Beneath the Law
The verdict didn’t matter. The case itself was just more evidence of a decline. The trial of Donald J. Trump was no renewal; it marked a further slide towards corruption, dysfunction and chaos.
Monday, June 03, 2024
Bill Bonner, writing today from Dublin, Ireland
Show me the man; I’ll show you the crime.
— Lavrenti Beria, chief of Stalin’s secret police
No one had to show New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg the man. Everyone knew Donald Trump was the target. He had challenged the Establishment (albeit in a clownish, and ineffective way). If the voters elected him to the White House again... democracy would be doomed. Or so they said.
The elites were out to get him... to derail his campaign. If they could just keep him out of the White House for a few more years, he would soon be too old to cause more problems. Or, so they reasoned.
Bragg found the crime…a complex of New York state laws that — if you put them together — might make it illegal to do what Mr. Trump had done.
He had plenty to choose from. By our estimate, there are about a half a million federal laws and regulations. And countless state and local restrictions too, many of them difficult to understand. Ignorance of the law may not be the best legal defense, but it is probably the most honest one.
We felt sorry for the jury. They had to go back to the judge, asking for clarification. ‘Where was the body?’ they seemed to want to know. ‘Where was the stolen loot?’ ‘What, exactly, had Mr. Trump done wrong?’ Curt Mills:
The most disquieting facet of this case is that it did not pertain to: anything Trump did as President, nor anything Trump did during his current run for office, nor anything Trump did in the macabre transition process four years ago. It involved his actions nearly 10 years ago, in relation to the concealment of an alleged crime for which other prosecutors declined to ever charge the former President.
The crime, ‘falsifying business records,’ did not seem like enough. Not for a courtroom drama that was watched by much of the entire world.
“Which way do you think it will go,” a cab driver in Dublin asked us. “Maybe it doesn’t matter. Now we all know what a sleazy guy that Trump is. And that fixer of his... Cohen... who wants a lawyer like that?”
The verdict didn’t really matter. The case itself was just more evidence of a decline. The trial of Donald J. Trump was no renewal; it marked a further slide towards corruption, dysfunction and chaos.
And now the verdict is in; the two sides face off outside the courtroom. Democrats say ‘justice has been done,’ congratulating themselves. Alvin Bragg is a hero.
Republicans say the verdict merely proves that Trump has been right all along. The system is rigged. The courts have been weaponized. And money flows into Donald Trump’s campaign from outraged MAGA supporters all across the country. In our judgment, both sides are right... though not necessarily as they hoped.
BFD
Yes, the verdict shows that when you have too many laws, you might as well have none at all. Your society becomes ruled — not by the laws themselves — but by the fixers, donors, and grifters who decide how to apply them. In this case, it is hard to imagine so many judicial resources put to work on such a complex case that was likely to go the other way.
This was not low-hanging fruit. Who cares if Trump paid Stormy Daniels to shut up? Who didn’t know he lies? So what if the payment should have been properly disclosed as a campaign expense? BFD. It was the payoff — stopping Trump — that must have seemed irresistible.
And yes, the Republicans are right too. The system is rigged. It has been corrupted by too much power and too much money. We have too many laws, too many regulations, too much spending, too much debt, and too many ways that lawmakers can interfere with our happiness and productivity. Debt goes up. GDP growth goes down. More and more of the economy is “fictitious.” And a credit crisis is on the way.
And who’s to blame? Democrats... and Republicans. Year after year, they collaborated to give more and more authority to district attorneys, the FBI, Homeland Security, the NSA... and the rest of their enforcers — more crimes to investigate... more threats and punishments to deal out... more money to spend keeping their opponents in line.
And now, no one is above the law. Instead, we are all beneath it... and in danger of being crushed at any time.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
Actually, Bill, your statement, “no one if above the law” is incorrect. If you are a prominent democrat say like Hillary, then you are above the law. Much of what you opine is okay with me even though I may disagree with you. But, you need to amend your essay to include the one-sided application of the law towards the conservatives and the absence of the law’s application to liberals. That, Bill, is what pisses off most of the American public who don’t side with either extreme.
According to Alan Dershowitz who has been ostracized by the left because he helped Trump with constitutional issues in his impeachment trial, it is impossible for Donald Trump to get a fair trial in NYC. It is 90% registered democrats and none of the jurors could have returned to a normal life if they had not convicted Trump. Further, former prosecutors and constitutional law professors like Turley say the trial was unfair and there are numerous grounds for reversal. I don’t like Donald Trump but even people I don’t like should get a fair trial. He did not.