The Wednesday Briefs 172 - 14 June 2023

THIS WEEK: Trump Indictment; EV Charging Stations; Ghastly Trinkets; US Infrastructure; S&P Sectors Update.

TRUMP INDICTMENT

What makes a country a banana republic? Prosecuting a top government official or failing to prosecute him/her? The answer depends on one's view of the person's innocence and on one's faith in the impartiality of the justice system. In the case of Donald Trump's indictment over top secret documents kept at Mar-a-Lago, the preponderance of evidence (as lawyers like to say) is that they were withheld illegally by Trump and his aides.

But then what about the second part of the banana republic acid test, the part about the impartiality of the justice system? This is where Trump supporters and nearly all GOP officials engage in some whataboutism. If the system was truly impartial, what about Joe Biden's own misdeeds? What about Hunter Biden? What about Hillary Clinton? Why were they never indicted? The answer to all these questions is t…