Remember the OJ Simpson trial? Well, buckle up, folks. NBC has filed a motion to televise Donald Trump’s Washington D.C. trial, set for next year.
It probably goes without saying that this will be the very first criminal trial against a US President.
Now, I’m as sick of all this as the next guy. It really is hard not just to keep up with everything that’s going on, but to maintain the appropriate level of outrage, after we keep seeing Trump get away with anything he wants for years on end now.
But NBC’s legal team makes a great point in their filing:
“The American public has an extraordinary interest in seeing and hearing this trial of former President Trump. If ever a trial were to be televised, this one should be, for the benefit of American democracy.”
I don’t particularly think the OJ trial needed to be televised. It certainly wasn’t for anyone’s edification — it was pure and simple entertainment for the easily entertained. It was like a murder mystery you might watch on A&E.
But Trump’s trial could finally show the cross-section of America who still loves Trump what the rest of us have known for a long time. Donald Trump is a criminal and always has been. His methods aren’t even interesting or unique. He is, as former attorneys for him have attested, petulant and childish in his desire to always have his way.
Will showing the world on live television what that kind of behavior nets you in the end serve to curb that behavior in others? If we can nail down a President for breaking the law, maybe we can prove that the justice system isn’t entirely one-sided.
Trump’s four felony charges in DC that make up the indictment are serious. He faces two for January 6, one for trying to stop the tallying of votes, and one for trying to disenfranchise voters.
It won’t be easy to get this motion granted. Federal courts have prohibited electronic media coverage from inside the courtroom for a long, long time.
But as NBC argues. “No compelling or substantial government interest supports restricting public access to a minuscule number of reporters and a handful of members of the public who can physically access the courtroom in Washington, D.C. to see and hear what happens.”
The trial is set to begin on March 4, 2024, just two days after what would have been Dr. Seuss’ 120th birthday. NBC is hoping to read “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” that day.