Republican commentators like to point out that Donald Trump’s lawfare problem may backfire on his political opponents. If the Democrats try to steal the presidential election by burdening the Republican candidate with frivolous lawsuits, then the Republicans will inflict similar suffering on their opponents once they get the chance. Why should we think that only Democrats can get away with such games?
Perhaps the most detailed argument about this matter has come from Rabbi Dov Fischer, a regular columnist for the American Spectator. Fischer declaims against “the lawfare racket” targeting Trump, which is “is beyond anything that exists in American law.” He nonetheless insists that what we are seeing is a “retaliatory” move originating with the reckless impeachment of Bill Clinton. Fischer admonishes both parties against continuing this legal abuse.
If Trump has more than a 50-50 chance of winning this November, that’s because Biden and his handlers won’t address convincingly the multiple crises they’ve caused.
Aeschylus’ “Oresteia” may also have something to tell us about spiraling revenge. The interfamilial homicides in that trilogy go back to the blood curse (agos) laid on Agamemnon’s ancestor Atreus for an outrage committed against another relative. The cycle of revenge continues until Athena, patron goddess of Athens, persuades the Furies to end the bloodbath, thereby ending the trilogy.
But invocations of a cycle of revenge may not really apply to the present lawfare. The Democrats need not be worried that payback will soon be hitting them. They are not necessarily predestined to lose November’s presidential race. They still have lots of cards to play, even if they are saddled with re-electing a shuffling, demented candidate who can hardly read from his teleprompter. New and more “inclusive” methods can be devised to give their party more votes, and hordes of Harvard-trained lawyers will be available to argue their case whenever the Democrats choose to dispute Republican electoral gains.
The Democrats also enjoy the unquestioning support of their de facto party operatives in the corporate left-wing media and all those highly partisan appointees to the deep and surveillance states who owe their jobs to Barack Obama’s administration. Every Democratic appointment to the judiciary will do exactly as the DNC wants, and the cases against Trump and the way Democratic judges and district attorneys are handling them indicate to what extent the party can count on those who do their bidding.
Given their PR and administrative advantages, Democrats do not have to worry for the foreseeable future about facing the kind of legal difficulties that now beset Trump. They incurred no repercussions by using a FISA warrant (that should never have been issued) to spy on the Republican presidential candidate and his staff. Hillary Clinton was never forced to bear any consequence for “bleaching” email messages containing subpoenaed security material. Congressional Democrats lost nothing by spreading false information about Trump’s being a tool of Vladimir Putin. And no one in the surveillance state working for the left suffered any penalty for falsely claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian creation intended to embarrass Joe Biden.
Even with a deliberately torn-open U.S.-Mexico border and millions of illegal aliens stampeding into the country, the Democrats did remarkably well in the midterm elections. The media helped them center those elections, not on real issues, like inflation, open borders, and violent crime, but about hardly endangered abortion rights and January 6.
Despite what appears to be Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s made-up case against Trump, in which we’re still trying to locate a crime, the percentage of those who view Trump as unfit for office because of the Democrats’ lawfare has risen in the last few months, according to a CNN poll, by six points. Although a majority of those polled believe Trump is being treated differently from other defendants, 37% think he’s being treated “too leniently.”
If you’re wondering why anyone should believe these things, try listening to the account of the trial on CNN or network TV or pick up the latest edition of USA Today. I too would believe that Trump is a serial rapist and public menace if those were my only sources of information. In addition to their media sycophants, Democrats can count on the votes and donations of the vast majority of government workers and most of the ideologically engaged members of the judiciary. Let’s not understate the usability of these minions!
If Trump has more than a 50-50 chance of pulling out a win this November, that’s because Biden and his handlers won’t address convincingly the multiple crises they’ve caused, from a deliberately planned border invasion and inflated economy to a surging crime rate and a rioting left-wing base. But even if Trump makes it into a second term, the left will still control valuable assets, starting with the media, the permanent government, and most educational institutions. These assets will enable Biden, Clinton, and Obama to avoid the types of ordeals their party has inflicted on Trump.
Personally, I’d be delighted to see Trump’s opposition shoved up to their eyeballs in legal problems. With due respect to Rabbi Fischer and the Greek tragedians, a little vengeance in this case would provide me with overdue schadenfreude. But I doubt I’ll get my wish.
Politics