Former President Donald Trump’s first utterance after his arrest and booking on 13 counts in Fulton County, Georgia, was to say, “It’s a sad day for America…” For one of the few times in his political career, Donald Trump told the truth (more on that later), with that preamble to his usual screed about a rigged election and protestations of “I did nothing wrong” or “this is election interference,” addressing a gaggle of reporters before boarding his plane. The sad day is not because a former President of the United States has been indicted not once or twice but four times; it is because a President of America brought the country so low with his criminality, immorality, and lying that the world now knows him as inmate number P01135809.
As for the truth, Mr. Trump could not even get past his booking form without perpetuating a lie and embellishing it in this case. If memory serves, former White House physician and now Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX) told us Trump was 6’3” tall and weighed 239 lbs. Dr. Jackson, a carryover from the Obama administration serving as a White House physician, was plagued with scandal and controversy. Jackson withdrew his name from consideration as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs amidst complaints of mismanagement and misconduct. Famously, now Rep. Jackson told us Mr. Trump had “incredible genes” prior to giving his height and weight measurements.
People laughed out loud at both pronouncements, but it seemed no harm, no foul. Yesterday, Mr. Trump listed his official height and weight on his arrest and booking form as 6’3, 215 lbs. After you finish laughing, the question must be: Did he knowingly lie on an official state law enforcement form? One might ask, how do I know what Donald Trump might weigh? I was curious when his booking sheet was released, and it occurred to me that retired quarterback Tom Brady is only an inch taller, and his last playing weight was 225 lbs. You may be thinking that Tom Brady was a football player and muscle weighs more than fat. Mr. Trump seems to spend most of his days golfing, so I looked for a golfer with his “approximate’ measurements and came up with Taylor Montgomery, who, as it turns out, is 6’3” tall, and his listed weight is 215 lbs.
One’s weight is trivial; many lie about the truth our bathroom scales tell us. For Mr. Trump, something as trivial as how much he weighs is a bay window into his soul.
He has been willing to lie about his loss to President Joe Biden for over two years, fomenting divisions within families, politics, and the country to soothe his fragile ego. Lives have been ruined, such as those of poll workers Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman. Officers Michael Fanone and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell were forced to end their careers due to injury and PTSD after the January 6 riot, not to mention the countless officers who have resigned since January 2021. Unlike the lawyers facing criminal charges who chose to follow Mr. Trump, the others were performing public service as real patriots, not the cosplay patriots who mock the Constitution like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers. Someday in history books—outside of Florida, prosecutors Fani Willis, Jack Smith, and Alvin Bragg will be heroes and a reminder to everyone how close we came to losing our democracy—if we can hang onto it.
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