My question remains: How did that scumbag get away with it for decades?

[BSdetect]

Did our protections fail to tackle his lies and cons?

This failure ought to be looked into

[cachukis]

1. It is a way of life for so many.

[OnDoutside]

2. Look at Madoff, Epstein etc the illusion of riches attracts.

[democrank]

3. Lifestyles of the rich and famous....

Trump came from the right side of the tracks. That makes a big, big difference

[Ocelot II]

5. Actually, he came from the wrong side of the tracks (Queens)

but he used his father's money and slummy housing projects to make more money and try to buy his way into NYC high society. He never quite made it, since that crowd recognized him as a climber and a parvenu, but he had enough money that he could at least try to be one of them. What mattered is that he had enough money and therefore enough pull with city officials (and probable mob connections) that he could do pretty much whatever he wanted.

[2naSalit]

18. And he would probably...

Been fine with that if the pootin connection was never made.

I still think former (whatever his title was) Cyrus Vance was protecting him or someone in that environment was.

And that was somehow a set up made by his dad, no doubt.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

19. New York High society for many decades was run by the Vanderbilts, JP Morgan, the Astors, and more.

Old Money ruled the day. Not everyone could buy their way in.

How that is today, I am sure much remains in place. High standing in the social graces, heritage, and wealth. Dipshit has neither.

[ificandream]

6. That's it in a nutshell.

Money made the difference. Notice how Trump got away with all the childish tactics during the trial? As many have said, you or I would never have gotten away with that. We'd have been in jail for what he did. He certainly should have been in jail.

[democrank]

7. Like Trump said

“If you’re a star, they just let you do it”

[Ocelot II]

4. The commercial real estate business in NYC (and probably elsewhere)

has been notoriously dodgy for decades; major building projects often had mob involvement. Big real estate deals are also great vehicles for money laundering. Trump was assumed to be corrupt in the same way everybody else in that business was assumed to be corrupt, and city officials looked the other way (if they weren't directly involved) so the deals could be made and they could take credit for the "benefit" to the city that these developments created.

[llmart]

21. I don't doubt that is true but...

the one that puzzles me the most is how he was able to cheat on his taxes all those years without the IRS going after him. When he finally had to reveal his last few tax returns, didn't we find out that he paid zero of very minimal taxes for years? How was he able to get the IRS not to go after him?

[asiliveandbreathe]

8. Not sure we will learn the "HOW" he got away with frauding

so many for so many years..BUT..we may hear from Judge Engoron some of the pieces..as the judge scatters scathing revelations for all to see on Wednesday..

The "how" may be in the $$ to squeeze those who tried to sue him, and the $$ thrown around to line pockets for silence...dunno...

[barbaraann]

9. "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."

Honore de Balzac

[Sky Jewels]

10. And Martha Stewart was imprisoned for far, far less.

But, ya know, she doesn't have a penis, so she doesn't deserve special treatment.

[Attilatheblond]

13. And she donated to DEMs

Insider trading? Yeah, convict the liberal woman, but let nearly all congress critters get away with in on massive scale.

[lame54]

11. That world is still full of guys getting away with it...

But they're smart enough to not to run for president

[moondust]

12. Cost of conviction?

How much are taxpayers going to spend prosecuting his current charges?

Maybe some prosecutors choose to go after the poor who can't afford to drain their budgets with endless delays?

[Happy Hoosier]

14. There are STILL people arguing....

... that he shouldn;t REALLY be held accountable.

The very rich in this country and have gotten used to lies and winks as a way of life. I saw an editorial this AM arguing that destroying Trump's Real Estate Empire would "set a bad precendent." Of what? holding people fucking accountable!!?? This has to stop.

[cbabe]

15. Bullies are everywhere. People live in fear of

losing their jobs or homes. Losing your kids to Family court. Followed around the store or down the sidewalk.

I’ve known these people since kindergarten when mean teacher tore up my not-good-enough mother’s day card drawing.

I’m surprised by other peoples’ surprise.

[MOMFUDSKI]

16. Way of life in NY. They just accept aggressive

people. Spend a little time with any newyawker and you will get it.

[electric_blue68]

25. Err...Excuse me? There's plenty of NYC'rs who are at times assertive when needs be but -not- in general aggressive...

and more laid back at times as well.

Sez, this proud NYC'r.
City pace tends to be faster, but most of us know how to kick back, and relax. 👍

Most of us don't like bullies, either!

You just can't go around speaking falsehoods about us, not when some of us are around to point out such errors.
🗽✌️

[Conjuay]

27. Thank You,

You said it.

[electric_blue68]

28. Your welcome 👍

[Irish_Dem]

17. Rich/White/Male

With very aggressive attack dog attorneys who threaten and intimidate everyone.
And has the money to bribe corrupt officials.

[LiberalFighter]

20. Consider that Rudy was a US Attorney. And probably had close ties even back then.

Probably the same for NY prosecutors. He had Roy Cohn helping him to bribe property assessors and others.

[kskiska]

24. Roy Cohn put Trump's sister on the bench.

[progressoid]

22. Bigger question for me. Why do people keep defending him?

[IcyPeas]

23. they were all getting a piece of the pie.

The powers that be were bought and paid for.

It's like when he stands outside the courtroom doors during his trial he defends his real estate loans... he says the banks were happy... everybody was happy, nobody got hurt.

[louis-t]

26. "I robbed a bank and made tons of money on the money

but I gave the original money back when I got caught. See? Nobody got hurt."

[B.See]

29. It's called PRIVILEGE.

[Xolodno]

30. The level of corruption goes up....

...with money. Seen it first hand....many times.

[Silent3]

31. Looking into "this failure" means looking through our entire legal system from top to bottom

The idea that "everyone is equal before the law" is a great aspirational goal, but it sadly has little to do with reality.

As an aside, I don't have a good sense of how well the American legal system stacks up against other countries. I'm sure we have it better than people do in many other countries, despite all of our flaws. I certainly wouldn't want to live under the legal systems of say, Russia or Iran or China. Compared to other industrialized democratic nations, however? I don't know. Somebody somewhere must do things at least a little better than the US does.

Back to Trump: Even before you get to outright corruption, which I'm sure has a lot to do with Trump's successful evasion of legal consequences, too much in our legal system depends on how much money you have to spend on lawyers.

Too much depends on conscious or unconscious prejudices based on power, money, race, class, and gender. Police, lawyers, judges and juries all suffer from these prejudices.

Too much depends on how much time you can endure passing before justice is done, because our legal system is so lethargic and overburdened.