The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump stayed out of the Fulton County courthouse on Sept. 6, 2023, but the Georgia election case did not slow down with him. He filed a not-guilty plea and waived his arraignment, one of 19 defendants originally scheduled to enter pleas that day in Superior Court. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/25a0d9cffd038eb88b805525c85ed0c5?utm_source=openai))

That left Trump without the in-person court appearance that would have put him squarely under the cameras. It also left the case exactly where prosecutors wanted it: on the calendar, moving through the ordinary machinery of a racketeering prosecution. His filing did not erase the charges or postpone the next round of litigation. It only took his name off the day’s live court docket. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/25a0d9cffd038eb88b805525c85ed0c5?utm_source=openai))

The sharper action that day came in a separate hearing on co-defendants Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, where Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said he was “very skeptical” about trying all 19 defendants together. That comment mattered because it underscored how much work still sat ahead in a case built around a single sprawling indictment but a tangle of individual defense strategies. ([ajc.com](https://www.ajc.com/politics/fulton-judge-denies-chesebro-powell-attempts-to-separate-trials/Q57EQ7BN2FA6NG65RFWWV6SIWQ/?utm_source=openai))

The broader Georgia case centers on allegations that Trump and others took part in an effort to overturn his 2020 loss in the state. Trump has tried to keep that fight in procedural lanes whenever possible, but the record keeps producing its own momentum. Even with his arraignment waived, the prosecution kept advancing through motions and hearings that made clear the Fulton County case was not going dormant just because Trump skipped a courtroom appearance. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/25a0d9cffd038eb88b805525c85ed0c5?utm_source=openai))

For Trump, the immediate benefit was obvious: no courthouse walk, no plea hearing on television, no fresh image of him entering a criminal court in a county that had become central to the 2020-election fallout. But the legal problem remains the same. The case still exists, the charges still stand, and the judge’s Sept. 6 comments showed that the road ahead was going to involve more argument, not less. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/25a0d9cffd038eb88b805525c85ed0c5?utm_source=openai))