This Is No Time to Celebrate. The System Is About to Be Tested Like Never Before.

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This evening, when the historic news broke that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict the former president (and leading GOP 2024 contender) Donald Trump in a hush-money scandal, our Washington, DC, bureau chief, David Corn, quickly sat down to issue this video warning: This is no time to celebrate; we are at a dangerous and uncertain moment.

Trump's chaos machine has already been unleashed following his indictment. And now the system is about to be tested like never before, warns @DavidCornDC. pic.twitter.com/gjOn4ztrPR

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) March 31, 2023

“There’s going to be a lot of information, misinformation, and maybe some disinformation out there in the tsunami of response and reaction,” Corn says. “And I don’t think people should be celebratory of this: It’s a sad day if a presidential candidate… is accused of a crime.”

Corn says now is the time to respect the rule of law, as the legal system is about to encounter an unprecedented test from a man capable of unleashing extreme chaos. “It will be very, very ugly, and I think in the midst of all that, what we need to remember is he is presumed innocent, and that is a good thing,” Corn remarks. “We have to say, ‘This is an indictment. We will let the system work.’”