a meeting in person. In any case, from the very outset of my writing career, I’ve been focused on seeing political criminals get what’s coming to them, and it’s usually a long, frustrating process that often ends in disappointment.

Nothing has taken longer and required more patience than federal indictments against Donald J. Trump. For a long time, I doubted they would ever come. That changed on January 6, 2021. Since the failed coup attempt, I’ve actually been bullish on Trump getting charged and convicted of federal crimes, and somewhat optimistic that he will die in prison, which is certainly what he deserves for what he’s done to America, its culture and institutions. I’d really love to see him frog-marched into custody, but I suspect respect for the office of the presidency will preclude that kind of rough treatment. That’s possibly the right decision.

In any case, now that he’s facing seven separate charges and an unknown number of counts in the classified documents case, the Feds should confiscate his passport and keep a close eye on his private jet because it’s a risk he’ll fly it Moscow where he can rest assured that he won’t live out the rest of his life behind bars. He really has no defense, and little realistic chance of an acquittal, mainly because he has already testified against himself. There’s a tape recording of him clearly showing “highly confidential” military plans to attack Iran to a couple of ghostwriters for his former chief of staff Mark Meadow’s book, The Chief’s Chief.

“Well, with [Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Mark] Milley — uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers; this thing just came up,” Trump said, according to the person familiar with the transcript. “Look. This was him. They presented me this — this is off the record, but — they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. … This wasn’t done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff — pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this. … This was done by the military and given to me.”

I believe that recording will one day rank with the most famous recorded excerpt from Watergate:

Mr. Nixon repeatedly discussed different methods by which as much as $1 million could be paid to the burglars without the payments being traced to the White House. The purpose of such payments, in the President’s own words, would be “to keep the cap on the bottle,” to “buy time,” to “tough it through.”

“How much money do you need?” the President asked [White House counsel John] Dean early in the March 21 conversation, according to the transcript.

“I would say these people are going to cost a million dollars over the next two years,” Dean replied.

“We could get that,” the President continued. “On the money, if you need the money you could get that. You could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done. But the question is who the hell would handle it? Any ideas on that?”

When that 1973 recording became public, Nixon’s presidency was finished and he resigned in August 1974. If he hadn’t been preemptively pardoned by his successor, President Gerald Ford, his “million dollars in cash” obstruction of justice would have almost certainly have led to a conviction in court. The best Nixon could have hoped for is that a supportive juror would ignore the evidence, refuse to convict and cause a mistrial. And that’s the same situation Trump finds himself in now.

His chances of finding a MAGA “la, la, la, I can’t hear you” juror are enhanced a bit by the fact that the trial will be held in the Southern District of Florida rather than in Washington, DC, but Trump will still be operating on a wing and a prayer because his guilt is not in the remotest doubt. I don’t even think a sympathetic judge can help him much on the merits.

And, of course, this is the minor federal case against the twice-impeached ex-president. He still has to answer for attempting a coup, and that case, when it comes, will be heard in the District of Columbia.

But I am already an expert on patience, having waited 18 years since the launch of this blog to see this kind of justice. It’s gratifying to say the least.