Were it not for the crucifixion of Jesus, there'd be no Christians.  Such a dramatic end of a narrative ensured the historic importance of its subject.  This is now happening in the case of former president Donald Trump.  The process began when the FBI raided his personal residence at Florida's Mar-a-Lago.  The heavy-handed nature of the raid revealed its overt political nature. 

Now Manhattan's district attorney, Alvin Bragg, has been leading a tortured attempt to make Trump a criminal.  Bragg recently claimed that Trump's revelation of a likely indictment is the real cause for all of the furor over the proceedings of Bragg's grand jury.  Should this actually be the case, then Trump is even more clever than he was thought to be.  A quick look at the early polling for next year's election supports this possibility.  Again, martyrdom sells.

Meanwhile, Bragg's office is trying desperately to stuff this toothpaste back into the tube.  The problem is that everybody's watching from front row seats — while all of these rodents scurry around.  And many already know that there's overwhelming evidence that Trump never even came close to committing a crime.

Leaked information confirms that Trump has been indicted.  Apparently, yesterday's earlier announcement that the Manhattan grand jury was taking a month's hiatus was intended to lull the Trump camp into complacency.  But is Trump really being damaged?  Or is this furthering the compelling drama of his martyrdom?

It is fortunate for America's destiny that Mr. Trump is pretty good at taking a punch.  It is problematic, however, as to whether he may respond with sufficient elegance.  But then again, he didn't rise to the top of the food chain by bungling opportunities.

I kind of sense a renewed enthusiasm for the troops to rally around him.  History is full of turning points — and this may be one.  Fence-sitters such as the Romneys of the world may have to throw in their lot with The Donald in order to avoid being excluded from the club.  You can also throw in the marginal Democrats such as Manchin and the recently reminted Sinema.

I would here like to pause and complain that there's way too much politics bedeviling our lives.  But if we tune this garbage out, we may be enabling the forces of evil to further diminish the quality of our existence.  So the saga continues.

I was only recently listening to "Lyin' Ted" Cruz extol Trump's virtues, etc.  Such is the quality of Trump's support.  Cruz just expressed optimism for the outcome.  He is claiming that the New York law that makes paying hush money can, at worst, be creating a false business record, which is a misdemeanor.  The catch, however, is that there's a two-year statute of limitations...on an event that occurred seven years ago.

My dilemma concerns the future.  Another Trump presidency doesn't sound all that bad.  But what about another Biden presidency?  Oy, vey!  As the legendary Vince Lombardi, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, famously said: "Winning isn't the most important thing.  It's the only thing."

Image: Ninian Reid via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).