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The verdict, heard around the world, will send shock waves through our nation’s politics as the left cheers and the right further rallies and unites around former President Donald Trump.
The question is, will this ruling weaken Trump or make him stronger? Far from revealing Trump as a villain, the early vote counts seem to suggest to many that the rule of law is at risk if a major political candidate can be indicted by opposition prosecutors and convicted of crimes trumped up for that purpose. Thirty-four felony charges for a $130,000 payment made seven years ago just don’t seem reasonable.
I opposed the Republican attempt to use Bill Clinton’s personal life to impeach him, and the current attempt to use Donald Trump’s personal life to jail him is similar, but with far-reaching implications: Clinton won seats in the midterm elections after his impeachment, and Trump has, at least in the immediate aftermath, a more energized and angry electorate.
Trump says guilty verdict is a ‘scar’ on New York’s justice system, vows to ‘keep fighting’
Prosecutors introduced a cast of creepy, shady characters and promoted a story that the election was stolen from them by the failure to disclose payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels, as if voters had a right or urgency to know about candidates’ private lives and would judge them accordingly.
But the jury did not know that even if the payments were campaign contributions, they could not have been made public until after the election, and there could not have been a conspiracy to influence an election that was already over. Hillary Clinton violated election law by paying the Steele dossier and hiding it under a legitimate payment. She and the DNC were fined $113,000 for that crime, while Donald Trump was charged with 34 felony counts.
And what ultimately angers voters is the idea that there is one system of justice for some people and another system of justice for their choice if they are Donald Trump.
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Statutes of limitations were ignored, misdemeanors were elevated to felonies, juries were presented with a list of potential crimes rather than specific crimes, and witness testimony was limited.
And the trial took place in New York, so the jurors who voted to acquit Donald Trump could not have had families: if the press and bloggers had revealed their identities, they would have had to emigrate to Iceland.
When voters were asked in a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll last week what they would do if Trump was convicted, 50% said a conviction in this case would make no difference. We’ll see in the coming weeks whether this prediction holds true. The best Democrats can do in this case now is to say, “The jury has spoken.”
Partisan rhetoric only feeds anger and backfires. Many Democrats believe Donald Trump is a criminal, but those voters were already in the Democratic camp. Median voters seem to be focused on issues like inflation and immigration, not the trial. Ironically, the president’s son is due to go on trial next week.
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Our justice system cannot function in a way that allows political partisans to pile on fantastical charges in order to blunt the momentum of a rival presidential candidate.
I think January 6th was a stain on our democracy, but this is a stain too, and we need to let the voters make the decision and respect that decision.
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