The Pop Corporation

Both Young Thug and Donald Trump are up against the Georgia legal system, on a RICO trial, and both camps will be watching each other closely. This leaves people in a unique bind, where the innocence of one may directly influence the innocence of the other.

See, broadly speaking, they’re being accused of the same thing and, if you find it unfair that Young Thug is having his lyrics (media) used against him, then it stands to reason that it is just as unfair for tweets (media) to be used against the former US president. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is the person bring the charges, and if the MAGA crowd don’t care about the plight of a rapper, or fans of Young Thug don’t care about the boorish prez, maybe they should.

While Thugger is being accused of running a crime organisation and the evidence is partly in his lyrics, Trump is being accused of racketeering and there’s apparently evidence in his media too.

Some of the same lawyers are defending both cases, so regardless of who you’re rooting for, it’ll be worth looking at the tactics used by Willis as she prepares her case.

Trump’s lawyers will absolutely be looking at how the prosecution aims to prove criminal activity under RICO with Young Thug and the YSL crew, because similar tactics will be coming his way. In both cases, some people have already pleaded guilty, and Trump’s legal team will want to know how Willis offered plea deals to co-operating co-defendants.

In both instances, there’s multiple defendants, numerous attorneys all within one trial, and it’s all moving at a snail’s pace and a lot of plates to spin. Every development in the YSL case will inevitably be something that applies to the Trump trial. If deals are being made in the Thug case, then it’ll happen in the other in a similar fashion.

Every time something is learned in one case, it’ll be applicable in the other, for both sides. At times, it almost feels like the YSL case is a test run for the Trump case.

And that’s because both cases are inextricably linked by issues surrounding the First Amendment – something held so dead by most people who live Stateside.

Trump is making plans to use a First Amendment defence in his trial, and Young Thug’s lawyers will be cribbing notes and hoping to do the same. How weighty are the words in these cases? Should they be protected? Is it evidence in plain sight?

One noticeable difference is that Young Thug has been in prison deprived of contact and fresh air for month, while Trump continues to go about his business.

Willis is a formidable opponent for both men, going hard after racketeering groups and gangs since she became her county’s district attorney in 2021. She’s said: “RICO is a tool that allows a prosecutor’s office and law enforcement to tell the whole story. We use it as a tool so jurors can have all the information they need to make a wise decision.”

Defence lawyers, meanwhile, think RICO cases make defendants “guilty by association”, and is a needlessly cruel way to put low level criminals in prison for a long time.

As such, Young Thug’s case is now bundled together with other people’s cases linked to murder and violence, and so too, Trump’s, linked with associates accused of forgery, election fraud conspiracies, and perjury. If one member of the organisation is convicted, it turns into a conviction for all.

If one person cooperates with the authorities to avoid jail time, things get very interesting. Would someone be willing to do 5 years in prison for Trump? Would someone be willing to serve time for Young Thug? Loyalties are going to be on show, innocent or otherwise.