Here’s a question you can ask of your Republican friends: if Trump were to encounter Michael Cohen on 5th Avenue, “borrow” a gun from a secret service agent, and shoot him down in cold blood, would that be an offense worthy of prosecution?

Or would that, in their view, be a “political” prosecution?

I’m willing to bet that a good number of them would admit — albeit that Trump famously prognosticated that he wouldn’t “lose any voters” if he shot someone on 5th Avenue — that under those circumstances maybe Trump really should be prosecuted.

So what’s the difference between that and the four cases that were brought against Trump?

It’s basically that your Republican friends don’t think the charges in those four cases are “serious” charges.

What else could it be?

So let’s review the four cases and where they stand.

First, there are the two federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith., and then there are the two state court cases. These are:

1. The federal case against Donald Trump for inciting the January 6th insurrection.
2. The federal case against Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents.
3. The Georgia case against Trump for trying to overturn the election results in Georgia by getting the state to “find” him 11,700 votes.
4. The New York case against Trump in which he was already convicted of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to use “hush money” to avoid the disclosure of his affair with Stormy Daniels.

The first of these cases was dismissed without prejudice (meaning that it can be filed again) at the request of the Special Counsel when it was clear that Trump had been re-elected.

The second of these two cases was dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon on the clearly incorrect determination that the appointment of the special counsel was unconstitutional. That one could also be refiled.

The first of state court cases is still ongoing and involves the ludicrous claim that prosecutor Fani Willis violated ethical codes by getting romantically involved with her chief prosecutor either before (as the defense claims) or after (as she claims) she hired him. (Given the kleptocracy we are about to embark on, this is the mildest possible ethical infringement, and nothing compared to what Trump will do. Nevertheless, a Georgia appeals court decided just last week that this was an ethical lapse that should disqualify her from the prosecution. That decision will, of course, also be appealed, so we’ll see how this eventually ends.) 

The second of the state court cases is also still ongoing. Ironically, there was just a decision yesterday that Trump’s conviction can withstand the US v. Trump decision decided by the Supreme Court. (This case also had a recent decision in which Judge Merchan decided that the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States does not require the case to be overturned.

There is also the separate question of “tolling.” So, for example, let’s say a citizen of Brazil is indicted for grand theft auto, and he flees to Brazil. The offense has a three-year statute of limitations — in other words, the case has to be tried within three years — and the offender returns from Brazil after five years, the statute is “tolled” (or essentially extended) for the period of time that the offender was in Brazil.

So, with Trump, the question would be, does Trump’s presidency — during which time he cannot be prosecuted — “toll” whatever statutes govern his indictments. It will be a novel question because no one has ever been unavailable for prosecution before because they were president.

Until Trump.

The whole point is that Trump did engage in serious offenses — very serious offenses involving the disclosure of national secrets and an attempted insurrection — and these offenses should have been disqualifying. They should have kept him from the presidency, and that did not happen.

Of course, Trump could potentially be prosecuted after his presidency, but what would be the point? The damage will already have been done.

In any case, ask your Republican friends: if Trump were to shoot Michael Cohen on 5th Avenue, would that be a political prosecution?