Boy, is that Donald Trump stupid, or what?

Or maybe he's so arrogant that he thought that he could steal classified war plans that no one would notice.

Stupid and arrogant, but it’s up to a jury to decide whether he is guilty.

But having taken care of the standard “innocent until proved guilty,” I’ve got to say that if you read his entire 44-page indictment (here), you’ll be knocked over by the dozens of charges against him. In my non-lawyerly opinion, he got nailed.

Be sure to read the addendum after the indictment to see what kind of prison time he could get if convicted. Leaving a question of whether he can run for or serve as president if he’s convicted. I won’t even go near trying to answer that.

First, the classified documents themselves: They’re not some notes about, say, equity in the military. They are war plans. Against some unnamed nation. Speculation is that it’s Iran. Speculation is that level-headed aides were afraid he would launch a war in the final days of his term, after his election defeat.

But you don’t have to speculate about is what the documents are about. We only see the titles, but they say enough: “Updated document concerning the military capabilities of a foreign country and the United States, with handwritten notation in black marker.” “Document dated May 6,2019 concerning White House intelligence briefings relating to foreign countries, including military activities and planning of foreign countries.”

On and on for 31 documents, all classified as “Top Secret,” “Special Handing” and assorted codes representing even tighter restrictions on who can view the documents. (E.g. ORCON/NOFORN) Even the most careless president had to know what he was dealing with.

Aside from the allegations of criminal illegalities, one pressing question that might not be answered is: Why did he want to take these documents in the first place? What was he planning to do with them? One shudders at the thought.

Second, he lied through his teeth, according to the indictment, that he had the documents. Some commentators thought that this will be the principle charge against Trump—a process charge, such as lying to the FBI. I give more weight, though, to the seriousness of the content of the documents he nicked.

Nonetheless, the narrative about him hiding the documents are nearly humorous in the way he tried to hide them. A clown show. He kept moving them around his palatial Mar a Lago, as if he were one step ahead of the posse. Boxes and boxes, stacked in his residence—in the meeting hall, in a bathroom (!) , in a storage room. So high that one pile fell over on its own.

There are transcripts of emails and testimony about his intent to hide the documents. He hid even from his own lawyer, so he could get a few of then certified to the FBI as the sum and substance of everything they had. All the while stacks of boxes were closeted elsewhere.

Perhaps you are wondering about the second defendant named in the indictment, Waltine Nauta. He’s something of Trump’s personal assistant, valet or gofer. He was a lower level guy who knew everything Trump was doing. Yet, Trump used him egregiously. Nauta has my sympathy for getting dragged into this affair by the Mega Ego.

Trump also played his attorney, getting him to testify to the FBI that Trump wasn’t hiding any moe documents…when he was.

I first thought that this might be a small matter. Something like just being sloppy. Or forgetful. But as a Naval officer I had a top secret classification and I knew what kind of steps are taken to protect all kinds of classified documents. And the penalties for intentionally not.

A final note. I will be blasted for ignoring the alleged criminality of President Biden, his son Hunter, and Hillary Clinton. And the two systems of justice—one for Democrats and the other for Republicans.

Yes, clearly a dual system of justice does exist and if the Biden folk didn’t think they were above the law, they’d be in the same stew as Trump. But they’re not, and that’s outrageous. Deeply corruptive of democracy.

But because someone else might be criminal, it doesn’t mean that Trump should get a pass. The indictment against him is entirely appropriate.