With every new indictment of President Trump, the Left's success in hijacking America's institutions becomes clearer and clearer. The Left's weaponization of our most fearsome government agencies is complete and total. The rule of law—the very foundation of our justice system—has effectively collapsed. Democrats profoundly fear Trump's re-election, and yet, in their ever-intensifying use of the Department of Justice to bar him from office, they are only strengthening Trump and making it increasingly likely that he will be the 47th President.
Trump's enemies are so consumed with hatred for him that they cannot think or act strategically. They believe they are being strategic by orchestrating flimsy if dangerous indictments in New York, Florida, Washington D.C., and Georgia soon as well. They think they're burying him under a blizzard of charges, draining his resources, and distracting him from campaigning effectively for re-election. And they may be right that their despicable lawfare will hobble him until November 2024 and beyond.
But they're missing the central point about Trump and his powerful, unprecedented appeal to voters: As an America First outsider, he established an organic emotional bond with the people, who view him—rightly—as their champion, a man who sacrificed everything to improve their lives and restore the America they love back to greatness.
That's an incredibly potent draw, and it's one that cannot be overcome by conventional political means. Hence the ruling class's increasingly desperate and relentless attempts to destroy him, from the Russia collusion hoax to two bogus impeachments to encouraging the violence of radical groups in an election year and more.
If the Democrats really wanted to undermine Trump, they would ignore him. But they are incapable of that, so they plow ahead with all manner of attacks, the country be damned.
They have thrown the kitchen sink at him, and much to their horror, nothing has yet sunk him—which brings us to the current indictments. These legal torpedoes are the Democrats' crisis plan for the 2024 election.
Given Trump's extraordinary first-term record in delivering a booming economy, a secure border, law and order, a restored military, and an end to U.S. intervention in foreign wars, the Democrats know they cannot stop him at the ballot box. So they're targeting him with selective prosecutions in the hope he will be a dramatically weakened GOP nominee, then convicted, imprisoned and unable to ever serve as president again.
This latest indictment over Trump's conduct post-2020 election and pre-January 6 Capitol riot is based alarmingly on the assertion that he knowingly made false claims about the election results. By that standard, Special Counsel Jack Smith should be indicting Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Stacey Abrams, and countless other Democrats who objected to the certification of their presidential and other elections and rejected the results. (Any day now, I'm sure.)
Apparently, the government is criminalizing political speech now—but only in one direction. And they're arresting political opponents—but only on one side.
Trump had every right to raise legitimate questions about election fraud in a controversial election in which the result hung on a mere 44,000 votes across three states. His vocalized concerns were First Amendment-protected free speech, just like the statements of the Democrats who engaged in election denialism in 2000, 2004, and 2016.
And yet, according to Smith and the Biden Justice Department, Trump is not entitled to his Constitutionally protected speech, or even the right to be wrong.
It's such a blatant violation of Trump's First Amendment protections that it appears to be as much a messaging event as a legal one—to warn President Biden's political opponents of the steep cost of opposing him and his radical agenda.
Of course, their ultimate targets go far beyond Trump. It's the America First movement. It's the normal, hardworking Americans who have gotten screwed by their globalist policies and selfish disregard. It's the Constitution, rule of law, and the social contract that have kept our freedoms in place. Those of us who put America first stand in the way of their ceaseless effort to overthrow all of it and grant themselves total power and control.
As Trump often says, they're coming for us; he's just in the way.
The Democrats believe Trump is the most easily beatable candidate next year and hope their endless attacks power him to the GOP nomination. But they should be careful what they wish for. Like Popeye's spinach, each new indictment has bolstered him; recent polling shows him far ahead of his GOP rivals and tied or slightly ahead of Biden.
His enemies will ultimately reap what they have sown. But in the meantime, we must work to ensure America survives their destructive assault. One of the most important ways to do that is by re-electing their nemesis—the brash, blue-collar billionaire Donald Trump—to the Presidency.
Monica Crowley is the host of the Monica Crowley Podcast and served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 2019 to 2021.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
