I & I Editorial BoardWas the $355 million fine against Donald Trump, for a “crime” that even the judge issuing the ruling admitted hurt no one, a bridge too far?
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul seems to think so, which is why she rushed out to say that other people doing business in New York have nothing to fear: “Law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are businesspeople have nothing to worry about because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior.”
What she should have said is: “if they are different from Donald Trump and his political views.”
Because nothing about this case, or the multitude of other unprecedented legal attacks against the former president — the attempts to kick him off ballots, the two bogus impeachments, the Russia hoax, the endless stream of media mis-reporting — has anything even remotely to do with “upholding the law” or “protecting Democracy.”
These attacks are all a message to anyone who would dare to run as a conservative. Do so, and we will stop at nothing to destroy you.
We should make it clear at this point that we’ve never been huge fans of Donald Trump. During the 2016 primaries, we weren’t sure he was even conservative. And while he went on to deliver several tremendous victories for conservatives (which we detailed in this space), his term in office wasn’t without its flaws. He failed to get the border wall built, for example. He made some serious mistakes in his appointments. He botched the handling of COVID-19.
Plus, as a general rule, we’d rather all these old timers — Trump, Biden, Hillary, Bernie, McConnell, etc. — would step aside and let the next generation of leaders get time in the sun. As the few who bothered to watch the Republican presidential debates saw, there is a lot of young talent in the GOP (talent that is notably lacking among Democrats, but that’s another story).
Having said all that, we’ve now reached a point where even if you hate Trump’s behavior, despise his temperament, think he isn’t a pure-enough conservative, or would prefer someone else less toxic carry the conservative banner, the choice is clear — either support Trump or condone the anti-democratic, extra-legal, election-integrity-destroying tactics of the left, which will forever poison the American political system, and will mean the end of conservatism in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
Those who think this is just about Trump, or that Trump is a special case, or that once we get Trump out of the picture civility will return, are deluding themselves. If Mister Rogers ran as a conservative he’d be just as viciously attacked.
The affable Ronald Reagan was pilloried during his time in office as a warmonger, a hater, a doddering old fool and, of course, a fascist.
The milquetoast, barely conservative George W. Bush was said to have “begun to implement the 10 steps to take down a democratic nation.” The New Republic published a 3,600-word “case for Bush hatred.” A Nobel Peace Prize recipient declared that “right now, I could kill George Bush” and was feted for bravery.
If you want more recent evidence, look at how the left started treating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when it looked like he might give Trump a run for this money. We wrote about it in Sept. 2022 – “The ‘DeSantis Is Worse Than Trump’ Campaign Begins”.
The only difference between then and now is that the left’s previous campaigns failed. Reagan and Bush won reelections by substantial margins. And, despite the left’s best efforts, Trump managed to win in 2016.
What’s been happening since has been a public display of the left’s new, scorched-earth strategy for dealing with the political opposition. It started in the run-up to the 2020 election. As Time magazine so glowingly reported in early 2021, there was a “cross-partisan campaign” to defeat Trump, or as Time put it, “protect the election.”
Their work touched every aspect of the election. They got states to change voting systems and laws and helped secure hundreds of millions in public and private funding. They fended off voter-suppression lawsuits, recruited armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time. They successfully pressured social media companies to take a harder line against disinformation and used data-driven strategies to fight viral smears. They executed national public-awareness campaigns that helped Americans understand how the vote count would unfold over days or weeks, preventing Trump’s conspiracy theories and false claims of victory from getting more traction.
Since then, the left has added lawfare to its arsenal, which has now reached peak absurdity for the simple reason that Trump refuses to give in. But make no mistake, scalping Trump will only whet the left’s appetite for more scalps.
And who will be there to stop them?
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
I don’t know who will stop them, but I can list several names of people in power that will not even try. Or who will encourage them, because to them, if “their” system of governance is exposed, they will lose their own power bases.
Sen Mitch McConnell is one of those who will allow the Bolsheviks to do the damage that they will do, because it takes the focus off him.
Sen Mitt Romney will stand aside and watch. Or he might put on a face mask and march with the destroyers, like he did with BLM.
The importation of people with bad ideas that were intent on turning the US in a different direction has damaged what was America. And most of the older generation politicians stood and encouraged it.
Shame on them.
This column is pure ,propaganda horse [expletive deleted],defending a low life,authoritarian scumbag who’s an enemy of democracy
I am continually amazed at the ferocity of Trump hatred displayed by those such as yourself. I am reminded of My Lai, the village that need to be destroyed to save it, back during the Viet Nam War. Did you know the Vietnamese call it the American War? You would destroy this Republic (what’s left of it) in your attempt to “save”it.
The column speaks only the truth; your inability to see it speaks volumes about you.
Are you really this deranged and stupid, or are you putting on an act for clicks?
Exactly right. It is Trump or a banana republic.
Nobody has to worry about anything so long as they don’t upset any particular State politician with power. FIFH.
Read the Law in NY and do a bit more introspection and discernment here and see how rewarding liars with the best loan terms is a very very slippery slope that harms the public in ways you have not even considered
A corrupt DA said DJT lied about the value of his property despite the evidence given by the banks who made the loans. This is very old news now. Perhaps the DA lacked the introspection and discernment you demand above. You could also benefit from the same.
ANY publicly traded lender MUST conduct their own Due Diligence due to their FIDUCIARY responsibility to shareholders, not to mention their regulators. The lender DID reduce the market value of collateral assets claimed by DJT. Few, if any, outside the case have ANY idea what the terms of the loan were and the value of collateral as determined by the lender. Further, the bank exec testified there were NO issues w/ the loan and they’d do it again. Further, Sarbanes-Oxley makes the CEO and CFO legally responsible for their business’ conduct and financial statements. THEY therefore accepted and endorsed the loan terms. Apparently, the square footage of Trump’s NYC Trump Tower was overstated and corrected. By all appearances, and TESTIMONY by the lender, this loan was a standard loan with terms acceptable to the lender and paid in full. Whining by those who have NO idea what the terms were, or the value of the collateral are just that: IGNORAMUSES WHINING.
Oh my poor ignorant liberal, the democrats will use lawfare against anyone that doesn’t conform. They created this law just for trump and the da pledged to get trump, how is that equal protection u dear the law?
Valuations aren’t lies. There are different approaches to valuing any asset, moreso with what amounts to a business. The worst is the approach that the judge used, the cost of the asset = the value of the asset. The prosecutor could just as easily charge Deutsche Bank with fraud, because their valuation of the assets on that loan were well above what the prosecutor claimed was the “true value”
Now on with your own spurious claim. Both you and the prosecutor show all the signs of having no idea how financing works. Having a difference of opinion on the value of collateral is more than normal. The bank looks at the loan applicant’s valuation, and has their own appraiser put their values on the loan. Banks do NOT do commercial loans trusting the applicant’s valuation on the loan. These loans, particularly the DB loans, (yes, I am more than casually familiar with DB’s loan underwriting process) were based on the bank’s appraiser’s valuations. Trump reports the collateral, the bank value determines the loan value. You are assuming the bankers are a bunch of idiots who don’t do their own homework. They are not. Trump’s claimed valuations had nothing at all to do with the loan value or rates, his business plan does, but only if the bank, the underwriters, and the board of directors are all convinced of the value of the deal. ALL OF THEM signed off on the Trump business plan.
The worth is the value you can SELL it for, not what you paid for it. At the same time the judge noted that the assets were overvalued, he clawed back the profits Trump made on selling the properties, apparently because the buyers by some kind of magic paid a higher price than Trump did because he told them to. A change in value because of a change in the market doesn’t compute for a judge that failed to understand economics.
This is a political prosecution, pure and simple. The Democrats promised literally to get Trump by, in their own word “any means necessary.”
This is nothing more than the State of New York saying, if you are our political enemy, WE WILL GET YOU. As other investors are concluding, this starts with Trump, it sure as hell doesn’t end with him.
It would appear that JimmyB is another one of those who have never been offered less for their trade-in car than they had hoped, who have never made an offer on a house, and have never appealed a property valuation to the local government for a tax reduction.
My God, how do none of you people understand this?!
“He failed to get the border wall built, for example”
Because Republicans wouldn’t fund it.
“He made some serious mistakes in his appointments. He botched the handling of COVID-19.”
Because the entire Deep State was working against him. Do YOU know all of them? He was not the one that shut down schools or life.
Civilizations throughout history have often collapsed after 200 years. We’re overdue.
It took you this long???
And anyone who believes that the left will limit this lawfare to only those that outright oppose them is deluding themselves. At some point they will seek out those that are insufficiently supportive or simply have a large amount of money. I could see them going after another billionaire and because they didn’t donate enough to a leftist political campaign or cause. Jesse Jackson was infamous for basically threatening to boycott businesses that didn’t donate to his organizations. Lawfare would simply be another bludgeon that they use to shakedown people with.
Article VIII of the US Constitution seems to come into play with the fine imposed on President Trump by Judge Engoron:
Amendment VIII
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” “…nor excessive fines imposed”.
Also interesting was that the time given him to pay the fines was short enough that he has almost no ability to sell off property to pay them. The size and time allowed seem to be designed to cause maximum pain. The judge’s refusal to extend it 30 days also seems to reinforce that when taken in the context that Letitia James, NY AG is expressly going out of her way to say they’ll seize his properties if he doesn’t pay in time. Lawfare.
Thank you for this much needed article. Perhaps the left which runs New York will finally realize that their treatment of President Trump has many of the rest of us really determined to have nothing further to do with that state.
Globalist Inc. wants chaos. But chaos must serve them, not undermine their ultimate objective – Control.
With lawfare failing, with Trump getting stronger, with Democrats & State Media influence in free fall decline, Globalist Inc. may allow US our elections in November. They’ll try to rig them but will accept a Trump win. Doing this will inflame our enemies within. There will be riots.
This orchestrated civil upheaval will be dumped on Trump. As will international conflicts that have been set in motion. Trump’s 2nd term will be undermined at every turn. Deep State will continue their war on US.
Their preselected candidate in 2028 will promise to restore calm & fix our sabotaged economy in exchange for permission to “suspend” the Bill of Rights. An exhausted majority will take the deal.
Control is the goal & wielding power is all that matters. To the enemies of We The People, our Constitution is just an old parchment paper document composed and signed by men who owned slaves.
The only reason Trump failed to complete building the wall was because of Democrat obstructionism.
Republicans who don’t vote for President Trump are supporting the idea that Democrats should have a veto over who Republicans nominate for President. Further, never-Trumpers implicitly seem to think that this veto will only be used once, for this one “special” case, & never again. Which is naive, stupid & self defeating.
The authors make a compelling case. Unfortunately, an equally compelling case can be made that Trump has made a career out of undermining the legal system. And now we have to choose between two groups that seem determined to weaponize the system for political purposes. I fear for the rule of law and the rest of us.