What is totalitarianism? Some described it this way: authoritarianism wants obedience; totalitarianism wants belief. An authoritarian controls what you do; a totalitarian controls that and what you think, what’s in your head and heart. Today’s progressivism is developing before our eyes the authoritarian means to pursue totalitarian ends. The Trump verdict is the latest piece in this sordid puzzle.
The case is absurd. The highly debatable misdemeanor bookkeeping violations in New York law were legally dead having gone beyond New York’s statute of limitations. The “fraud” was Trump doing what Bill Clinton did: allegedly attempting to hide adultery. The shame of adultery is not a crime. Perjury is; nondisclosure agreements are not. According to Andrew C. McCarthy on the principal Bragg allegation of fraud in the bookkeeping to hide a campaign expense, “… [a campaign] expense has to be an obligation that relates directly to the campaign and would not exist absent the campaign” (see #1 below). This clearly wasn’t, which explains why the feds didn’t pursue it. The 34 charges were one charge cloned 34 times to embellish this Bragg quackery. The resuscitation of the defunct minor allegations, and the elevation of the flummery to felonies, was conjured by connecting these to a mysterious fraud in hypothetical and uncharged federal campaign finance violations or some other unknown and unproven derelictions, a clear and unmistakable violation of the Sixth Amendment’s right of a defendant to know the charges, even the hidden one used to leap over the statute of limitations and into a felony. The judge’s behavior was egregiously partisan. This trial and verdict have “reversible error” (overturned on appeal) written all over them.
But the dam of restraint on political prosecutions has been breached. A hideous precedent is set. Blue-state and blue-precinct soviets are quickly becoming the ruling norm in pockets around the country. The template to be the target of this Beria brand of persecution (Stalin’s NKVD head: “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”) is now established: be conservative, occupy a position of influence, be outspoken, and be a political threat to the reigning soviet, and “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” comes into play.
Stalin only carried the title of General Secretary of the Communist Party throughout his entire tenure at the head of the country. So, a powerful party is essential to spearhead the complete revolution in thought and action. We have one in the Democratic Party as the ideological home for this revolution. And now they do not shrink from Beria-like actions, rule of law be damned.
The Party is not alone in the endeavor. Their sympathizers dominate in newsrooms, academia, much of the c-suite, the media, and entertainment, almost complete domination of the cultural commanding heights, to assist the Party in building their new order. They’re free to sexualize your kids into transgenderism, indoctrinate them in the neo-Marxism of oppressor/oppressed, shoehorn every facet of your existence into their eco-vision, and reserve the power to force not only compliance but also love for their revolution. And this isn’t totalitarianism in practice?
China’s CCP only replicates what Bragg achieved before a Manhattan judge and jury in the CCP’s recent arrest and persecution of dissidents in Hong Kong. It’d be rank hypocrisy for anyone in the donkey party to complain. The jargon of “hatred” and “incite netizens [sic] to organize or participate in illegal activities” could have easily come out of Bragg’s or Jack Smith’s offices (see #2 below). Our soviets in New York and Washington, D.C., have no grounds to condemn Red China’s CCP after imitating them in a Manhattan courtroom. Beijing has “courtrooms” too.
None are safe from the drumbeat. The conservative, original-intent majority on the Supreme Court is particularly in the Party’s crosshairs. After decades of dominating the Court, they now want to pillory the new majority that might contest the Constitutional worthiness of the Party’s designs. From attacks on flags to accusations of “extreme closeness to his wife” (see #3 below), the Party’s minions shower invective to silence opposing voices. In Congress, they strive to pack the Court with fellow travelers, impeach and recuse dissenters, and extend an unconstitutional executive and legislative branch jurisdiction over the Court, anything to force the Court into conformity, like everyone else.
It’s enough to turn a Trump skeptic into a Trump supporter, if for no other reason than to stop this totalitarian trainwreck. John Yoo of UC Berkeley’s school of law put it succinctly (see #4 below): “To limit and undo that damage and restore the rule of law, Republicans may have no choice but to respond in kind.” In order to reestablish deterrence against this kind of behavior, the revolution’s partisans must experience the sting of a political prosecution that they enunciated. Think of it as engendering a new respect for mutual assured destruction. Watch out Barack Obama, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, et al, as one red state AG or DA after another hauls you before a local grand jury and into a local criminal court before a local judge. I can envisage criminal charges stemming from the assassination of an American citizen overseas, criminal misuse of sensitive government communications (emails), influence peddling as Vice President or acting as an unregistered foreign agent, being a middle man funneling bribes to the “big man”, inflicting harm on border communities due to willful dereliction of legally mandated responsibilities, etc.
Additionally, Republican officeholders, don’t step foot into DC, New York City, Chicago, California, any city dominated by a college campus, or any other blue bastion. Go further. Move all federal offices outside the reach of the Alvin Braggs and Fani Willises of the world. If need be, Zoom it.
In the meantime, prepare for a hurricane.
RogerG
Sources:
1. “Bragg Falsifies Business-Records Charges against Trump”, Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 3/23/2024, at https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/03/bragg-falsifies-business-records-charges-against-trump/
2. “Hong Kong police arrest 6 people accused of violating the city’s new national security law”, Kanis Leung, AP, 5/28/2024, at https://www.abc27.com/international/ap-hong-kong-police-arrest-6-people-accused-of-violating-the-citys-new-national-security-law/
3. “New York Times Op-Ed: Does Clarence Thomas Love His Wife Too Much?”, Noah Rothman, National Review, 5/21/2024, at https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/new-york-times-op-ed-does-clarence-thomas-love-his-wife-too-much/
4. “Trump’s Trial Has Already Damaged the Office of the Presidency”, John Yoo, National Review, 5/29/2024, at https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/05/trumps-trial-has-already-damaged-the-office-of-the-presidency/