Politics

This article came out around the time of his NY arraignment and did a really good job making this point

The arrest and arraignment of former President Donald J. Trump may have been an unprecedented moment in American history, with seismic implications for the political process. But as a legal process, it was more routine: On Tuesday, he became just another one of the roughly 31,000 people arraigned for felonies in dreary courtrooms across New York State each year.

Constitutionally, those people are entitled to equal treatment — but practically, we all know that’s not true. Usually there are handcuffs and mug shots, two indignities Trump himself avoided. (Law enforcement officials told the New York Times he wasn’t considered a flight risk.) But he couldn’t get around the fingerprinting.

There’s also no evidence that Trump spent time in an overcrowded holding cell, an experience that seems to cut through the haze of memory for many defendants, who described moldy sandwiches or pee-filled plastic cups.

By contrast, Trump was allowed to self-surrender and arrived in a multi-car motorcade, escorted by the Secret Service officers routinely assigned to a former president.

We asked people what the experience is like when you’re not a high-profile White defendant, arrested for a white collar crime, with access to top-flight lawyers, campaign donors, crowds of well-wishers and supporters. Some were indicted before their arrest, some after. The picture they give — as mostly defendants of color, mostly arrested for violent crimes — is of disorientation and hopelessness.

And usually the world is not paying attention.