The Right Resistance: Boring Trump arraignment sinks into bog of misplaced Democrat expectations
I wouldn’t exactly call it a “perp walk”, but the scene surrounding the arraignment of former president Donald Trump on Tuesday in New York City was nothing short of extraordinary.
Extraordinarily mundane, that is.
It’s safe to say millions of folks – at least the ones who were on hand or those observing from the safe confines of their living rooms or office desks – were waiting to see if anything out-of-the-ordinary would happen, like a bolt of lightning from the sky striking down the local authorities who’d created this hubbub, or whether a mad band of Trump fanatics clad in red, white and blue would ride their flag-draped vehicles to Trump’s rescue and whisk him away to the sanctuary of Trump Tower.
In the end, nothing eye-catching occurred. Simply stated, it was boring. The court police present could’ve just as easily announced, “Please disburse, nothing to see here.” The ramifications of the nation altering event could therefore only be felt inside the courtroom as well as in the hearts of those across the nation who could scarcely fathom how political conditions today could’ve reached this point where his enemies could charge a former leader of the free world for something that is well beyond the statute of limitations, is arguably not illegal in the first place, and was passed upon as non-actionable by a legion of other legal minds in previous years.
Yet here we are. Donald Trump was already impeached twice by Democrats in Congress, and their drive to expunge him from the highest echelons of leadership hasn’t dimmed one iota since the 45th president left Washington on Joe Biden’s inauguration day over two years ago.
What Trump said – and didn’t say – afterwards will be picked apart and dissected for a while, and what takes place next isn’t clear. But one thing that is evident from this official circus is Democrats seem to be utilizing the same anti-Trump strategy over and over, and chances are, they’ll be wrong again. In a piece titled “‘We’ve seen this story before’: Dems grow anxious of a Trump ’16 redux”, Politico writers Jonathan Lemire and Holly Otterbein wrote yesterday before the official proceedings:
“Trump won in 2016 by the slimmest of margins, losing the popular vote to Clinton but squeaking out victories in a series of battleground states to capture the electoral college. He did so in part because swing voters, Independents and some late-deciders broke toward him after a series of October surprises, along with Clinton fatigue and a thirst for change. Some first-time voters and disaffected Democrats also went for Trump, while some on the left opted to stay home.
“But four years later, many of those same swing voters broke away from him, weary of his chaos and frustrated by his handling of the COVID pandemic.
“Biden advisors are confident that those swing voters are now permanently out of Trump’s reach... They have a difficult time imagining that a voter who went for Trump in 2016, but then ran away from him in 2020, would return to cast their ballot for the former president after the Jan. 6 insurrection, several criminal investigations and years of election denialism. ‘What possibly would you like about what Trump has done since Election Day 2020?’ one Biden aide mused.”
To apply an oft-employed analogy, these people live in a bubble, only this imperceptible enclosure isn’t easily popped by a pin, a stiff wind or even a blunt object. Democrat believers surmise voters will join their causes because their own intentions or motivations are pure. Liberals want to “fix” racism, sexism, homophobia, trans-phobia, xenophobia, “climate change”, “disinformation” (sometimes known as free speech), bigotry against minority religions and atheists (in other words, oppressive adherents to the Judeo-Christian tradition) and, less fortunate people who are purportedly stepped on by rich folks.
Democrats demonstrate their love for “birthing humans” by shouting for abortions – as though those babies growing in the womb might be inconvenient! It’s not a life, it’s a choice of lifestyle, dang-it!
Democrats don’t ride white horses, but still prefer being regarded as do-gooders and woke crusaders who champion the little guy (he, she, they, xe, us, whatever). Therefore, they discount the possibility that people think for themselves and don’t see Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, “The Squad”, “Pocahontas” Warren or “Chucky” Schumer as representatives of the common man.
The primary reason they despise Trump is because he won’t bow at the altar of conventional American politics, where politicians – or at least Republicans – are counted on to refrain from excessive criticism or censure, even if what the contrarians are saying is demonstrably true. Trump is the most visible figurehead of the new type of GOP leader, but there are others – Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, John Kennedy, Josh Hawley and J.D. Vance, and Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and Byron Donalds, among many others. On the state level, there’s Ron DeSantis and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. No wonder the grassroots loves the boat-rockers.
Trump changed American politics. Millions of Americans admired him for it. That’s why Trump stands out from the rest – and why Democrats revile him so much. Where they go wrong is assuming that Americans see it the same way they do. By pursuing these absurd witch hunts, Democrats succeed in accomplishing what a gaggle of Republican consultants or lobbyists could never do in a year’s worth of high-dollar advice campaigns: namely, make Donald Trump into a sympathetic character. No one, least of all Americans well-versed in history and constitutional freedoms, likes seeing anyone treated unfairly.
Generations of United States citizens have spent the better part of two and a half centuries battling over the notion of law and equality and justice. The Constitution hasn’t been amended all that often and most proposals to change the governing charter die before they reach the first stage, but decent folks understand injustice when they encounter it. Donald Trump might be a scoundrel in the eyes of half the country, but that doesn’t mean he deserves less protection from state-inspired harassment than anyone else.
Sorry, Democrats, but patriotic Americans think more like Donald Trump than they do the “beautiful people” in Hollywood or the system cooking financial gurus on Wall Street or the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion virtue signalers in academia. They want their retirement portfolios to grow, not to be giving, behind their backs, to inane ESG causes they’ve never heard of.
Besides, Trump isn’t asserting privilege in this farce. He isn’t implying he requires special treatment because he’s wealthy or owns businesses or because he’s famous. No, Trump has hit the nail on the head – his tormentors are after him because of his beliefs and his willingness to defy convention and change the way Americans see their own government. His 2017 inaugural address talked about restoring power to the people. What’s so hard to understand about that?
Yet still the liberal “get Trump” minions continue. And Democrats underestimate Trump’s appeal to the people – again. This isn’t 2016, but in many ways, it’s 2016 on steroids. A couple years of Joe Biden was more than enough to demonstrate how incompetent and evil Democrats really are – to the point where even those who dislike Trump would willingly cross the line to be rid of the current ruling junta.
Trump is often heard saying, “They’re not after me; they’re after you.”
By himself, Trump can’t do anything. He needs the support of the tens of millions of backers in the fifty states to give him power. Democrats seem to think that ridding themselves of Trump will eliminate the thoughts and emotions of those he represents. But parading him before the gleeful media and biased reporting class will only deepen Democrats’ miseries.
If they keep it up, they’ll wish it were 2016 again. Even if this systemic charade continues to its logical conclusion – a conviction on all charges by a biased New York jury – Trump’s cause won’t end. Even if he’s sent to prison, his cause won’t end. Everything Democrats and leftists are doing only makes the bonds between Trump and his supporters stronger.
Trump is unpredictable. Who knows, maybe he will figure it isn’t worth the bother any longer. But this isn’t likely, and even if Trump removed himself from the conversation, someone would take up the MAGA banner for him. There’s no way we’re going back to before June, 2015, when Jeb Bush led the 2016 GOP nomination polls and the world made sense to establishmentarians.
There will never be another Republican presidential nomination winner who rejects the MAGA movement. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle. Future Republican candidates can look forward to being compared to Trump and being asked about the issues that are important to Trump’s loyal followers. Trump won’t last forever, but the GOP has changed – for the better.
Tuesday’s happenings in New York City were underwhelming for those anticipating the usual level of fireworks in an occasion involving Donald Trump. The Democrats’ show trial arraignment was a dud and the charges they tried pinning on the former president won’t stick. “Unprecedented” is a word we hear a lot these days. What else would you expect with Donald Trump?
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