
<p>President Trump has a lot of folks on the left who really, really hate him. ; They totally abandon the American justice system’s foundation that a person is innocent until convicted in a court-of-law. ; They say – without equivocation that Trump is guilty, guilty, guilty of every infraction that can conjure up – and that no matter how minor the infraction, he should be subjected to the most extreme punishment.</p>



<p>We need to remember that from the time Trump was elected, the left launched an unprecedented Resistance Movement – the main purpose of which, by their own words, was to never allow Trump to be “normalized” as President. ; The calls for impeachment rose in the days shortly after his election – and before he was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. ; On the day after his inauguration, Democrats introduced the first bill of impeachment.</p>



<p>During most of his presidency, the left successfully proffered outrageous conspiracy theories against Trump – mainly focused on the phony ; Steele Dossier and conspiring with Russia in the meddling in the 2016 election. Both his impeachments seemed more political than justified.</p>



<p>Democrats, left-wing media, and entrenched left-wing bureaucrat establishment were out to get Trump from Election Day 2016 to today. ; That is beyond refutation. ; The various prosecutors made no secret of the desire to “get Trump.”</p>



<p>In noting that, I am not absolving Trum of a crime, he may have committed. ; On that question, we have to await the outcomes of the various cases. ; And I see Trump as his own worst enemy in terms of his excessively hostile and provocative language. ; But one bad behavior does not justify opposing bad behavior.</p>



<p>Trump and his more ardent followers claim that the former President is an innocent man who is being pursued by aggressive, politically motivated, out-of-control prosecutors – the victim of prosecutorial persecution.</p>



<p>I write this commentary as a person who has never been a fan of Trump. ; I have previously opined that he has damaged the Republican Party in terms of voter popularity. ; I hope he will not be the Republican standard-bearer in 2024. ; However, my foundational conservative principles demand that the justice system of the Republic operate as much as possible with fairness and justice on all sides.</p>



<p>That is why I have been critical of the massive and unprecedented political, media, and legal campaign that has been mounted by those on the left. ; I have no problem with Trump being held accountable for any illegal things he may have done – big things or little things. ; That means things that have been FAIRLY prosecuted and adjudicated in a court-of- law. ; I further believe that he should be indicted for clear evidence of possible lawbreaking – but NOT based on prosecutorial excesses or abuses. ; Trump is not a ham sandwich – and should not be indicted just because it is easy.</p>



<p>That means we have to examine the various cases being investigated against issues of legitimacy, fairness, and appropriateness in each of the cases – and the relationship between them. ; In other words, is Trump being treated fairly by prosecutors, or is he the victim of a coordinated, excessive, and politically partisan prosecution? ; In other words, is the “establishment” out to get him?</p>



<p>Looking at the various cases being pursued against Trump, it does seem that there is arguably an unprecedented excessiveness and aggressiveness in the pursuit of charges.</p>



<p><strong>Stormy Daniels Case</strong></p>



<p>The Stormy Daniels Case is the first case to result in an indictment. ; By all measures it is at least the weakest of cases against Trump &#8212; and being pursued on unique and novel interpretation and application of the law. ; The case itself is relatively minor relative to the other cases involving Trump – and the attempts to elevate it to a jailable offense are inappropriate.</p>



<p>Even the anti-Trump folks are critical of this case on two basis – first that it should not be the initial case to reach indictment since it could weaken other cases. ; Others on the left believe that the case is wrongly prosecuted – and is more likely than not to result in an acquittal. ; That would be a disaster for those who want to see Trump punished severely. ; ;</p>



<p><strong>Georgia Vote Case</strong></p>



<p>The prosecutor in this case is arguing that Trump attempted to coerce public officials – especially the Governor and Secretary of State&#8211; to undertake illegal actions to flip the vote in Georgia and award the presidential electors to Trump.</p>



<p>The case hangs on the meaning of his telephone request for the Governor to find 11,780 votes to change the outcome. ; The interpretation by the prosecutor and the anti-Trump media is that he was calling for the Georgia officials to make up votes that were never caste. ; ;</p>



<p>But that call is not necessarily solid evidence. ; Trump can easily argue that he believed there were thousands of illegally caste votes for Biden – and he wanted to find at least 11,780 of them.</p>



<p>The Georgia case will be harder to prove in a court-of-law than it is being pursued in the court-of-public opinion, where facts are superseded by opinion and biases.</p>



<p><strong>The Mar-a-Lago Documents Case</strong></p>



<p>The improper possession of White House files is a misdemeanor that can result in a civil fine – and often no judicial action at all. ; This case is more problematic based on Trump’s refusal to release all the documents – and suggestions that he may have committed obstruction of justice. ; ;</p>



<p>It is a messy case, but even at its worse is not likely to land Trump in the hoosegow. ; The case puts Attorney General Merrick Garland in a difficult position. ; It can be argued that the fact that they found documents – including top secret documents – in the position of President Biden – demands a certain level of equivalency – even though Biden returned the documents and Trump has not.</p>



<p>But there is a political reality with which Garland has to deal. ; If he were to indict the Republican candidate for President and allow his likely opponent – and the person who appointed Garland – off the hook, the political implications could be very damaging to the Department of Justice. ; The difference in the cases would be subordinated to the similarities – and the impression of gross political bias. ; Garland could credibly be accused of meddling in the 2024 presidential election, unlike any other U.S. Attorney General since John Mitchell during the Watergate scandal.</p>



<p><strong>The January 6</strong><strong><sup>th</sup></strong><strong> Case</strong></p>



<p>In the left-wing court-of-public-opinion, Trump is determined to be guilty of insurrection … a coup attempt … and an ongoing plan to steal a future election. ; Politically, this is a big deal for Democrats and the left-leaning media, but not the open-and-closed case they portray in the press.</p>



<p>It is true that more than a thousand people have been arrested for various crimes associated from entering the Capitol Hill Building – including trespassing, vandalism, theft, assault and battery, and a variety of lesser crimes. ; These are the kind of charges that are commonly associated with a riot. ; ;</p>



<p>A hand full of the thousands of assembled protestors have been convicted of promoting an insurrection – but legally, those convictions do not make the larger event an insurrection. ; That is clearly established by the less serious charges against the vast majority of the rioters.</p>



<p>One can easily criticize Trump for his reckless language and his failure to more expeditiously call on the rioters to cease and desist – and go home. ; But that is not criminal conduct as defined in law.  ; The Special Counsel will not find it easy to put together an indictment of Trump based on his actions on January 6, 2021. ;</p>



<p>This is another case where a court-of-law and the court-of-public-opinion have very different views of criminality. ; In the former, it is merely a matter of public opinion driven by mendacious narratives advanced by a grossly biased media. ; In the latter, prosecutors have to meet a number of legal requirements and reach a high level of evidence to reach a conviction. ; That court-of-law has protections for the accused that the court-of-public does not have. ; ;</p>



<p><strong>Overview</strong></p>



<p>In addition to looking at each case individually, the most disturbing aspect may be the apparent coordination between the various prosecutorial agencies. ; We see that in the debate over which case goes first. ; The political establishment is obviously strategizing a means for stacking the cases in such a manner as to cumulatively create the most anti-Trump results possible across the board. ; That does not indicate fealty to the law – but the influence of politics. ; The coordination is prima facie evidence of politicization. ; ; ;</p>



<p>Many on the left openly admit that they hope that the various cases, themselves – apart from outcomes – will damage Trump&#8217;s political … will consume time that would otherwise be devoted to campaigning … and will further sully his reputation. ; That, alone, is an abuse of the justice system.</p>



<p>These actions give the best support for Trump’s claim that he is the victim of a judicial establishment out to get him based more on politics than justice. ; It disturbingly suggests a prosecutorial conspiracy.</p>



<p>If American justice is founded on how popular a person might be – or how his political views offend one side of the political and philosophic divide – then America is taking on that practice of a banana republic. ; And that should scare any freedom-loving citizen regardless of political views.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>



<p>Author’s Note: This commentary was written just prior to the indictment. ; Rather than speculate, the next commentary will be following the release of the indictment and the specific charges.</p>

Is Trump Being Prosecuted or Persecuted?
