Politico: yes, it's a witch hunt, and that's fine

Orange man bad.

It really boils down to that. He’s Al Capone, and since we can’t get him on anything else, let’s go for a ticky-tac charge to get him.

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That is pretty much the case being made by Ankush Khardori, an attorney and former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Justice Department, and a POLITICO Magazine contributing writer.

Actually, I am making a stronger case for indicting Trump than Mr. Khardori, since the federal government goes after tax evaders all the time. In the case of Trump, the same cannot be said. He is the first person being charged in what amounts to an invented crime based upon a unique legal theory.

Nobody but Trump would ever face this prosecution, and nobody but Trump would ever get convicted. But in New York City? Perhaps he will be.

Sometimes even Donald Trump has a point. This time, it’s his claim that he has been singled out by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for conduct that would probably not have been charged as a crime against anyone else.

Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump is truly unique. Nothing like it has ever happened before, and as the author concedes it would never be brought against anybody else. It really has been conjured out of very thin air in order to prosecute the former president because, in his view, Trump deserves it.

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We are likely to hear a lot of clichés from the legal commentariat in the coming days — about how Bragg and his prosecutors are simply following the facts and the law, about how no one is above the law, and so on. That is all well and good, but the reality is that this particular criminal case probably never would have been brought for anyone but Trump. In fact, the investigation probably would not have begun in the first place for anyone else, but at the time, Trump was still in office, and given the Justice Department’s policy against indicting a sitting president, the Manhattan DA’s office was a convenient outlet and prosecutorial avenue for people who wanted to see Trump criminally prosecuted.

There is also no indication at the moment that the case against Trump has any real precedent in New York or elsewhere. Perhaps prosecutors will demonstrate that that is wrong as they defend the case in court, but thus far, no one seems to be able to identify a comparable case brought by a local prosecutor’s office.

A former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor thinks that is just fine, and apparently, Politico agrees enough with it to publish it. Lots of people across America are rejoicing.

Well, here we are. We’ve been on this path a long time now, and the reality of it isn’t new. What is new is that they are admitting it. They have the power, and woe to anyone who might oppose them. The weaponization of government, indeed.

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They hate their political opponents, and that is enough to arrest them.

That is not quite Vlad Putin-level corruption, but it is on the path. Trump still hasn’t fallen out of any windows yet, so there is that. One wonders whether the Secret Service–an extension of Joe Biden’s and Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department–would protect the former president or do the deed themselves if ordered to.

We aren’t there yet, of course. I would assume any Secret Service agent would refuse the order were it to come, and it is too early in the fall of the Republic for it to happen, but that is where we are headed.

Political hit jobs, legal or physical, are always justified as protecting the legitimacy of the regime and preserving the current order, but they never ever do. They are exercises in raw power. Caesar–and Trump is no Caesar–was taken out of the equation in order to protect the authority of the Roman Senate. Supposedly.

What followed, of course, was the reign of emperors, not Democracy. The Senate didn’t retain rule–or it did, but in name only–Augustus Caesar became Emperor. The Senate persisted, but as a shell and shill, not a viable political unit. First the emperors, then, inevitably, the Praetorian guard.

In the case of Caesar, you could argue that he started it. His opponents have been arguing that Trump crossed the Rubicon in 2016 when he “colluded” with Russia to seize power. But we all know–including his persecutors–that this charge is a hoax perpetrated by Hillary Clinton and her allies in the MSM and the intelligence community.

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The accusations of a coup attempt in 2021 are similarly concocted. Trump behaved very badly post-election, but he walked out the door–grumbling–when his term was up and did little more than Hillary Clinton in 2016 after she lost the election. Whatever responsibility he has for the Capitol riot is very tangential–he implored the rioters to desist and go home. Ray Epps–an FBI provocateur–has more to do with breaching the Capitol than Trump does.

It’s on videotape. The media just ignores the fact that an FBI informant led the storming of the Capitol.

The Democrats conveniently forget their lies and shenanigans post-election–and they arguably did more damage to the Republic than Trump by perpetrating the Russia Hoax. Laws were broken during the investigation, and nobody faced consequences for their own more serious coup attempt. FBI lawyers falsified documents and lied to the FISA court.

The lot of them should be in jail. Instead they are media commentators and celebrities. Because they hate Trump.

Everybody knows that this is purely political prosecution. Alvin Bragg himself admitted the case is very weak and at one point dropped the investigation, until political pressure forced him to pursue it.

Mr. Khardori admits it in this Politico piece. And as a former federal prosecutor endorses it. Out loud.

It is what everybody in the Democrat Party thinks and rejoices over. They are just confident that their ownership of the levers of power is inviolable, so they can get away with it. With throwing their Emmanuel Goldstein.

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They are probably right, too. The persecution of Trump over a known hoax by his own nominal employees proves that having a Republican president makes no difference to who gets targeted and destroyed. The intelligence community remains in Democrat hands no matter who is nominally in charge.

We are being told that this is OK because Trump is an extraordinary threat. Sui generis. And the persecution therefore will not be repeated.

We all know that is a lie. Trump’s opponents, Democrats, and even some Republicans are applauding this move.

This is one more step along the path to decline and fall.

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Jazz Shaw 7:20 PM | March 18, 2024
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