March 30, 2023

It was, to a degree, inevitable.

Donald Trump’s story was curated by the New York City tabloids, the newspapers that magnified his wealth and his tawdry exploits while catapulting him to a type of celebrity that he eventually wielded to capture the highest office in the land.

But on Thursday, March 30, those same forces that turned Trump into a mix of caricature and fame resulted in him becoming the first ex-president in the history of the United States to be charged with a crime. The charges in the indictment set to be unsealed by the Manhattan district attorney — crimes connected to the accusation of using a fixer to pay hush money to a porn star over an affair — felt ripped straight from the pages of the 1980s New York Post and New York Daily News. Trump, as always, was the character at which to marvel or gawk.

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