Maddow predicts what 'could break' America is not the indictment but the MAGA reaction to it

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow came into the studio, despite Thursday not being her night to do the show, to discuss the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

"I do think there's one thing we all need to be preparing for here that we are maybe not prepared for and that is what I think is the very high probability that this is going to be boring," Maddow hoped. "I'm not sure we're prepared for that."

She explained that, "So much of the court battle is motions and debates, and I'm not sure either side's ideologically prepared, I don't think the punditry is prepared, I don't think you are prepared, because this feels like really big news and really big news feels like it has a lot of momentum. But as far as I can tell, this is about a legal proceeding starting, and if you look at the kind of legal proceeding this is going to be, I think we need to prepare ourselves for the fact that, A, this may go on for a really long time, and it might go on where the incremental additional news on this news story each day is something that feels like reading the small print on the back of a lottery ticket or even your car rental insurance waiver."

"This might really be boring," Maddow warned, because although this is the first time a former president has ever been prosecuted, the case itself "isn't something that is unprecedented in the world of criminal law, the actual adjudication of cases like this one, as much as we know about what kind of case this is, before the indictment's unsealed, the actual adjudication of cases like this is often a very boring thing. I will tell you, since this particular district attorney, Alvin Bragg, has been the district attorney for Manhattan, his office has reportedly charged falsification of business records as a felony count 117 times. He has not been D.A. for that long, but in that time he's been indicted on this charge 11 times. And that's what you call trivia because it's not that important. Not one of those cases was interesting enough to make the news on its own terms."

Additionally, Maddow said, this case has in some ways "already happened to a certain degree."

"The former president's business, called the Trump Organization, was not that long ago charged with felony tax evasion," said Maddow. "Felony tax evasion is a kind of cousin of the charge reportedly considered by the grand jury in their indictment today. It was absolutely fascinating news when the felony tax evasion charges were announced against Donald Trump's business. But then, you remember what happened thereafter? ... once they got a jury, they had a trial, and was a long trial, [with] lots of testimony about, you know, alleged criminal tax fraud. And then there was a verdict and you remember where you were when the verdict came out? No, you don't, you probably don't because it wasn't a moment where the earth moved. Maybe it moved for you. It didn't move for me."

Ultimately, Maddow said, what "could break" America is not the indictment itself — but Trump's supporters' potentially ugly nationwide reaction to it

Maddow then welcomed former special assistant district attorney Catherine Christian on her show, where she predicted "a circus" on Tuesday when Trump is arraigned and booked.

See the opener below or at the link here.

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