Whenever it is reported that President Trump accuses President Biden of being behind all those court cases as part of his political strategy, Democrats and their cronies in the press add the editorial caveat, “Of course, that is not true” as a matter of fact.
I have not seen any evidence that Biden has personally orchestrated the multi-pronged legal attack on Trump. So, I have to conclude that Biden is not directing it personally. But that leaves the question as to whether Biden is encouraging it or promoting it. Actually, he is, by pointing to Trump’s being tied up in court – jokingly, of course. But that is not wrong or unexpected. That is exactly what an opposing candidate would do.
So, there is no grand Democrat conspiracy to use – or abuse – the justice system to cripple Trump’s presidential campaign. Right? Maybe not.
The fact that Biden is not personally calling prosecutors to seek indictments against Trump, does not mean that there is not a broad conspiratorial strategy by Democrats in the justice system to pile on Trump as a campaign tactic.
We generally think of a conspiracy of a group of folks in a room plotting some sort of coordinated nefarious action. But there are different kinds of conspiracies – and not all are criminal. Some we call “strategic planning.” But not all require direct coordination. They are organic.
The latter is what I have called “conspiracies of self-interest.” Members of an interest group – like a political party – independently undertaking actions obviously beneficial to the cause. They operate independently, but with a common interest and a common goal. This may be what we see in the Trump case – or cases.
Are a number of seemingly unconnected prosecutors acting inappropriately with a common political interest? Are they abusing their power – bending the levers of justice to achieve partisan political advantage? From what we do know, it can be reasonably argued that the answer is “yes.”
What makes that answer interesting is to what extent did Trump’s actions, statements, questionable credibility and general pugnacity provide the fodder for a conspiracy of self-interest among Democrat prosecutors and judges. As President Nixon noted during the Watergate scandal that brought down his hither-to very popular presidency: “They stabbed us in the back, but we gave them the knife.”
What evidence is there to suggest a conspiracy of self-interest?
- First is the fact that in EVERY case, the prosecutor is a partisan Democrat office holder – mostly elected. If the rule-of-law were in effect, one would expect the party affiliation to be so dramatically one-sided.
- The number of cases being brought by Democrat prosecutors at the federal, state and even county levels is staggering. It looks like piling on. Often when a case involves both federal and state one yields to the other. Not in this case.
- Many of the cases seem overcharged. In New York, the case involves a misdemeanor campaign finance violation — for which the statute of limitation has passed – elevated to a felony. In Georgia, you have the casting of a wide net of indictments and using the RICO law – totally inappropriate for the alleged transgressions. Even the so-called Documents Case seems to be aggressively prosecuted – especially in view of the Justice Department’s total pass on similar “crimes” by President Biden and Vice President Pence. I have written in the past of my belief that the E. Jean Carroll case was pursued, decided and penalties set based less on facts and more on dislike of the defendant.
- It is not unreasonable to suggest political motivation based on the timing of the cases. Virtually all of the alleged “crimes” were committed years ago, and all the trials wind up within months of each other – and at the height of the campaign season.
- At the same time, the request for speedy trials seems to be politically motivated. Indictments and trials are never to be planned to impact on elections. Yet, prosecutors have been falling all over each other to get all the trials started and over in 2024 — prior to the election. These efforts fly in the face of judicial history that suggests a “normal” timeframe would have them all being resolved in 2025 or later. The only explanation for this last-minute rush-to-judgment is the election – and the fear that Trump will win. That may explain why the prosecutors were slow to bring charges in the first place — and now eager to adjudicate them at warp speed. It gives the appearance that it is all about influencing the election.
- And to some degree, there has been some level of coordination (conspiring?) among the prosecutors. They have talked to each other in some cases. And as widely reported in the media, there was an effort to coordinate the rollout of the cases for maximum impact on Trump and his campaign.
- In many cases against Trump and others associated with him, the indictments and the charges appear to be inconsistent and excessive to most similar cases.
The question is whether Trump is being treated fairly … without political bias or prosecutorial abuse. There is certainly enough there there to not dismiss that possibility out of hand. Much of the prosecution does not pass the smell test in my judgment.
To answer the headline question, I do not believe Biden is the master mind (no pun intended) behind the dizzying array of prosecutions, but he most certainly is the beneficiary.
(For those who are going to misrepresent this commentary as an exoneration of Trump and others, that is not what this commentary is about. This commentary is not about alleged crimes and culpability, but only to question whether the process is fair or politically motivated. That is the worthy question readers should decide for themselves.)
So, there ‘tis.