The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!

Tennessee Williams

 

Contrary to his rants, Donald Trump’s recent conviction was not result of any influence by or direction from President Biden or the Justice Department, but from his own actions!  An impartial jury of 12 average citizens, including one who stated he got his news from Truth Social, found him guilty on all charges.

Portraying himself once again as a “victim”, Trump’s claims of a biased and unfair trial are not supported by the facts.

  • He attacked Judge Merchan as “corrupt” and “conflicted,” although a member of his legal team had “no issue … whatsoever” with the judge, who frequently made rulings during the trial favoring the defense.  The fact Merchan’s daughter’s works for a consulting company representing progressive clients and supported Kamala Harris in 2020 is irrelevant and would seem infinitely less of a potential conflict than the politically-partisan activities of the wives of Justices Thomas and Alito who refuse to recuse themselves from the presidential immunity and January 6th rioting cases before the Court.
  • Trump complains he couldn’t answer questions about the case, the “Biden regime” or its “crimes and their unconstitutional acts” because of the Judge Merchan’s “gag order;” conveniently ignoring the order only prevents him from attacking lawyers, staffs, court officials, witnesses and jurors involved in the case or their families.
  • His claim a key defense witness, finance expert Bradley Smith, was not allowed to testify is inaccurate.  Trump’s defense team decided not to call him after the judge ruled, Smith could provide, “general background about the FEC, including what it does and what laws it may enforce … related directly to this case,” but as a lay person he could not offer expert legal opinions “regarding the interpretation and application of federal campaign finance laws” or “as to whether the alleged conduct in this case does or does not constitute a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.”
  • Despite claims to the contrary, Trump had an absolute right to testify in his own defense, which for weeks he bragged he would do … but then he declined to do so.
  • His tirade, “every single legal scholar and expert said this is no case” is blatantly incorrect.  Many legal experts disagreed with Trump and two legal scholars noting, “With the release of the indictment and accompanying statement of facts, we can now say that there’s nothing novel or weak about this case,” and he was “being treated as any other New Yorker would be with similar evidence against him.”
  • After closing arguments, Trump resurrected another complaint, the judge prevented him from employing an “advice of counsel,” or lack of specific intent, defense during the trial.  However, Trump’s defense attorneys made a strategic decision before the trial to not seek such a defense and Judge Merchan held them to that.

Morally spineless Congressional Republicans, politically-terrified of the former president and his base,  rushed to his defense and are openly echoing Trump’s call for “revenge” against the participants in his trial, despite lacking even a single shred of evidence the charges were a ”witch hunt” or his trial and conviction were “rigged” … not unlike their still parroting his six-year diatribe of a stolen 2020 election.

Yes, Trump is indeed a victim, but not from some deep state conspiracy.  Rather, it is a result of his own disregard of the laws and norms of our society, sense of personal entitlement, greed, moral conduct, and narcissism.

Meanwhile, millions of his supporters, continue to blindly accept, without any evidence, his rambling conspiracy theories and unsupported allegations, once again opening their wallets to make campaign donations and purchase Trump-adorned hats, t-shirts, sneakers, flags, banners, and even Bibles allowing the self-proclaimed billionaire to finance his skyrocketing legal bills and presidential campaign; to which some  reports alleged he hasn’t contributed since 2016.

More troubling is the slowly-growing crescendo of MAGA cult voices endorsing violence and a repeat of January 6, 2021 if Trump goes to jail or loses the 2024 election; a number of whom also approve of a Trump “dictatorship.”

One wonders how many of these people have ever lived under an actual dictatorship … in which our Constitution liberties protecting the right to protest against our government and its leaders cease to exist.  Present-day Hong Kong is a poster-child for what can happen when a vibrant democracy morphs into an autocratic system where those who speak out against the government are promptly arrested, tried and sentenced, often to lengthy prison terms.