The answer to the headline question is “probably not.” Anyone who thinks otherwise is either a dedicated Trump hater or is not paying attention. One can reasonably argue to the extent of the unfairness and jury bias, but to suggest that the proceeding will be fair and unprejudiced by political bias is nonsense.
In fact, the indictment itself wreaks of political bias. It was the partisan political motivation of a hardline Democrat prosecutor that brought Trump to this trial at this time. Consider these unusual — and even unprecedented – actions.
- The charges against Trump were not filed by the Manhattan prosecutor for almost eight years after the alleged offense – and only then on the eve of Trump’s reelection campaign.
- The issue had previously been investigated by federal prosecutors in New York’s Southern District, and they found insufficient evidence to pursue an indictment.
- The alleged offense is normally pursued as a misdemeanor – not a felony. And the statute of limitations had expired for such a misdemeanor.
- To get around the statute of limitations, the Manhattan prosecutor tied the indictment to a federal felony – without specifying what that felony might be.
Those are the events that brought the case up to the situation today – and the start of the trial. The trial will not be fair for several reasons.
- The trial is taking place in the same court – and with the same judge — that handed down the unprecedented astronomical $450 million penalty in the Trump Organization Case. In that case, Judge Juan Merchan’s various rulings were almost always to Trump’s disadvantage.
- The jury – or more specifically, the population from which the jury will be selected – is overwhelmingly Democrat with a strong anti-Trump bias. Based on the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, 9 out of 10 voters in Manhattan are anti-Trump. The odds are that there will not be a single Trump voter on the jury.
- Trump is not being judged by a “jury of his peers.” While 50 percent of the nation supports him, only 10 percent in Manhattan does.
- Unlike most criminal cases, the political bias of the jury is extremely significant because the jurors have a vested interest in the case. As voters, they have had an expressed personal disdain for Trump – with highly personal negative feelings. The jury has an emotional reaction to the defendant — and the emotion ain’t love.
- Pre-trial publicity is a unique problem in Manhattan. Jurors are often asked if they are influenced by pre-trial publicity. That is a meaningless question since it would be virtually impossible to find a non-comatose citizen who has not been inundated with negative pre-trial publicity – mostly political spin by a corrupt leftwing media. Even worse, Manhattan is the central silo of the powerful leftwing media giants. That means that virtually all news consumed by potential jurors in Manhattan has been anti-Trump. In fly over America, the Manhattan media has less influence on the mindset of the public
- If this case were given unbiased treatment, the court would have agreed to Trump attorney’s requests for a change of venue. The situation in Manhattan is similar to the racist one-party Democrat establishment that ran the judicial system in the South for more than 100 years after the Civil War.
Legal experts on all sides have indicated that they believe the so-called hush money case is the weakest of all the cases involving Trump. So, why is the prospect of a conviction all but certain?
I am not sure if there is anywhere else in America – outside of Manhattan – that could present the prospect of a more biased trial – whether it is the indictment, the judge or the jury. It may be the ONLY place in America in which a Trump conviction is virtually a foregone conclusion.
Every juror will be asked if they can put their personal feelings aside and render an objective verdict. They will all say they can. That is never possible – and certainly not in a case as politically charged as this one in a politically biased venue like Manhattan.
The issue to be judged is whether Trump broke the law and whether the punishment fits the crime. That is where the bias is most clearly seen. I am of the opinion that Trump will be convicted – less for what he did and more for who he is.
So, there ‘tis.