Trump got a proper NY day in court

The pre-arraignment posturing and guesswork about the Manhattan district attorney’s charges against Donald Trump have ended. The allegations have been revealed, Trump has pleaded not guilty. Now the long road of preparing a case for trial begins — even as Tuesday's events could soon be overshadowed by other grand jury actions.

No other arrested civilian could have asked for more considerate treatment for his day in a New York court. Security in lower Manhattan was beefed up. Glass doors at 100 Centre Street were blacked out for protection. Trump wasn't handcuffed. There were no mug shots, no hallway press scrum. It was all carried out properly, promising an orderly process to come. Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Manuel Merchan adhered to the appropriate formalities in dignified defiance of Trump's years of cynical rants against norms and the American legal system. Trump sat glumly with his legal team in court.

The first indictment of an ex-president included 34 counts related to falsifying business records in the first degree. As expected, the underlying events mostly relate to hush money payments Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election.

Prosecutors were on solid ground when they told Merchan they were “very concerned” about Trump's inflammatory social-media postings, suggesting they could have an impact on jurors and witnesses. Defense attorney Todd Blanche replied that his client was "upset" and exercised his First Amendment rights. Merchan warned both sides against escalating the rhetoric. But he declined to issue a gag order. That's also proper. He showed self-restraint even as scion Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a hostile story on a right-wing media outlet that carried a photo of Merchan’s adult daughter.

Merchan is also unlikely to restrict Trump’s travel as he campaigns for the presidency, which is the correct decision. By the way: Bail for Trump can’t be set under the state’s 2019 changes to the bail law, since the crimes alleged in this indictment are nonviolent.

The felony counts alleging that Trump’s business books were cooked to cover up the hush money for his multiple encounters with Daniels are plainly detailed. The checks, check stubs, ledgers, vouchers, and invoices are dated and numbered. Will the indictment based on an untested legal theory hold up? That’s what the process ahead is about.

So far, the circus atmosphere part and parcel of Trump’s national presence has been kept outside the judicial process. His televised address Tuesday evening wasn't expected to change that.

The separation of political motive and judicial fairness is the most important aspect of this murky episode in American history — a sign of the normalcy in court that must prevail over political noise, regardless of what high position the accused may have held, or may hold.