Falling like dominoes

As Donald Trump’s criminal trial prepares to reach a crescendo today, it’s worth pointing out that this trial isn’t happening in isolation. It’s part of a larger pattern we’re seeing play out right now.

Trump adviser Steve Bannon learned from the appeals court last week that he’ll soon be in prison. Trump adviser Peter Navarro is currently in prison, unsuccessfully begging to be let out. Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani just lost his radio show, which won’t much matter because he’s awaiting criminal trial in two states and will spend much or all of the rest of his life in prison. The dominoes are falling.

Of course they’re not falling in the rapid straight line progression in which dominoes are usually depicted. This has been a more circuitous path. These dominoes are almost falling outward in a spiral, as so many criminal probes keep resulting in so many cascading criminal charges.

Think about it: there are people who have been with Trump since 2016, at his side, helping him carry out this or that shady scheme, who didn’t get indicted until 2024. That’s the better part of a decade. Imagine working for a crime boss that long before finally going down. Talk about a long and winding road.

But now that Navarro really is in prison, now that Bannon really is going to prison, and now that Trump really is on criminal trial, hopefully it’s sinking in for everyone that the story really was going to end this way all along. Trump will very likely be a convicted felon facing sentencing by the end of the month. It’s really happening. The timing of these dominoes has always been tricky. But there was never going to be a different outcome.