Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
One state prosecutor and one civilian plaintiff have already won huge fines and damages from Donald Trump that may, with legal costs, exceed $500 million.
Trump awaits further civil and criminal liability in three other federal, state, and local indictments.
There are eerie commonalities in all these five court cases involving plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, federal special counsel Jack Smith, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.
One, they are either unapologetically left-wing or associated with liberal causes. They filed their legal writs in big-city, left-wing America—Atlanta, New York, Washington—where liberal judges and jury pools predominate in a manner not characteristic of the country at large.
Two, they are overtly political. Bragg, James, and Willis have either campaigned for office or raised campaign funds by promising to get or even destroy Donald Trump.
Carroll’s suit was funded by left-wing billionaire Reid Hoffman.
Smith sued to rush his court schedule in hopes of putting Trump on trial before the November election.
Three, there would not be any of these cases had Donald Trump not run for the presidency or not been a conservative.
Carroll’s suit bypassed statute of limitation restrictions by prompting the intervention of a left-wing New York legislator. He passed a special bill, allowing a one-year window to waive the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims from decades past.
Until Trump, no New York prosecutor like James had ever filed a civil suit against a business for allegedly overvaluing real estate assets to obtain loans that bank auditors approved and were paid back in full, on time, and with sizable interest profits to the lending institutions.
Alvin Bragg bootstrapped a Trump private non-disclosure agreement into a federal campaign violation in a desperate effort to find something on Trump.
Smith is also charging Trump with insurrectionary activity. But Trump had never been so charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it.
Willis strained to find a way to criminalize Trump’s complaints about his loss of Georgia in the 2020 national election. She finally came up with a racketeering charge, usually more applicable to mafiosi and drug cartels.
Four, in all these cases, the charges could have been equally applicable to fellow left-wing public figures and officials.
Joe Biden, like Trump, was accused of sexual assault decades earlier by former staffer Tara Reade. Yet Reade was torn apart by the media and the left for inconsistencies in her memory. By contrast, the wildly inconsistent and amnesiac E. Jean Carroll won $83 million from Trump.
Jack Smith created the precedent of charging former president Trump for unlawfully removing classified files to his private residence.
But the government simultaneously did not charge Joe Biden for similar offenses. Yet Biden had removed files not for two years but for more than 30. He stored them not in one location but several.
His rickety garage was a mess, not a secure family compound like Trump’s estate. Moreover, Biden did so while a senator and vice president, without any presidential authority to declassify almost any presidential document he wished.
Biden never came forward to report the crime for over thirty years—until Trump was charged. Indeed, he was caught on tape six years ago, admitting to his ghostwriter that he possessed classified files but never reported it.
Bragg might have noticed that both Hillary Clinton (fined $113,000) and Barack Obama (fined $350,000) broke campaign financing laws. Neither was subject to federal criminal charges by local prosecutors.
An array of left-wing celebrities, politicians, 2004 House Members, former Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have all recently challenged elections. They sought either to delay or redo ballot counting or, on the federal level, to sidetrack electors to ignore popular votes in their respective states.
These lawfare cases are part of other efforts that were highly partisan and without merit. Recall the Trump “Russian collusion” hoax and the “Russian disinformation” laptop farce.
In another first, some blue states are suing to take Trump’s name off the ballot for “insurrection,” a crime for which he has never been charged.
Total up the deaths, damage, and length of the summer 2020 Antifa/BLM riots. Then compare the tally to the one-day January 6 riot.
The former proved far more lethal, long-lasting, and destructive. Yet very few of the 14,000 arrested rioters in 2020 were ever prosecuted, much less convicted.
By contrast, the Biden administration sought to jail hundreds for crimes allegedly committed on January 6, such as “illegal parading.”
We are entering a dangerous era in America.
Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment. Opponents are first targeted, and then laws are twisted and redefined to convict them.
The left is waging lawfare with the implicit message to political opponents: either keep quiet or suffer the consequences.
Sadly, we are not just entering, we are there!
Entering a dangerous era? The left ” burned the boats” in the 2016 general election. Never thought HRC could lose/ didn’t fear consequences. Partly PDJT & partly uniparty Republicans but no one with a D has been prosecuted. And of course Jeffery Epstein did Jill himself. And you say ” America is entering a dangerous era”? I guess waking up is a first step. Better than remaining asleep.
The U.S. has always had something of a two-tiered justice system. To a greater or lesser degree in various parts of the country the system has tortured uppity people, undesirables, financial and political opponents. The southern part of the country is an excellent example, but it has occurred in allegedly “liberal” areas plenty as well. The one common thread to it all is the Democratic party. The more the Democratic party dominates local politics the more that actual function of government falls short of the nation’s ideals.
I’ll state the obvious.
The Left has a generally unpopular platform. Therefore, the public, except the brainwashed, will not support them. Coherent families will not support them. Those who believe in true fairness will not support them. Those who have no desire to be a victim will not support them.
The schools and corporate media are their primary brainwashing mechanisms.
To maintain power they must change the “democratic” rules.
This includes rigging elections, buying votes, and putting lots of money behind candidates (DAs) who support the destruction of our cities and unfairly targeting political enemies.
This is how they will win.
This is how they transform America. They are all fulfilling the Obama/Goebbels pledge.
Unless they face horrible revenge and become accountable for their malicious actions, we are done here.
Does anybody disagree?
This is no longer a thought experiment.
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
What will that reaction be? So far, the reaction has been scattered, anemic and ineffective.
What are we prepared to do? Not much, apparently.
That’s my cheery thoughts for today.
Excellent summary, as always from VDH. He is consistently accurate and comprehensive. He is, in many people’s opinion, a national treasure. Thank you Professor Hanson. May God bless you.
Well, those lawfaring blue states may suffer richly deserved economic consequences for these outrages (see “Elon Musk and Donald Trump Cases Imperil the Rule of Law,;” WSJ, February 22, 2024).
I think this has all been to punish someone from outside the political class who dared to run for president. This is to insure that no one does it again.
This is so accurate. We the people have to find a way to fight the leftist overtaking of our country or our children, grandchildren will be enslaved forever. The gauntlet is down, fight for free speech, free thinking, free religion. Are you a patriot?
Dear VDH, Sir. Thank you for writing this. Consider all of the above. Then place the following as a backdrop. When all of it is combined it reveals the development of a one-party state. The next decade will be ruled by a Blue State Majority in Congress and the Senate.
First, let me state the term “Replacement Theory” is a vehicle of misdirection. The term conjures up a sort of paranoia that the left scoffs at and says only racists would fear the invasion of minorities.
The Replacement Theory should be given a new nomenclature/name. It is best to think of it as “Using Illegals To Reapportion The 435 Congressional Seats After the 2030 Census”.
Given that there are ~ 7 M to 11 M illegals here in the US today. In 7 more years, we can expect to see ~ 11M more illegals cross the border. Of those here in the country now…~ 3m will give birth. This sets the stage for the 2030 Census to reapportion many of the 435 congressional seats to BLue Controlled States.
The 2030 US Census will be conducted by Mail-In questionnaire, Online questionnaire, and In-Person. If you thought the election of 2020 with the mail-in ballots was a sham and stole a presidency….just wait for the Mail-In Questionnaire of the 2030 Census.
Today, the lawfare against Trump/MAGA by Blue States politicians, judges, and media. After the 2030 census, the Democratic Majority of Congress will be cemented in for at least a decade. due to reapportionment. Fear the Left.
This time when we defeat the democrats in civil war 2 no Reconciliation! wipe them all from this nation. They’re evil reprobates
Thank you mr hanson .your a national treasure.
The Constitution’s 8th Amendment should protect President Trump.
Under NY law, Trump is only guilty of puffery which carries no penalty. Other than the size of his condo, all other information consisted of value estimates, a totally subjective guess. Unless a statement is objectively verifiable, it can’t lead to a charge of fraud under NY cases.. Whether a weather forecast or financial forecast(needed for valuation purposes ), there is no penalty for being wrong.
The puffery defense isn’t mentioned in Engoron’s opinion which suggests it may not have been argued by Trump’s lawyers. Trump got railroaded.
Can someone please bring this issue to the attention of Trump or the attention of his lawyers?
Where’s the outrage? The ‘crowd’ mentality of ‘good, I want Trump to suffer’, or ‘I don’t care, I want Trump and his family in jail’. We’ve seen this type of hysteria before. Thanks to the MSM people hate his guts. They loved him on TV, but the hatred is unbelievable.
The tide always turns.
Truth always emerges.
I hope that I’m alive to see it.
Ultimately, justice prevails, either here on earth, or in the hereafter.
Lord have Mercy on those who carry their evil to their final heartbeat.
The ultimate impact will be the complete decimation of any credibility the law may now possess. These prosecutors are simply knee-capping their own authority and eroding away anything of merit they may have found attractive in a legal career. These people, as children, should have spent more time solving connect-the-dots puzzles. The skill to move from cause to effect or vice versa seems to be completely missing in their intellectual tool box.
I started referring to Democrats as the Soviet Democrats during Jack Smith’s first tour as Obama/Biden’s version of Lavarentiy Beria prior to the Obama/Biden reelection campaign.
When he advised Louis Lerner of the IRS on the artifice of law she could use to shut down GOP get-out-the-vote groups, while he charged Obama’s most dangerous potential opponent Governor McDonnell with corruption, etc.
The Soviet Democrats were never bothered that Lerner’s machinations resulted in lawsuits where taxpayers shelled out millions of dollars in damages to those GOP political groups. Nor were they bothered that Jack Smith was hit with a rare unanimous SCOTUS reversal and criticism of his convictions of McDonnell.
They weren’t bothered because these Soviet style prosecutions accomplished their primary objective, which was to sideline those GOP get-out-the-vote groups and McDonnell for the reelection campaign, and Obama/Biden were returned to office. Success!
What Professor Hanson didn’t cover is the obvious: why WOULDN’T the Soviet Democrats bring Jack Smith back for a second tour as outrageous as his first, as their Lavarentiy Beria, presenting him as an “independent prosecutor”? Why WOULDN’T they put forward prosecutors who run for office on the basis that they will put Trump in jail, somehow or some way?
Simple: because the GOP says little about this. They didn’t before Trump, and they barely mention it since. Nor do they do the lawfare prosecutions of opponents when in power.
A masterful summary, Victor.
Up to your usual high standard, and a clarion call to all who hold to ideals of rationality and fairness.
What goes around comes around.
Once again, right on target Mr. Hanson. Keep it up, you are definitely one of the best intellectuals fighting the good fight. Mr. Jordan Peterson, and lately Johnathan Turley, being the other intellectual heavy-weights on the right side of history. Thanks again for your expositions!
“Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment.”
If this isn’t Kafka in a nutshell. Great writing and insight.
“We are entering a dangerous era in America.” Entering? We are in it! That’s the political hypnosis we’re in.
Good luck to all!
No normal person of average intelligence reading this article could possibly fail to understand the severity of our situation. We are tittering on the brink of collapse and I don’t think anyone knows what is going to happen, but it’s not going to be good. Our only hope is that we can manage to make it through this year and start 25 with republicans holding all three branches of elected power. The problem is that we know the democrats have turned into nothing less than animals really, and there’s nothing they won’t do. NOTHING! Our goose is nearly cooked!
It does not astonish me in the least how the right cries foul and the same. I voted twice for Trump and will probably do it again and yet the right suppresses my speech as much as the left.
In the last 5 years the left has laid out their goals, I believe, because the plans have come to fruition where nothing we do, save the one thing, can stop them.
If it is true, and I believe it is that there are more billionaires putting up money on the left than on the right – that from the forward facing beaurocracies to deep in the bowels of the government beast, there is only one conservative for every nine nazicoms and each one sees a taste of the green coming their way; when the judicial system is so corrupt and illogical that it looks more like judge Judy or Maurry than a proper courtroom. When the police on the street look more like the illegals crossing the 3 borders, what is the difference between our cheerleader section from drug dealers? One is selling fentanyl and our cheerleading section is selling hopium, hoping to keep the fantasy going long enough to sell one more book?
Those men and women who fought and gave their life for this country weep in their grave.
Not gonna end well for the average American citizen unless the independent voter wakes up and realizes what’s at stake in this election. U may not care for Trump as a person, I don’t, but I’m voting for the what not the who.
Well said!
It appears to me it can only be SCOTUS to save the day and “the rule of Law”, otherwise renegade Secretaries of State, like mine (Maine). will continue their tyranny.
Gee Victor think you can be a little more negative ? Even if republicans win in 2024 there is nothing they can do to stop the Marxist Democrats ? Might as well not vote right Victor stick a gun to our heads
Thank you for this excellent recap of not only what is going on with Mr. Trump, but broadly what is happening with the bastardized use of the law. I hope that all who read this will try to get it reprented all over social media, podcasts, and newsletters.
Thank you for all you do to keep is us informed.
Ms. Bert
well summarized and facts well known an understood by conservatives…..Unfortunately, it would fall on deaf ears if given to a progressive.
So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.”-George Orwell
They say misery loves company but, as a Canadian conservative, I can say that ain’t right. I take zero comfort in the totalitarian left takeover in the U.S. It erodes hope for reasonable democratic people throughout western society who are seeing their own democracies taken away by either their institutions (e.g. persecution of Canadian trucker convoy protestors; Germany parliament discussion of laws to suppress populist opinion – see Feb 17 eugyppius post on Substack) or by threat of harm to politicians (ref. the recent reluctance of British MPs to vote their conscience on Israel-related issues). Looking / praying for a ray of sunshine for all of us!
It’s gonna take the attitude of a Nayib Bukele &/or a Xavier Milei, residents of South America to rid the USA of the currently dominant, seditious vermin.