Program Note: We are pre-empting today's entire Friday Talking Points column because of the historic nature of what has happened yesterday and today. Truth be told, by the time we were finished reading this morning's news, we were exhausted. And the scoops just kept coming as the day wore on. The indictment was unsealed and publicly released. The special counsel made a very brief public statement. The full scope of the case was revealed, and the country is still processing the information. So although there were a few other minor political stories last week, none of them are even in the same ballpark as what is happening in South Florida right now. Which is why all we have to offer up today is a rather free-floating rant on where we as a nation now find ourselves. We will return to this column's regular format next week, but for now we just couldn't focus on anything other than this developing story.

For the first time in American history, a former president of the United States has been indicted on federal charges -- 37 individual felonies. That is an extraordinary statement to make, but that's not surprising, since nothing about Donald Trump can ever be called "ordinary."

At first glance, it sounds like a James Bond story: classified top-secret documents, information on nuclear secrets, a Pentagon attack plan against a foreign country. But when you dig a little deeper, it sounds not like Bond but rather Mr. Bean... or perhaps even the Three Stooges.

Trump kept documents containing national secrets scattered all over his resorts -- in bathrooms, in vacant ballrooms -- not for any truly nefarious reason but to look cool and show off to his visitors. That's what the audio tapes indicate, at any rate. Here is Trump passing around the nation's secrets to his buddies, while complaining about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley:

Well, with Milley -- uh, let me see that, I'll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn't that amazing? I have a big pile of papers; this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this -- this is off the record, but -- they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.... This wasn't done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff -- pages long, look. Wait a minute, let's see here. I just found, isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.... This was done by the military and given to me.

In other words: "Hey, check this out! Isn't this cool?"

This, from a man who demonized his first political opponent for mishandling classified documents by getting his crowds to chant: "Lock her up!" Trump further admits that he knows full well that what he is doing is wrong, which was also caught on tape: "As president, I could have declassified it, but now I can't, you know, this is still a secret." Now, of course, his story is that he magically declassified everything using his presidential mental superpowers, which (by his own taped admission) is nothing more than a big fat lie.

The classification of any of the documents isn't even an issue, legally. It wouldn't matter to the indictment one way or the other whether the documents were still classified or not, in other words, because of the statutes Trump was charged under.

By the book, Trump has now been charged with: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information. Three counts of withholding or concealing documents in a federal investigation. Two counts of making false statements to law enforcement. And one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

This is in addition to the 34 other felonies Trump has been charged with, in New York state. The chickens are coming home to roost, in a big way. And this isn't even the end of the road, either. There were four active criminal investigations of Trump, two of which have not resulted (yet) in charges -- the federal investigation into Trump's culpability for the January 6th insurrection attempt, and charges in Georgia over election interference. That last one could include charges under the state's RICO laws, which are normally used to prosecute mob bosses and other organized crime figures.

Or, if you're keeping score at home: two down, two to go, with the score at 71 felony counts to date.

The charges filed this week are perhaps the easiest ones to prove in court. It's not really all that complicated. Trump took stuff he wasn't entitled to take. The government asked for it all back. Trump stalled for a whole year and then gave some of it back. The government demanded he turn over the rest of it. He turned over a few scraps. The government subpoenaed him. He turned over some more stuff, but not all of it. The government finally got a search warrant and searched his property, where they found a whole bunch more stuff that Trump wasn't supposed to have. And we have now learned that Trump casually passed national secrets around to show off to his cronies.

Those are the facts. Trump, and all his enablers within the Republican Party, are trying to obscure those facts by throwing as much sand into everyone's eyes as they can. Their basic position seems to be: "Laws don't apply to Donald Trump, because he is our Dear Leader." Good luck with that one, in front of a federal jury. The Department of Justice has somehow been "weaponized" because they are attempting to hold Trump accountable for his criminal behavior. This is pretty ironic, since Trump actually tried to weaponize the Justice Department against all his enemies while he was in office. Trump is a victim -- for being held accountable for his illegal actions. Or, to sum up: "WAAAAHHHH!!! No FAIR!"

As mentioned, this case may be the easiest to prove in a court of law. Did Trump have documents which he wasn't allowed to possess? Yes, he did. Did Trump show them to others? Yes, he did. Was Trump asked to return the documents? Yes, several times, several ways, with increasing seriousness. Did Trump refuse to give the documents back and then lie and say he had? Yes and yes. Open and shut.

Trump's legal problems seem to be getting more and more serious and far-reaching as time goes on. The first charges against him concerned hush money paid to an adult film star. These charges deal with classified national secrets. Not yet charged is Trump's involvement in fomenting an insurrection and attempting to strongarm Georgia officials into overturning a free and fair election in his favor.

So yes, this is all unprecedented -- a former president facing federal felony charges. But no president has ever shown such blatant and wide-ranging disrespect of the law and of the U.S. Constitution before. There is one reason we as a nation are where we are today, and that is that Donald Trump did all of this stuff. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they are finally starting to catch up with him.

Two down, two to go.

In reaction to the indictment, two of Trump's top lawyers immediately quit. There's a real vote of confidence for you!

Of course, nobody knows how this is all going to play out, considering that Trump is currently the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. Yes, people have indeed previously run for president from a jail cell. But neither Eugene Debs nor Lyndon LaRouche had any prayer of actually winning, so it was kind of a moot point. Trump, however, has been dominating the GOP field so far, and the last time he was indicted his poll numbers actually went up.

The timing of the trial will be key, of course. The case has initially been given to the most Trump-friendly judge in South Florida, but she likely won't be in charge of the case all the way to the end. The Justice Department has already called for a "speedy trial" to happen, so it sounds like they are ready to go. Trump, of course, will file a bazillion motions in an attempt to make the case go away (not likely) or delay it for years (also not likely). One way or another, Trump is going to have to spend some campaign time sitting in some courtrooms.

If Trump is convicted of any of the dozens of felonies he has been charged with, he could face jail time. He may get a light sentence for his first conviction, seeing as how he will be a "first-time offender," but that card can only be played once. Afterwards, Trump will be sentenced as a repeat offender, meaning his sentences might get a lot more severe. Trump has already been charged in New York and now at the federal level. He may face additional federal charges as well as a case in Georgia. Trump is also facing a serious civil case in New York, which may wind up dismantling his namesake company.

This is the man Republican voters want as president. Personally, we never want to hear another Republican utter the phrase "law and order" ever again. They simply have no leg to stand on anymore. They are a party of lawlessness and disrespect for the American system of justice, plain and simple.

It's not just Trump. It is all his enablers within the GOP. Already there are loud cries from prominent Republicans echoing all the whining Trump has been doing on his pet social media platform. "WAAAAAHHHH!!!!" they all cry. "No FAIR!!!" they whine. Even most of the people running against Trump for the GOP nomination are too cowardly to do any different. So far, from what we've read, there are only two prominent Republicans who have refused to join this anguished chorus: Senator Mitt Romney and presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson. Chris Christie may also join that short list, but since he is a former federal prosecutor he is (as of this writing) taking the time to fully read the indictment before he offers his opinion. Other Republicans who are not as prominent may also eventually speak out against what Trump has been charged with. This is not a payoff to a porn star, this is casually passing around the nation's highest secrets to brag and appear cool. That is some serious wrongdoing, and it was caught on tape. This isn't some incredibly intricate legal case, it is a slam dunk.

Hutchinson has already called for Trump to get out of the presidential race. Romney, who previously had pooh-poohed the porn-star felony charges against Trump, was downright scathing, releasing the following statement:

Like all Americans, Mr. Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence. The government has the burden of proving its charges beyond a reasonable doubt and securing a unanimous verdict by a South Florida jury.

By all appearances, the Justice Department and special counsel have exercised due care, affording Mr. Trump the time and opportunity to avoid charges that would not generally have been afforded to others.

Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so.

These allegations are serious and if proven, would be consistent with his other actions offensive to the national interest, such as withholding defensive weapons from Ukraine for political reasons and failing to defend the Capitol from violent attack and insurrection.

The key phrase: "Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself." He could easily have avoided all this if he had only done the right thing -- as Joe Biden and Mike Pence both did, when they discovered classified documents in their own papers. All he had to do was give them back and none of this would have happened.

He didn't. Which is precisely what he has now been charged with.

Trump, of course, is proclaiming his innocence. But his argument seems to be: "I declassified everything in my mind" (which doesn't even matter to the charges filed), and: "That stuff was mine, I had every right to keep it!" (which is flat-out false). That's it. That's all he's got. No wonder he keeps losing lawyers. Trump doesn't exactly give them much to work with.

Next Tuesday, we will again see the spectacle of Trump doing a perp walk. This time, however, the breathless door-to-door media chase will be a lot shorter, since it won't involve an airplane flight. Trump will be driven to the Florida courthouse, he will surrender himself, and he will be booked. This could include getting his fingerprints taken and a mug shot. It might even involve Trump being frogmarched in handcuffs, but that is probably too much to hope for. He will have to sit in a federal courtroom and listen to a judge read off all 37 charges against him. He will almost certainly plead "not guilty." Then he'll be released into the wild again, although it would certainly be amusing if he were fitted with an ankle monitor (again, probably too much to hope for), since he could be considered a flight risk (literally -- the man owns his own plane after all).

A trial date might be set during these proceedings. Trump's already facing a trial next spring up in New York, and of course there is the whole presidential campaign as well. There may be some extended discussion between the parties about the classified documents Trump is charged with taking, since some of them have the highest-possible levels of classification. Will they be made public and presented in court? Questions surrounding this issue will likely be the first thing that happens after the arraignment. Even though the special counsel called for a "speedy trial," all of the pre-trial activities are likely to take many months.

Donald Trump is no stranger to the inside of a courtroom. He has reportedly been a part of over 3,500 court cases to date. But these are the first two criminal cases Trump has ever faced. He's about to find out that criminal cases are not the legal playthings that civil cases can be (Trump is a past master of abusing the court system to attack his enemies). He will make the attempt to "try the case in the court of public opinion," as he always does. He is already raising money off his indictment. And as we said, his poll numbers actually went up when he was first indicted in New York, and that could easily play out again among the Republican base.

But sooner or later, even Republican voters might start to wonder if this entire circus is really worth it. Is Trump truly their best shot at retaking the White House in 2024? Could another Republican perhaps carry a lot more independent voters who will be turned off by either a felon or an accused felon on the GOP ticket? The initial "rally 'round the flag" support for Trump may disappear, over time. Then again, it might not. The more charges Trump faces, the more Republican voters might dig in their heels in support of him.

As of this writing, Trump is up to 71 felony charges lodged against him. But he's not out of the legal woods yet. And the ones still pending are even more serious than the charges he now faces, because both deal with an attempt to overturn an American presidential election. This is all unprecedented. We have had other presidents exhibit criminal behavior in the White House in our history, but none have ever had to answer for their crimes in a court of law. Trump is now not only the first president to be impeached twice, he is now the first ex-president to be indicted twice as well. And we're not even done with this first act of the entire drama, we're only halfway through.

Two down, two to go.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground