Yahoo Finance Flimsy charges against Trump are a bad turning point for our politics, justice system | Opinion
After much buzz, former President Donald Trump was finally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in connection with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
New York prosecutors accuse Trump of paying two women to be quiet about alleged sexual encounters with him and covering up those records so the news wouldn’t interfere with his run for president. I guess Democrats care about infidelity now, two and a half decades later but still depending on the president. Especially if he covered it up. Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
It’s no secret I don’t like Trump, but after four years with him as commander in chief and another three complaining about not having the job, it’s disappointing to see such flimsy charges. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, though Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is trying to super-charge them to felonies, albeit the lowest level of felonies in New York.
So, after all this talk about Trump being a savage criminal, the alleged crimes are mere misdemeanors, akin to shoplifting. Does anyone really believe some of the presidents in power haven’t done worse than petty theft? As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton sent classified information via a makeshift home email server — crimes that are also potential felonies. But she’s never been indicted. Some people really are above the law.
Former Michigan congressman Justin Amash, an avowed libertarian and Trump critic tweeted that he was “stunned any prosecutor would move forward with this. It’s even flimsier than we were led to believe. Thirty-four stacked counts, bootstrapped to an unstated crime, to manufacture felony charges.”
Trump’s charges probably won’t hold up in court, but either way, this indictment could signal something far worse about our justice system.
The timing of these arrests, just as Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has started, stinks. And it’s not the smell of Trump’s own hubris. It reeks of leftist corruption, envy, greed and fear. Indicting someone on charges like these is what people do when they are afraid of a political opponent.
Right now, the world is President Joe Biden’s oyster: He controls the Justice Department and FBI, Democratic DAs love him, and Congress is split. Trump’s opponents have been trying to nail him on something for years. And in a way, who can blame them? He’s a braggadocios, egotistical, tax-evading, bankrupt salesman-turned-president.
But we live in the United States, where one is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around, as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently suggested. Our country can’t turn into where political opponents are arrested on some charge just because a prosecutor disagrees with someone’s ideology or even their tactics — unless they’re illegal. We just can’t.
Trump’s not good for the GOP anymore, and maybe he never was. But that’s besides the point. Our trusted institutions and justice system is supposed to remain politically neutral, committed to truth, justice, and protecting our nation, regardless of the ideology of who is at the helm. Between the flimsy charges and the suspicious timing, it’s obvious the indictment is about a vendetta, not to find out the truth.
You don’t have to be a Trump fan to see it. You just have to love liberty and understand that prosecuting those with differing views to win political battles will be an escalating war. Weaponizing state law to exact retribution on an annoying political rival is a distinguishing factor among countries that are corrupt and authoritative.
America’s justice system must let those with differing views live their lives, or nail every politician for the same crime. They can’t cherry pick based on party. That’s a much more serious crime.
