Donald Trump’s conviction is blatantly political and threatens the fabric of American democracy
The conviction of Donald Trump in New York is a bleak, grievous day for American democracy, society and the justice system.
Half the United States now believes, rightly in my view, that the judicial system has been wrongly weaponized for party political purposes.
Even if Trump were guilty, this would be a violent, devastating wrench in the American social and political fabric.
But this prosecution is so blatantly political that tens of millions of Americans will now lose trust in the judicial system. In the unravelling of American society the loss of faith in institutions has been central.
Trump has contributed to that by many gross and reckless statements and dubious actions. The way the Democrats are misusing the legal system, however, because they’re scared they might not beat Trump at the ballot box, shows that they have now exceeded Trump in their wilful damaging of US institutions.
The Trump prosecution is absurd at every level. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, eight years ago paid Stormy Daniels $US130,000 so that she would not publicly allege she had a consensual sexual encounter with Trump.
It’s all very sleazy, not remotely illegal. The alleged crime is that the Trump organisation mis-recorded this as a fee to his lawyer instead of a hush money payment.
At worst, this is an extremely minor misdemeanour. The allegation was examined by Joe Biden’s Justice Department which, though happy to prosecute Trump on any matter, thought there was nothing to prosecute here.
The former Manhattan District Attorney, another loyal Democrat, declined to prosecute. The statute of limitations meant it could no longer be tried.
The new Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, ran for office in part on the promise he would prosecute Trump. This kind of election of senior justice system officers is a dreadful weakness in the US system. And running on the platform that you’ll prosecute a particular individual is profoundly destructive.
To overcome the statute of limitations, the DA then had to elevate the charge to a felony by claiming it was committed in order to further another felony. But then, in the trial, this secondfelony was not even specified.
So Trump has been convicted of a misdemeanour from eight years ago which has been elevated to a felony because it was allegedly committed in pursuit of another felony which has not been specified.
This kind of trial would have made prosecutors proud in the old Soviet Union.
On top of that, Trump was convicted almost solely on the testimony of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has himself been convicted of perjury, who admitted to stealing from the Trump organisation, and whose entire commercial life and fortune now is dependent on attacking Trump.
On top of that, entirely needlessly Trump was forced to attend the court in person every day for six weeks, so he could not campaign across America.
And of course this nonsensical prosecution could have been brought any time since the information first came to light seven years ago. Instead it was timed to make the maximum impact on the presidential campaign.
And of course the trial should never have been held in Manhattan which is politically and personally the one speck of the whole United States most hostile to Trump. The chance of Trump getting a fair trial there was zero.
It’s not necessary to have the slightest personal sympathy for Trump to regard this as a monstrous attack on US democracy and a clear mis-use of the judicial system. This did not show that no-one is above the law, it showed that the law can be mobilised against almost anybody.
Normally, a felony conviction would completely end any politician’s campaign for the presidency. There are even generic polls which suggest a felony conviction would hurt a candidate. Democrats have thus pinned their hopes on the legal process hurting Trump sufficiently to swing the election for Joe Biden.
That may still happen. But so far the Democrats’ determination to harass Trump this way has not noticeably hurt Trump. As this trial unfolded Trump opened up a substantial poll lead over Biden.
The whole process has cost the Trump campaign tens, or perhaps hundreds, of millions of dollars. Many Americans will not follow this, certainly in any detail.
Many will rejoice that Trump has been convicted of something. But when Bill Clinton was impeached his poll numbers rose markedly. Millions upon millions of Americans will see this as a corrupt process. And that interpretive prism reinforces many of Trump’s key messages – the power of unelected elites, their determination to frustrate the choices and will of voters, and so on.
The biggest loser in all this is not Trump, it’s the entirety of American democracy.
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