"Our Democracy" is Dead

Since WW2, the United States has had one of the most prosperous runs in history. Barring a few interruptions from the Vietnam War, the wars in the Middle East, 9/11, and COVID-19, the United States has experienced the most stability of any civilization to ever exist. This era of trust and prosperity has ended. Yesterday, the Republic saw its funeral broadcast from a New York City courtroom. Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a highly politicized show trial, and more are likely to come if he doesn’t win in November. Currently, Trump is facing over 54 additional felony counts across the country, from state prosecutors like Fulton County DA Fani Willis and New York AG Leticia James to the DOJ’s Jack Smith. Of course, all these cases only materialized once Trump announced he was running for re-election in November of 2022.In response, Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler said in a statement, “The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power.” After convicting a former President in the middle of an election season to stop him from running, Biden and his acolytes brazenly assert that Donald Trump is the real threat to “our democracy.”Trust in the impartiality of government is the bedrock of the American Republic. Without trust, the social contract that binds the nation together weakens, leading to political instability, decreased civic participation, and a breakdown in the legitimacy of public institutions. Hence, maintaining and nurturing trust is crucial for the enduring health and stability of the American Republic. In coordination with the Biden Department of Justice, the Judiciary of New York has completely eroded any trust in our courts, if there was any left.In the eyes of the 50%+ of the public, the courts have become completely impartial and political. It goes without saying that this was obviously an entirely politically motivated trial, with Democrats seeking to defeat Trump at the courts instead of at the ballot box. The prosecutor for this case, Alvin Bragg, ran his campaign on prosecuting Donald Trump, saying in 2021, “I have seen a pattern of lawlessness over 20 years and so I am inclined to believe all I have seen in the public domain and believe that there’s a path forward there to make the case.” Loren Merchan, the daughter of the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, fundraised off the case, giving plenty of financial incentive to prolong and bias the case despite its lack of concrete evidence. Now, the case will go to an appellate court for the appeal, which will be ruled on by judges appointed to their position by Democrat Governors in New York. This prosecutorial misconduct is standard in all cases against the former President. The New York civil fraud case prosecutor, Attorney General of New York Letitia James, has visited the White House multiple times since becoming Attorney General in 2019. In 2018, before becoming the Attorney General, she said, “Oh, we’re going to definitely sue him [Trump]. We’re going to be a real pain in the ass. He’s going to know my name personally.” After winning the trial while Trump was procuring a bond to pay the fine he received in the case, she mocked him on her @NewYorkStateAG Twitter, posting the dollar amount of the fine and the additional interest he had to pay every day he didn’t pay it. Fannie Willis, the Georgia “election interference” prosecutor, also visited the White House before filing her indictments. All these actions are completely irregular and unprecedented in American history.When a court prosecutes its political enemies for personal gain while ignoring the errors of their friends, it is illegitimate. The law is only legitimate if it is applied equally to those in power as those who are not in power. The American system relies on unbiased courts to be fair judges of the law, and when they diverge from that basic premise, they no longer fulfill their purpose and are, therefore, illegitimate. When this political prosecution is targeted at a presidential candidate, it calls the legitimacy of the entire American system into question.Without fair courts, the American system fails. The Executive and Legislative branches can run amuck of the systems and rule with complete tyranny without the check of the Judiciary. Our entire system of Government is built around just courts, and we have just experienced a major break in their justness and legitimacy.George Washington acknowledged this basic fact in his farewell address: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” The use of this political power to crush your political opponents is, according to the father of the United States, “frightful despotism.”What did Trump do to deserve the target of this frightful despotism? Trying to close the border, keep terrorists out of our country, secure elections, and get out of foreign wars? Arguing the now blasphemous idea that the United States Government should put America First?President Donald J. Trump has been lynched by the Department of Justice for the sole crime of putting Americans First. “Our Democracy” is dead. Unless Donald Trump is elected in November and succeeds in restoring a fair judiciary, the United States is headed for dire straits.