Donald Trump compared himself with Nelson Mandela. He said, “I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela because I’m doing it for a reason, We’ve got to save our country from these fascists, these lunatics that we’re dealing with. They’re horrible people and they’re destroying our country.”
Mandela spent 27 years in prison because he was fighting apartheid, to liberate his country, and to establish a non-racial democracy. Trump was convicted for having used corporate funds to cover 130,000 dollars in hush money paid to Stormy Daniels just prior to Trump’s narrow victory in 2016.
Comparing his problem with the law with Mandela’s is inappropriate, outrageous and crass1. Both may have been considered criminals, but one was a hero and the other is a villain.
In what may be a better context, Trump often compares himself with Al Capone, in his words, “I often say Al Capone, he was one of the greatest of all time, if you like criminals”.
He also said about Capone, “If he had dinner with you and if he didn’t like the way you smiled at him at dinner, he would kill you. You’d be dead. By the time you walked out of the nice restaurant, you would be dead,” It sounds a lot like what happens when candidates in Republican primaries are Trumped.
If Trump is elected, he can pardon himself for any federal crimes, but not for State ones. In the time remaining before the election, there will not be definitive convictions for federal felonies. However, if he is not elected in 2024 and if there is not a coup d’état, he might be able to gain the Republican nomination in 2028. Being a “loser” seems to help him,. The issue might return.
One of Trump’s obsessions is vengeance, as usual based on falsehoods. Although he was busy hustling Trump Bibles, he took the time to post this Easter message on Truth Social (in caps in the text):
HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, INCLUDING CROOKED AND CORRUPT PROSECUTORS AND JUDGES THAT ARE DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO INTERFERE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2024, AND PUT ME IN PRISON, INCLUDING THOSE MANY PEOPLE THAT I COMPLETELY & TOTALLY DESPISE BECAUSE THEY WANT TO DESTROY AMERICA, A NOW FAILING NATION, LIKE “DERANGED” JACK SMITH, WHO IS EVIL AND “SICK,” MRS. FANI “FAUNI” WADE, WHO SAID SHE HARDLY KNEW THE “SPECIAL” PROSECUTOR, ONLY TO FIND THAT HE SPENT YEARS “LOVING” HER, LONG BEFORE THE GEORGIA PERSECUTION OF PRESIDENT TRUMP BEGAN (AND THEREBY MAKING THE CASE AGAINST ME NULL, VOID, AND ILLEGAL!), AND LAZY ON VIOLENT CRIME ALVIN BRAGG WHO, WITH CROOKED JOE’S DOJ THUGS, UNFAIRLY WORKING IN THE D.A.’s OFFICE, ILLEGALLY INDICTED ME ON A CASE HE NEVER WANTED TO BRING AND VIRTUALLY ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS SAY IS A CASE THAT SHOULD NOT BE BROUGHT, IS BREAKING THE LAW IN DOING SO (POMERANTZ!), WAS TURNED DOWN BY ALL OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES, AND IS NOT A CRIME. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
It is possible to run for President from prison, which might be a Trump option in 2028. In 1920, Eugene V. Debs ran for President from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary as the candidate of the Socialist Party of America. He had been convicted2 of sedition in 1918 for a speech he made opposing the draft in the First World War.
Debs spoke at his sentencing hearing. Unlike Trump’s Easter statement, he asked for justice for others, not revenge for himself.
“Your Honour, years ago I recognised my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
Debs had class. Trump has crass.
Views of a trade unionist 
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