Gag Orders And Threats On Trump Disrespect Democracy

tippinsights Editorial Board -
  • A federal judge reinstated a gag order on former President Trump in a case related to the overturning of the 2020 election
  • In a New York civil case, Judge Arthur Engoron threatened to imprison Trump for violating a gag order
  • Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination
  • Legal actions against Trump are unjust and amount to election interference
  • Trials against Trump must be postponed

The federal judge overseeing the government's case charging that former President Donald Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election reimposed a gag order on Trump last week.

Judge Chutkan wrote:

The First Amendment rights of participants in criminal proceedings must yield, when necessary, to the orderly administration of justice.

Over in New York City, Judge Arthur Engoron, overseeing a civil trial about how Trump inflated his real estate holdings, went even further, threatening to imprison Trump for violating a gag order. The judge also fined Trump $5,000 for leaving "an untrue and disparaging post about my clerk" on his campaign website.

The lawfare on Trump going back to his first impeachment trial in December 2019 has taken on new wings. Trump was impeached a second time after he left office. Then, he was the main target of the partisan J6 Committee for over 17 months. Now, Trump is the target of two federal special counsel investigations, a RICO investigation by the Fulton County Prosecutor, two private civil lawsuits in New York, and a separate criminal lawsuit, also in New York. 

If you listen to the TDS crowd in Never-Trumper and Democratic circles, all of the above is not enough. The "Rule of Law" must prevail, they say, and victims' rights supersede all else.

While the above justification applies to all defendants, it should not apply to Trump. Not because he is a former president but because he is most likely to become the country's next Chief Executive. Viewed through this lens, the judicial gag orders and threats on Trump disrespect the rule of law and democracy, not uphold them.

In the latest RealClearPolitics polling averages, Trump has a 47-point national lead over his next rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In Iowa, where Trump's lead has always been smaller, a new poll by respected pollster J. Ann Selzer shows him ahead by 27 points. In New Hampshire, Trump is 31 points ahead of Nikki Haley, the latest darling of the RINO crowd, showering the candidate with funds and political support.

These are extraordinary numbers in primary polling. Trump's lead is so dominant that the person with the best name recognition in the race who knew him well, former VP Mike Pence, dropped out of the nominating contest after only four months. Unless some physical or judicial harm comes to Trump, the GOP nomination is Trump's to lose. 

In the general election, Trump has consistently led Biden, although within the margin of error. With the world heading to a global conflict and the Biden administration clueless about handling the two opposing factions in the Middle East, support for Biden is only likely to fall. 

In short, Biden aims to gain an advantage over Trump by inundating him with numerous lawsuits from Democratic prosecutors and silencing him through Democratic judges. The lapdog press, of course, is actively supporting these efforts while turning a blind eye to Biden's own legal issues. This is third-world stuff.

Remember that Biden came to office promising a saner world where adults would be in charge at the White House compared to the chaotic administration of the 45th president. It is difficult to comprehend that Biden has been in office fewer than three years. So catastrophic has his administration been that he has taken America to a proxy war with a nuclear nation, caused the country’s decline in geopolitical standing with countries of the Global South, and deepened our conflict with China and Iran. The world has become significantly more dangerous than when Trump was in office. Trump was the only U.S. president who did not start a new conflict in over 75 years.

It is not just the world. America has become significantly more dangerous also. Crime in the inner cities has skyrocketed. A recent TIPP Poll showed that six in ten (61%) Americans are dissatisfied with Biden's policies to reduce or control crime. Nearly seven million illegal immigrants have invaded our borders and settled everywhere in America. No government agency even knows how many illegal aliens are in the country - as is evident by the non-responses of four senior administration officials appearing at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

We have argued for months that the Biden administration's use of the vast powers of the federal bureaucracy to go after Trump through lawsuits is immoral, wrong, and dangerous for our republic, reducing America to a banana republic. For the courts now to rule, given the absolute power that each judge has in their courtroom, that Trump can't even publicly respond to the charges that are made against him is nonsense. The lawfare against him is a crucial election issue in front of voters - so, Trump is forbidden to campaign on an election issue? Whose rights are more important? 140 million voters? Or a few people dragged into these cases by overzealous prosecutors?

Threatening Trump with jail time, fines, and other measures is ridiculous. We're one year from the next election - and this time, the world agrees that how America votes in 2024 can determine the globe's future. 

If the courts are eager to protect their stakeholders, let them postpone all trials until after the election. Justice delayed is justice denied, they say. But in Trump's case, delaying justice is the right thing to do for the world at large.

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