John Q. Public

Before Didion and Dunne learned to play the Hollywood game, the fledgling screenwriters made the rookie mistake of optioning books that they found interesting — not John Q. Public.

But to Jane and John Q. Public, to many of those outside the often confusing and impenetrable, opaque ring of the legal or criminal justice system, it’s merely code for “scram.”

John Q. Public was out of luck.

“How much of a responsibility does John Q. Public have when they see something that seems like a violation of the law, whether it’s violence or not?” he asked.

What would you tell John Q. Public, the average American who feels that what Trump did with Ukraine is no big deal because, “Politicians are all corrupt. Who cares?”