by Jeffrey Lord
Well of course.
In the Deep State mania to put former President Donald Trump on trial for something — anything! — New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Acting New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan may be about to launch one of the biggest backfires in American political history as they attempt to rig the 2024 election by forcing now-candidate Trump into a court-ordered silence.
In doing so, they would ironically but inevitably put both themselves and the Trump-hating Deep State on trial.
From the New York Post:
Trump surges to 30-point lead over DeSantis among Republicans: poll
From Business Insider:
Trump surges to a 26-point lead over Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential primary post-indictment: poll
From Breitbart:
Poll: Donald Trump Surges to 26-Point Lead over Ron DeSantis After Indictment
Presidential politics, of course, is always about raising money for a candidate’s campaign. Which makes this RSBN headline particularly stunning:
TRUMP RAISES WHOPPING $7 MILLION IN WAKE OF INDICTMENT NEWS
There is a boatload more of similar stories out there like this, all of which point to the obvious:
The American people get it.
Blissfully unaware of the backlash they would cause, the Deep State and its bosses, to their shock, are finding they have managed a considerable hat trick: In targeting Trump with an indictment and a trial, they have wound up effectively raising questions about putting themselves on trial.
Now comes this report:
Will Trump be gagged? Judge will ‘most likely’ slap former president with gag order that could silence his Truth Social – and he faces a $1,000 fine or 30 days in jail if he breaks it
Got that? Judge Juan Merchan will “most likely” silence the former president.
Let’s cut to the chase here.
The message delivered to the American people is that Judge Juan Merchan, in cahoots with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is set to rig the 2024 election by denying the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination the right to speak.
Just for starters, this is such a gross violation of Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech that it calls into question the judge’s own presence on the bench. Along with rogue New York District Attorney Bragg, it raises the question of whether Judge Merchan himself should not only be removed from the bench but should also be disbarred, banned from practicing law ever again.
And note well that it is being said that not only will Trump be banned from speaking — as this is written he is scheduled to give an address to the nation Tuesday night after his arraignment — but the judge would apparently silence Trump’s Truth Social site.
This is serious business here. Very serious.
All of this brings into sharp focus that the trial of Donald Trump has launched, in spectacular backfire fashion, the trial of the Deep State, with all of its many tentacles now under a microscope.
Never underestimate the Deep State arrogance that is repeatedly on display. House Republicans with the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, thankfully chaired by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, have demanded that Bragg testify before Congress on his actions.
In the style of arrogance typical of Bragg, the DA has the chutzpah to accuse Jordan and company by saying:
The Committees’ attempted interference with an ongoing state criminal investigation – and now prosecution – is an unprecedented and illegitimate incursion on New York’s sovereign interests
Hello? Hello? It is District Attorney Bragg who is attempting “an unprecedented and illegitimate incursion” into the conduct of a presidential candidate. For which he should not simply be required to testify before a committee of Congress, but also investigated for his blatant attempt to rig the 2024 election.
In fact, the attitude underlying the conduct of DA Bragg is exactly the attitude that was behind the FBI’s Trump-hating agents, the Department of Justice, and the Trump-hating Jan. 6 Committee.
It is time to hold the Deep State to account. It’s time to examine not only the Office of the New York District Attorney, the Office of Manhattan’s Acting Supreme Court Justice, but, yes, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Jan. 6 Committee as well. Which, to its credit, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is beginning to do.
Here’s a fact.
If Donald Trump vanished from this earth today, the efforts of the Deep State would go on, focused the next time on whomever became the next Republican nominee or president.
This is why the Deep State is so exceptionally dangerous, not to mention so thoroughly un-American.
Famously, after the signing of the Constitution in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether the signers had given the country a monarchy or a republic. Franklin wisely responded, “A republic — if you can keep it.”
It is crystal clear from the actions of District Attorney Bragg, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and more that this is exactly the kind of moment that the very wise Dr. Franklin was talking about.
Can we keep this republic of the United States of America?
Answer: Not if Bragg gets his way.
Which is exactly why he needs to be legally stopped in his tracks.
And if there is any doubt as to where the American people stand on the former president? Here is this headline from the DC Enquirer from a couple of weeks ago after it was announced that Trump was going to be arrested:
In The Face Of Persecution, Trump Receives HUGE Standing Ovation From NCAA Wrestling Crowd: ‘USA, USA, USA’
Bingo.
– – –
Jeffrey Lord, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is a former aide to Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. An author and former CNN commentator, he writes from Pennsylvania at [email protected]. His new book, Swamp Wars: Donald Trump and The New American Populism vs. The Old Order, is now out from Bombardier Books.
Photo “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Alvin Bragg” by Alvin Bragg. Background Photo “Election Day” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
