Of course, Trump is entitled to postpone prosecution by having his “legal team” file endless documents and appeals. And it is quite legal for Lindsey Graham to keep on using the same legal dodge to avoid the grand jury. If you have enough money and are willing to lie, you can legally delay being brought to justice almost indefinitely.

However, justice delayed is justice denied. I read of the legal shenanigans of Trump, Graham, and countless other criminal fat cats. I read in the paper of two- or three-year delays between apprehension of perpetrator and trial. I read of prosecutions indefinitely suspended by screw-up district attorneys. If the law is not enforced, and promptly, the law is brought into disrepute, and criminals have no fear of getting caught because the consequences will be trivial or nil.

Donald Trump continues to delay any reckoning of and with his crimes. He has been getting away with this all his life. I believe that the failure to bring Trump to justice is yet another sign of the collapse of American democratic government. How is the American government to protect itself against those who would destroy it when it is wholly incapable of defending itself? Trump’s lawyers have obtained a stay of the lower court’s opinion, and will now seek a hearing before the appeals court, and if he strikes out there, it’s off to the Supreme Court. If the Trumpites on the Supreme Court enable Trump’s escape from justice, that will be the Republic’s epitaph.