We’ve seen many sad days for our republic. But now the country has crossed a certain horrible threshold of banana-republic-hood.
Guided by a corrupt judge, a New York City jury has found former President Trump guilty of all 34 of the District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s bogus charges. Something or other to do with Stormy Daniels, an alleged affair, paying off an extortionist, federal election laws, and bookkeeping.
With Trump targeted by so many show trials launched solely to punish his ascendancy and prevent his reelection, chances were that at least one of these elephantine efforts would extract a conviction. Even people lousy at darts hit the dartboard sooner or later if they throw a thousand darts.
As Katie Pavlich notes, during the trial prosecutors didn’t “focus on proving the fraud charges” but on “hush-money payments” and “irrelevant salacious details of an alleged affair.” Who needs a definable crime when Being Trump is crime enough?
The verdict made one reader at Instapundit “realize just how dependent the Democrats have become on appearing legitimate. Where there is no substance, form must take precedence. [So we’re] offered oppression as ‘democracy’ and Stalinist show trials as ‘justice.’”
There are so many irregularities in the charges and the conduct of the trial that the verdict is bound to be overturned on appeal.
By some court. Somewhere. No?
But the damage has been done. The worst politicos and operators are now high-fiving each other, little caring about implications and long-range effects. As if they cannot see the next step.
As if they cannot see they are behaving like the caciques of a banana dictatorship.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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6 replies on “Threshold Crossed”
Yes, a threshold has been crossed, and even after this verdict has been overturned, the Republican Party will feel licensed to use any complementary opportunities that come their way.
The testimony of Pecker and Cohen matched exactly. Trump was guilty as charged and the jury was unanimous!
Trump is a low-life! Get over it!
No, Pecker and Cohen did not match; they did not testify to the same scope of events. If Pecker’s testimony had covered the same scope, then the District Attorney would not have relied on the testimony of Cohen, because of his history of serial perjury.
Trump’s improvement in the polls, in the wake of the verdict, isn’t somehow an intensification amongst those who were already his supporters; it is a spread of support to new people. Little of this spread is people deciding that Trump is a better man than they had previously thought; it is instead a recognition that the Democrats, including their rank-and-file, are reduced to the unscrupulous and the insane.
And the bump measures only people who have joined his camp. The bump says nothing of the people who still refuse to vote for Trump, but who increasingly see the Democrats as knaves and fools.
Some Democratic politicians are now trying to get Governor Hochul, of New York, to issue a pardon. They are trying to staunch the bleeding of the Democratic Party from this self-inflicted wound. Presumably, though, Hochul knows that her own base would punish her.
When you consider that the court system in NY is probably the most corrupt in the country, is the verdict really a surprise?
(Of course, this is only my opinion. After all, I wouldn’t want the FBI to kick in my door some night.)
You read the entire trial transcript? Geez, Paul, how do you find time to write your column.…?
You love Trump don’t you Paul? Sad!