Below is a slightly expanded version of my column in the New York Post on the verdict in the Trump trial. The Manhattan case, in my view, was a raw political use of the criminal justice system. It is only the latest example of the use of the justice system for political purposes and harkens back to the Adams Administration at the start of our Republic. I discuss that period in my book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (which is available this month).
Here is the column:
After years of trying — in the words of the judge — “to get the damned rascal in this court,” it was a conviction that many welcomed.
But those words were not from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, and the conviction was not that of former President Donald Trump.
Rather they were from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, at the end of the 18th century, when America embraced political prosecutions to target critics and opponents.
The man on trial then was James T. Callender, a muckraking writer critical of President John Adams.
For accusing politicians of corruption, Callender was charged with sedition, fined $200 and put in prison.
It was one of the many political prosecutions carried out by the Adams administration.
Undeniable reality
Political prosecutions are something most citizens associate with dictatorships.
But the Trump prosecution has forced many to confront the undeniable reality of the politicization of our legal system.
In many respects, President Biden and Democrats have re-created the Adams era.
Biden has led calls for censorship of political critics and his administration has coordinated the silencing and the blacklisting of those with opposing views.
Democratic politicians have pressured social-media companies to serve as surrogates for the government in banning, throttling and defunding individuals and groups.
Indeed, I have previously written that Biden is now the most anti-free-speech president since Adams.
The Adams era also reflected the same blind loyalty of many media outlets.
Federalist publications supported the crackdowns while echoing charges against political opponents as seditionists and insurrectionists.
Jeffersonian publications, like Callender’s, attacked Adams for his “unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice.”
The nation was divided down the middle as both sides accused each other of being traitors and insurrectionists. Sound familiar?
A chilling return
Yet, it is the politicization of the legal system that is the most chilling return to the Adams era.
Even liberal legal analysts and figures have admitted that the case against Trump was unprecedented and would not have been brought against anyone other than Trump.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig recently wrote that there should be concern over a judge being appointed (not randomly selected) who is not just a Biden donor but someone who “has earmarked donations for ‘resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.’”
Adding to these concerns is the movement of the third-highest official in the Biden Justice Department to the staff of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to build the case against Trump.
Before joining the case, Matthew Colangelo was also paid by the Democratic National Committee for “political consulting.”
So Trump was convicted in a trial with a Biden donor judge, who has a daughter who is a major Democratic operative, a lead prosecutor previously paid as a DNC political consultant and a jury selected in a district that voted roughly 90% against Trump.
The trial itself was a travesty.
Even after sitting in the courtroom watching the trial and the verdict, I still have no idea what Trump was convicted of in the case.
The charges were built on a dead misdemeanor barred with the passage of the statute of limitations.
It was zapped back into life by alleging that the falsification of business records occurred to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.
Merchan told the jury members that they did not have to agree on what those unlawful means may have been.
Specifically, he allowed them to base their verdict on any one of three vaguely defined crimes of a federal election violation, falsification of business records or taxation violations.
Thus, the jury could have divided 4-4-4 on what actually occurred but the verdict was still treated as unanimous by Merchan to convict Trump.
Like much else in the case, that didn’t matter in deep-blue Manhattan.
Legal analysts and commentators openly celebrated on MSNBC and CNN — joining many in the streets.
This was a thrill-kill conviction, and the response of many in the media bordered on the indecent.
For many outside of Manhattan, the scene was repulsive and chilling.
You can hate Donald Trump but still be repelled by the use of the criminal justice system for political purposes.
There is, however, one silver lining. We went through political prosecutions under Adams and, to a lesser extent, Thomas Jefferson.
Yet, we survived. Our system corrected such abuses over time.
The Alien and Sedition Acts used to prosecute Callender expired.
Justice Samuel Chase was impeached for his partisanship (though not convicted).
With this case, you feel the weight of history in the conviction of a former president, but also a historical awakening.
Sometimes it takes a great abuse to shock the public into recognizing the need to act.
That was the case when the public finally saw Sen. Joe McCarthy in the first televised hearing of an Un-American Activities hearing. It was enough to stop the Red Scare and the abuses of political dissidents. Back then, the left was the target of such weaponization of the legal process. Today, it is the left pushing such abuses.
In the faces of ecstasy of demonstrators and commentators alike this week, we see the same joyful release from the bounds of legal process. The addictive quality of rage.
For them, it was a cathartic moment that was described by one commentator as a reason to celebrate and a “majestic” moment.
For the rest of us, it was more menacing than majestic.
It could prove to be the moment that galvanized many outside of Manhattan; the moment when citizens saw where our rage has taken us.
Sometimes we have to be forced to see what we have become to better understand who we are.
We are better than this.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
It was also a ‘coming out’ opportunity for Andrew Weissmann to declare his “man love” for merchant.
Turley might be overly optimistic. I think the totalitarian forces of the media, the academy, high tech firms, mass entertainment industry and a large contingency of the Democratic Party will make it difficult to turn the tide. Unless the great unwashed masses wake up their liberties will be eviscerated before they know it. The rubicon will be crossed
I do believe it already has been crossed. The Barbarians are no longer at the gate, but within. Read Kurt Schlichter’s excellent piece from Townhall.com. Keep in mind that, like Prof. Turley, he is no admirer of Trump. But, like Prof. Turley, he is passionate about the rule of law and concerned where this country–and the civilized world–is headed.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2024/05/31/america-is-not-yet-rome-but-democrats-better-worry-that-it-is-going-that-way-n2639815
THanks, Mary, for an appropriate contribution to this blog; I just reviewed it.
From the Democrat’s point of view, little Juanito Merchan was wildly successful with his Stalin-like show trial. They can now scream CONVICTED FELON until November 5th. He will be awarded his Order of the Red Star shortly.
I would suggest that Trump wear the Convicted Felon title like a badge of honor. I would insist that I was called that so that voters remember that it was democrats that orchestrated this…and that if they can do it to me, imagine what they can do to you. That’s the message he needs to send. They’re trying to put me away, and once they do that, there’s no one stopping them from coming after you. He can show that there’s been a pattern of politically motivated, unusual, rarely prosecuted cases, DOJ involvement. Its a good message, and it happens to ring true. If the conviction is successfully appealed before the election, its just icing on the cake.
Listen up, MAGA.
Trump originally won your vote cause he said he was a business man, and he knows how to run a business. We just watched him in court after going bankrupt 6 times, falsifying business records.
Instead of dealing with this information, you decide that the entire court system is after Trump. Because it’s easy and you’re lazy. Instead of thinking the courts are completely rigged. Perhaps the more practical conclusion is: Trump is a shitty businessman.
But of course, going with that conclusion will also make you realize you’ve been deceived and conned.
This man has been sucking you dry for years now. $250 million to stop the steal and he just put the cash in his pocket. Didn’t even pay his lawyers.
Every day, fat body and his family are on video asking for money. Sending you email after email asking for money. The Trumps beg for money more than the homeless on the street.
He has screwed over 1000s of everyday hard working blue collar folks like yourself. Yet you still over look this fact. Because it’s easy and you’re lazy. Instead of challenging yourself, you’ve found a community that plays into our 2 basic instincts, reaction and comfortability. Its hard to challenge yourself, so you stay comfortable and just react. It makes life easier because, again, nobody likes to admit they’ve been fooled. The lie is too big now. The stakes are too high. It’s clear there’s nothing this man can do to lose your vote and when this train crashes, it’s going to break your world.
You Biden campaign operatives really should come up with some new material. Deflection works for those who are deluded and of limited intellect. I’m thankful most of those types are on your side!
Thank you. Saved me typing. I will say their hatred of Trump vast supersedes their love of country. So sad and so frightening.
Mary,
They are an angry, hate and rage filled bunch.
Bless their hearts, they’re trying as hard as they can. They’ve tried everything and Trump’s approval numbers keep rising. A major dem billionaire finances a defamation case, where she alleges she was raped 30yrs ago. No one cares, because they see that she’s a nut job that had 30yrs to make this claim, and didn’t. She’s written books about all the many men who have raped her (apparently, she is very rape-able) but never did she mention Trump’s name, not even once. Not when he was a billionaire playboy in NYC, not when he was running for office in 2016, only now. They go after his business by attacking $1mil or so in fringes…spread out over 14yrs. It wasn’t brought by the IRS, or even NY Div of Taxation, but by the Southern Dist of NY. No one cared, because they saw it for the sham in was. They go after Trump for overstating the value of his real estate. Apparently, something that is so commonly done, that the NYC DA and the Gov had to calm the entire business community down by assuring them that it was only Trump they were after. They try to go after him for possessing classified docs, but somehow forget that presidents have an unlimited power to declassify. Only to find that Biden had them too, except they predated even his vice presidency. No worries, we’ll just get the DOJ prosecutor to claim that Biden is too feeble to prosecute. Hell they were able to convince everyone that Hillary’s bathroom server, containing classified material, somehow made sense. Why not try it again?
You just keep cutting and pasting the same ad hominem attack?
The MAGAs will follow Trump no matter what. He could rape and murder their dog in front of them and they would quickly argue that the dog was dressed provocatively and was old anyhow.
Now you are just being ridiculous.
You leftists on the other hand, groom children, protect pedos, want to cut off health body organs or chemical castration, try to get yourselves in between a parent and their child and support pornography in elementary schools.
Those are actual facts.
A congress woman just recently declared, ‘I’m done with us’ in Democrats trying to protect pedos, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrat-california-senator-blasts-party-over-pedophile-jail-sentence-fight-i-m-done-with-us/ar-BB1nkH4k
They are masters of deflection, what they do is what they accuse of others. It’s the same BS, DeNitwit accuses Trump of being a dictator and never leaving, of never having another election. Was it Trump that stole an election? Was it Trump that subversively disrupted his Administration for four years? Was it Trump that has weaponized the DOJ, FBI, CIA & IRS? Was it Trump who had his DOJ pursue his political opposition through abuse of the justice department? No, it was not, it is the corrupted Swamp creatures that did this, they want elections as long as they control them, they are the dictators not Trump. He gummed up their scam, think what you wish but his policies put Americans citizens first!
Trump ‘has screwed over 1000s of everyday hard working blue collar folks like yourself.”
Those “blue collar folks” used to be able to afford groceries, rent, gas.
Now, thanks to Bidenomics, those are luxury items.
“We are better than this.” I hope you are proved right, Professor Turley, but I am extremely pessimistic.
I’ve been around since the Eisenhower administration and, at the risk of sounding like a cynical old man, I’ve observed little that could give me reason for hope for the future of this this so-called constitutional republic. Steady decay is all I’ve witnessed – from the murder of a sitting president (who probably gained office through corrupt means) to war after war (all promoted through lies, including the phony 9/11 narrative) to this perversion of our so-called justice system.
So I ask you this sincere question: If we are truly better than this, why have we not shown it during the past sixty-five years?
I believe the United States of America is in its death throes.
-John
“So I ask you this sincere question: If we are truly better than this, why have we not shown it during the past sixty-five years?”
Since your question was sincere, I will respond. America, as a superpower, has significantly elevated the standard of living for the entire world. Despite some missteps, history portrays it as the most benevolent superpower. Consider the profound influence it has had on global trade and interaction, which would be markedly different without America’s involvement. Even its adversaries, such as Germany and Japan, experienced a remarkable turnaround, thanks to America’s post-WW2 aid and support, leading to their unprecedented growth and prosperity.
Odd that the president, Biden, that brags about ignoring the Supreme Court on student loans being shifted to tax payers (it is not “forgiveness”) now says that one must not complain about a legal judgment.
Just another day here in Doublestandardstan.
What will happen after November 5 if Trump wins (which is quite possible). Are the dems going to accept the result of the election? I sincerely doubt that. First, they will try to not certify the results of the election, hoping that enough anti-Trump Reps will support that. If that fails, massive and nation-wide demonstrations and rioting of Antifa groups ( de facto the military arm of the De,. party) will emerge to the extent that Biden can call an emergency situation, declare martial law, and decide that given the situation, the transfer of power will be delayed indefinitely (there is your coup d’etat). A civil war may then break out. Am I worried? Damn right I am. The dems are unhinged in their hatred, lack any self-control, and will justify any action as for the purpose is saving democracy. Damn right I am.
@Double Dutch
I’ve been thinking similar. Obama and his claws are one of the worst mistakes we’ve ever made as a country, and I do not see how we have honest dealings with a dem regime bent on total power by any means called for. It is very concerning. I have every expectation everything you’ve outlined could easily transpire. Some of it is likely already on the DNC spreadsheet.
I too think violent upheaval in the near future is a probability. Many of these regime monsters are as stupid as they are corrupt, but eventually they will awaken to the fact that the hit jobs on DJT are only strengthening him. I have to believe that if they can’t be certain the fix is in for Nov. 5th, they will pull out all the stops to murder Trump. Should that fail, I can easily see the scenario you propose.
The President is out of office noon, Jan 20 2025. If there is no President, the speaker of the House is President.
That was always the lie surrounding the “insurrection” The clock will ALWAYS expire on a Presidential term.
Dutchy
Don’t worry, old Joe will start WW3 before the election because he knows they will lose. A major war is their last hope, a civil war they would lose.
Pluto is once again just into Aquarius, for the first time SINCE the Presidency of John Adams. (And no, I am not kidding. This period has also historically depicted times of great censorship.)
More over, the US is in a period (astrologically) where it will either re-affirm its founding principles or it will walk away from them and never look back. (Google Pluto return in the US natal chart….) Before it is resolved we will be an another war (because Uranus is about to move into Gemini, a place it has been three times since the founding, and we have always been in war when it is there.) Just saying folks. You can laugh or you can cry, astrologists understand their craft from a body of knowledge that originates from comparisons of the same planetary transits through four thousand years of history.
If this insanity continues for much longer, I might just consider moving Myanus to Gemini – or somewhere far from here.
Perhaps but whatever you do, do not circle Uranus in search of Kingons…
Perhaps Doris Keans Goodwin should read this article! She is a historian who seems to favor her politics over objectivity. Her comments on the Trump verdict and the view of it in 50 years is nothing more than nonsense. What will tell the real story are the facts and slowly, they will rise up and hold everyone accountable. Even the historians!
A comment elsewhere stated that his “intention” was to win the election and that is why he is guilty of a wrong. Not necessarily that he did anything, but because he “thought” of doing something. Of course he had an intention to win the election, why else would he have run? Didn’t Hillary Clinton have an “intention” to win the election. It seems she put into movement her intention and was fined for using campaign monies to do so. So, I am not sure I am seeing a difference, other than it was Donald Trump and the sorry state of “hate” that has been created by a group of ?leaders? Shuman, Pelosi, Obama, Clinton, Biden, the far left elected controlled by the Board of Shadowy figures, et al. From the moment of his nomination in 2015, “they” were out to get him. They have been upping their game since.
Just can’t wait till Turley is writing about Hunter Biden’s soon to be trial for his Trump cult followers. Turley never seems to see any laws that Trump breaks, but Turley will go full blast on Hunter Biden. And then, we will see how the Trump cult feels about the rule of law.
Oh FishWings. I’m so disappointed I had to scroll so far down before I arrived at your usual attack on Prof. Turley and your whataboutisms.
“We are better than this.“
Some of us are better than this. For others blind partisanship is all they are capable of.
I enjoyed this column because it also reminded us of the perversion that Politics sometimes causes in the actions of previously salutary people.
John Adam’s defended the British soldiers of the Boston Massacre and basically got them off by persuading a jury in Boston to give them Justice. He was one of the main architects of the Rule Of Law and its establishment in the new Republic. A vociferous supporter of independence and the law and yet when he became president he threw it all away with the Alien and Sedition acts and took an attack on policy as an attack on himself.
Such can be the effects of the siren song of power, money and politics.
Also we should always remember that New York City remained heavily pro British through the revolution. In contrast to Boston and Philadelphia. It was also the city which never could elect Theodore Roosevelt to Mayor even as the state elected him to the governorship and the nation to the Presidency (one of our greatest).
I remind people that Hilary did worse and was never charged , John Edwards was acquitted for virtually the same action as Trump. And the Big Guy was quid pro quo personified and bragged about in an interview. Also consider that Trump was a target of extortion and he was basically convicted of defending himself. But that is typical of New York City law now. Defend yourself in a Bodega, or on the subway, or shoot a robber who then makes it out into the street and you’re arrested.
In most of the rest of the US, that is vermin control, but in New York City the vermin are in control.
I am concerned, very concerned. We have never asked for Sainthood in our politicians but we have usually demanded a level playing field and settling issues at the ballot box. Last I heard there is no present or ex president who is on the short list for canonization.
Also remember that the Republicans expelled Santos but Menendez still sits in the Senate with gold bars in his desk (got to keep a close eye on those bars you know)
I prefer we get out of the New York Court system and go to federal court if there is any avenue to do it. I am concerned that some hothead somewhere will do something stupid and it will all go up in flames.
I worry about that a lot because we have a president who can’t tell friend from foe on any consistent basis and does something stupid almost every day.
Ditto! You express the concerns of many of us. Trump is the means to an end — Get him, get the laws. Snakes slither, hidden from view before they strike. At least with Trump you know what he thinks! Is that really what this is about — silence Trump and the snakes multiple and soon, they strike the blow in unisons that kills! We are at a sad — and frightening — time in our country’s history.
Hard times make for strong men.
I am jaguars paw, this is my jungle. My father hunted it before me and his father before him. I do not think I will let you take it! Cliche’ but that is what this is boiling down to.
Wonderful commentary, GEB. I am a member of the New York Bar. I am planning to send Professor Turley’s column and another masterful column by Andy McCarthy to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
GEB said: “A vociferous supporter of independence and the law and yet when he became president he threw it all away with the Alien and Sedition acts and took an attack on policy as an attack on himself”
Both John and Sam Adams, whom I must relectantly acknowledge as cousins, were capable of hypocrisy of the first order. This was demonstrated long before John Adams became President. The Revolutionary War was costly for the Colony of Massachusetts, and after independence was achieved, the relatively wealthy residents of the eastern part of the state (prominently including the Adamses) decided they didn’t want to foot the bill, so they used their disproportionate political power to force the residents of the much poorer agricultural areas in Western Mass to assume an inequitable share of the tax burden by imposing increased taxes and other levies on them. This resulted in what is known as Shay’s Rebellion, an uprising that was put down by forces closely allied with the Adams brothers (by some accounts, Sam Adams actively led forays against the rebels), with little mercy shown. It’s highly ironic that members of the Boston crowd most responsible for this injustice were also the most vocal supporters of the “no taxation without representation” mantra prior to the Revolution.
Professor, very well written. I am afraid you are too optimistic. I hope you are proven right.
This is damaging to this country for everyone.
We are in deep trouble financially and the world is falling apart. Everyone feels the pinch at the grocery stores and other skyrocketing costs of living and doing business. It is tough out there. Our current White House occupant is diminished and unaware of the circumstances. He seems content to vacation at his beach home.
@E.M.
Agreed, except: they know exactly what they are doing. No one on the modern left is unaware of a damned thing, this was no less rigged and scripted than the impeachments or the J6 debacle. And they know exactly what their policies are doing, too. They are so power mad and hubris-filled they don’t care.
I would like to see this happen to you. I don’t care.
You will care. You will be sporting a new nuclear tan, just like everyone else in Biden’s WWIII.
Turley overlooked that Wilson also jailed opponents, with the connivance of Congress, perhaps, but conscientious objectors to World War I were finally released from prison by Harding.
Once a people get themselves into a pickle like this I am unsure how they extract themselves. Mexicans may have gotten rid the the PRI, but that has not improved Mexican politics one bit. Look at Russia. So, voting might help, but probably not. Rascals figure out how to game elections. Depending on the public to fully see what’s going on? Remember George Carlin’s observation, or the myth of the rational voter. The opposition is weak, see for example Larry Hogan, or divided, i.e. Mitt Romney.
One thing that is so different from the Adams Administration is the breadth of the nuttiness on display. Just to point out one example, under Biden’s revisions, Title IX will now lead to womens’ records in sports eventually being held by men. Or as another example, what rational administration could possibly follow the Obama idea of making the apocalyptic Iran a regional power? Unimaginable nuttiness.
Good point. Wilson was also a progressive democrat, racist and despised the constitution
It’s up to ALL of us to make sure Donald J Trump is sentenced to community service for a 4 year term!
This was one of the weakest articles I’ve read by Turley on this subject. I suspect that he is trying to straddle the line between pragmatist and still getting invited to DC cocktail parties. So what is the message here? History repeats itself, and apparently, when corruption exists, it’ll all “work itself out”?? The difference between Adams era and now is that voting the rascals out doesn’t really fix the problem. In Adams era you didn’t have a vast unelected bureaucracy of law enforcement, prosecutors, intelligence officers, tax collectors, and civil servants, that have no problem helping the left to further the agenda. You didn’t have billions flowing in from foreign countries through non-profits and NGOs, to attack us from within.
Forget democrat or republican for a moment, can anyone really explain how “Soros” prosecutors are helping this country? Are soft on crime DAs in high crime inner cities helping to improve the lives of the honest people that live there? It may be one thing to increase the quotas and drastically reduce the red-tape to allow people to come to this country legally, but can anyone explain how encouraging millions to enter the country illegally is helping? Most of these people will be unable to get real work, most have no skills, no education. The nearly $1tril spent in the “inflation reduction act”, that was largely responsible for the inflation that we can’t seem to get rid of today, was that helpful to anyone? What did we receive for that money? Doesn’t inflation mostly hurt the poor and elderly on fixed incomes the most? Doesn’t massive illegal immigration hurt the poor by diverting their social services and hurt those with unskilled union the jobs the most? Is a green energy policy (that excludes most of the western countries of the world) of building electric cars, with components sourced mostly from China, when we’re sitting on the largest oil reserve in the world, a useful policy for the US? Every four years the left seems to dangle the carrot of student loan relief in from of the mules. Biden has been one of the most corrupt and incompetent presidents in history. He’s even been a terrible democrat, and yet he still has the support of over 1/3 of the electorate, assuming that the other 2/3’s are republicans and “independents”. Turley might be right, we might be able to vote the rascals out and it could all “work itself out”, but he’s glossing over a lot of history. It could also just as easily lead to a civil war.
@Anon
I don’t see it as glossing over. I don’t think the intent was an essay on minutiae of record, but rather the fact we made it through similar more or less in tact, and we could do so again. Don’t miss the forest for the trees. 😉
I am a new subscriber to this blog, and as a serious conservative, am happy to receive it. It is dangerous to listen only to your own side.
That said, while I agree with Professor Turley’s sentiments, I believe that a very serious shock needs to be applied for effect. The Dems apparently think there is no risk in prosecution of former GOP Presidents once out of office. They have no idea of the Pandora’s Box theyve opened, and need a blunt example.
I would propose that the next Republican Administration (hopefully in January) indict Barrack Obama on murder charges for ordering the drone-strike vaporization of Anwas al-Awlaki in 2011. A bad guy, but (key) an American citizen killed with zero due process of law, other than being included by Obama on a CIA “Kill List”. Unlike business records cases, murder has no statute of limitations.
While I shed no tears foe this terrorist, he can serve as a useful retard to hoist up the currently laughing hyenas in the left wing press and the Democrat Party overall. I’m not sure that even this would provide the object lesson, but I’d love to see the parade of exploding heads.
“It is dangerous to listen only to your own side.”
If you think Turley will give you the other side, you’ll find you’re mistaken.
@enigma
Troll, and a ridiculous one. Turley is often *maddeningly* impartial.
What are his BLM pronouns?
Nope, Turley often offers mild criticism such as, “I wouldn’t have said it that way.” But he can be counted on to give Trump a pass or only see First Amendment attacks on “conservatives” and see a guilty verdict as having to be something other than actual guilt, couldn’t be that.
You don’t have to try them for murder, even though Obama clearly ordered the murder by drone of the son of Awlaki. FDR was not charged with ordering the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans without due process. Truman was not charged with killing tens of thousands of innocent Japanese citizens. LBJ was not charged with all of the lies and abuses he engaged in that led to the deaths of 50,00 boys in an Asian country many of those boys could not find on a map. GWB was not tried for alleged violations of human and civil rights in ordering the round up, “torturing” and imprisoning without trial many alleged terrorists after 9/11.
But alleged bookkeeping errors, without a victim, are what Democrats have decided is worth prosecuting.
Democrats have also decided statute of limitations are irrelevant. All you have to do is concoct and try a Rube Goldberg-like case involving alleged bookkeeping errors in which nobody was harmed.
It does not matter if the Democrat is found guilty. The process is the punishment. The point is to abuse the law to disrupt their life, create family tensions, and try to impoverish them by forcing them to deplete their resources defending themselves. A conviction is just a bonus. Since Democrats have decided that trying a former president on alleged bookkeeping errors is fair game, then there really is no limit to how low Republicans can go to put Democrats through the ringer they’ve concocted.
It’s a real mystery to me why it has not already begun in places far away from the toxic east coast. Like Texas, for example.
Very much LIKE
A goodly number of us aren’t ‘better than that’ or this would have never come to pass; let us not forget the trial involved the public, not just the usual apparatchiks. Let us pray those of us who are indeed better, and I think ultimately that’s most of us, accept the call to action and history can indeed right itself once again.