The 34 counts in the meager 15-page indictment suggest the inability of lawyers to count. The charges pertain to a few alleged hush payments that, through the magic of multiple charges on each payment, expand to 34 counts that threaten 136 years in prison. This, of course, would derail any Trump presidential runs from now through 2160. Some traumatized MSNBC viewers regard that as far too soon.

The People of the State of New York v. Trump — incidentally 62 percent of the former voted against the latter — leaves blank the underlying crime enabling the district attorney to charge Trump with felonies and skips over the nagging inconvenience of the statute of limitations. It affixes to charges the vague addendum “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.” Precisely what crime?

Alvin Bragg won’t tell us.

[That’s because there isn’t any underlying felony, at least not within Bragg’s jurisdiction. If there were, Bragg would have instructed the grand jury to explicitly add it to the indictment, or Bragg would have explained it in his added statement of relevant facts. He did neither, because he doesn’t have anything to add. — Ed]