It’s difficult to believe that the one-time most powerful man in the universe, Donald John Trump, could have his mug shot taken, and his personality trashed up in what could be described as world’s most fiery trial ever. The 2023 trial is the aftermath of a rash of litigation brought against him for his offences before, during and after the 2020 U.S. election. From 1970 till now, Trump and his organisation have seen a plethora of lawsuits, with some filed against him by his relative.

Currently, Trump has 91 criminal charges in four separate trials, mostly billed to begin in 2024. Some of these cases will have grave consequences on his business and ambition if he’s found guilty. They include the Mar-a-Lago classified documents he left with after his tenure; election result subversion lawsuits filed by Fulton County and Department of Justice; Manhattan hush money; and defamation and sexual assault against writer Jean Carroll.

However, the suits taking centre stage now which, though may not warrant a jail term, include the New York fraud, and those filed in Colorado, Minnesota and Michigan, in which residents are pushing for Trump’s disqualification from the 2024 ballot.

The well-organised Manhattan courtroom chaired by stern-looking Judge Arthur F. Engoron, Attorney Letitia James and other prosecutors, featured clowns, scofflaws and schmoozers in the persons of Donald Trump and his sons, Eric and Donald Jr. In the room, audience cast furtive but frosty glances at one another as rants, wit and off-colour jokes lobbed the air like missiles. The trial, which the former president himself has consistently maintained is illegal, is one too many.

There’s always a drama in each sitting, good enough to earn Hollywood huge profits. In this case instituted by New York Attorney Letitia James, who’s accusing the current front runner for the Republican nomination of dishonestly inflating his net value in order to secure better loans, Trump had set the room on fire. He branded his former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, a ‘proven liar’, a ‘disgrace’ and a ‘felon’ who is ‘totally discredited already’ and ‘trying to get a better deal for himself’.

Strangely enough, that was the same Cohen, who once vowed to ‘take a bullet’ for Trump. For Cohen, the court encounter between him and Trump was a ‘heck of a reunion’.

Trump displayed a high level of unbiddability, setting everybody’s teeth on edge with his caustic jabs. Earlier on, he made a caricature of both Engoron and his clerk, Allison Greenfield, on his social media post, referring to the clerk as ‘Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend’.

He also rounded on Letitia, calling her a ‘political hack’, who was capitalising on the case to become governor. Trump was made to part with 15,000 dollars for violating Engoron’s gag order anyway, and 250 million dollars of his may likely go down the plughole.

The court was angered by Trump’s tergiversation and stonewalling, thus prompting Letitia’s comment: Trump ‘rambled’ and ‘hurled insults’. Irritated by Trump’s rudeness and delay in answering questions, the Judge said to Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise, ‘Mr. Kise, can you control your client? He has a lot to say that has nothing to do with the case or the questions?’ Really, the Judge had once threatened to throw the former president, with his client out of court, and jail him.

One wouldn’t expect Trump to keep mute. At one point, he said: ‘I’m sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me’, which sparked Engoron’s polite response: ‘You can attack me in whatever way you want, but please answer the questions. No speeches’.

The exchanges dragged on to show, also, Trump’s grievance over the claim that he’d been undervalued by the prosecutors. ‘He’s the one who didn’t value the property correctly. How do you call a man a fraud who has a property that’s 50 to 100 times more’, he protested.

One of Trump’s two sons, Donald Jr., injected humour into the already incendiary room when, at one point, he said to a bunch of photographers before testifying: ‘I should have worn make-up’ to look sexy. The ludic Donald Jr., who had testified twice in court, boasted about Trump’s properties.

However, Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Donald Trump who’s also the executive vice-president for development and acquisitions at the Trump Organisation until 2017, was a sharp contrast to her father in the proceedings. Letitia said of her: ‘Ivanka Trump was cordial…disciplined… controlled … very courteous …’.

I wonder what the world expects of Trump when it comes to ‘talking’. He’d repeatedly got Engoron’s goat and denied any wrongdoing, describing the whole process as a ‘shameful thing’ and politically motivated ‘witch hunt’ (sic) and ‘lawfare’ presided over by ‘very hostile’, ‘corrupt and rogue officials’.

Former federal prosecutors Renato Mariotti and Kevin McMunigal believed that Trump’s aggressive outlook was a strategy to make his 2024 campaigns possible. Whatever people are saying, I maintain that Trump’s trial is one taken too far. That the former POTUS has many haters, most of whom are immigrants on U.S. soil, is in no doubt. Whether more of Trump’s inner circle in Florida will surge forward as witnesses in the pending suits or not, I want all charges against the former president dropped.

Trump had positively affected the U.S. in many ways. He stopped the holocaust the North Korea’s nuclear weapon could have caused in the U.S. He secured the U.S. border against terrorists and illegal migrants. Also credited to him are: military rebirth; massive healthcare delivery; adequate response to the COVID-19 challenge; huge investment in workers and family; fair and reciprocal trade; total deregulation; tax relief for the middle class; robust economic policy; and many more.

It’s ironical that the same president who’d saved and uplifted his people is now being persecuted by the same people he’d helped. That the law is supreme in the U.S. is undeniable, but such law should be relaxed for a Messiah like Trump, who hadn’t killed anyone. When Trump was president, he took his mind off much of his business and focused on governance in the White House. The ‘valuation’ hassle was a mere ‘guesstimation’ done by him in haste in order to have time for governance.

To conclude this story, I remark that conflict, humour, irony and combative language came into play in this historic trial that will make Hollywood’s best movie. The U.S. should rally behind Trump, drop all charges against him and focus on how to make America greater.

It’s been a cliffhanging legal battle all along; Judge Engoron had ruled that a fraud was committed and Trump’s fate and some of his properties are in Engoron’s hands, though Trump’s lawyers are looking to appealing any judgment. But the law allows Trump to pardon himself of all offences if he contests from prison and wins the November 2024 election, provided he’s not convicted in the two U.S. states in which he’s facing criminal charges. I’ll be glad to have Trump win back the White House.

Sola wrote from Port Harcourt.