The moment that was supposed to be the crowning achievement of the left-wing lawfare crusade against Donald Trump ended up being the confirmation of its defeat.
In a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, Judge Juan Merchan formally handed down sentencing to President-elect Trump following his controversial conviction early this year on 34 felony counts related to alleged hush money payments made back in 2016. Just days before Trump is set to be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge,” meaning that he will receive no jail, no probation and no fine.
For the left, this was supposed to be their final moment of triumph. From the moment Biden took office in 2021, every arm of government power, from progressive district attorneys to the Department of Justice, was weaponized to “get Trump.” The Democrat establishment finally got what they wanted when a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty in May – or so they thought.
Just as they had been hoping to be able to do, the corporate media eagerly began branding Trump a “convicted felon.” Liberal pundits confidently predicted that this surely, finally, would be the political end of Donald Trump.
But it quickly became evident that the American people saw right through the charade. Far from collapsing, Trump opened up an even more commanding lead over his Republican primary opponents and surged ahead of Joe Biden in hypothetical general election polls. Opinion surveys found that a majority of the country believed the prosecution and conviction were politically motivated, despite the legacy media and Democrat establishment working overtime to convince the public otherwise.
Most Americans saw Alvin Bragg’s “novel legal theory” for what it was – a cynical scheme to influence the outcome of the upcoming election and, hopefully, throw Democrats’ top political opponent in prison before he could beat them again at the ballot box.
Conservative law professor Jonathan Turley sums up Bragg’s “theory” nicely: “It is a case based on a non-crime. Bragg took a long-dead misdemeanor and zapped it back into life with a novel and unfounded theory. By using federal violations that were never charged, let alone tried, Bragg turned a misdemeanor into dozens of felonies and essentially tried Trump for federal offenses.”
Legal scholars on both sides of the political aisle always acknowledged that Bragg’s theory was dubious, if not downright bogus. In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Boston University, called Bragg’s prosecution “a legal embarrassment” and “a historic mistake.”
In the end it was a mistake, an enormous strategic mistake on Democrats’ part. Trump won back the White House in decisive fashion, and the American people made clear that, no matter what a Manhattan jury says, they do not view Trump as the criminal the left has so desperately tried to make him out to be. The smear campaign failed.
However, in one last gasp of the anti-Trump lawfare crusade, it was announced that sentencing in the case would take place on January 10 – one last chance to humiliate Trump. But like everything else in this saga, it once again backfired on the left-wing forces who ginned up the case in the first place.
In a telling sign of just how demoralized the left is following Trump’s victory, the outrage from conservatives that the sentencing was moving forward – and that a conservative Supreme Court allowed it – far outweighed liberal gloating. Fox News reported that outside the court room the only demonstrators were pro-Trump – a stark shift from earlier in the case when liberal protesters also frequently waited outside the building.
As Outkick founder Clay Travis put it on X, “Imagine you spent nine years of your life begging for Donald Trump to be prosecuted & after nine years you finally got your trial & conviction & then at the sentencing they gave no punishment at all & ended the case. How wrecked is your world?”
Voices like sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, no fan of Trump, exploded over the futility of the act. “This is the kind of stuff that just validates assertions about stuff being politicized,” Smith said. “What is the purpose of this? Is he going to jail? Gonna get a fine?”
The trial also provided yet another platform for Trump to eviscerate the political nature of the case and address Judge Merchan directly. “The people of the country understood what this was about, and I won by a landslide,” Trump, who was attending the hearing virtually from Florida, said. “This has been a weaponization of government. I’d just like to exclaim that I was treated very unfairly.” The full video of Trump’s address to the court has gone viral on social media, once again showing how thoroughly the left’s lawfare campaign failed.
Ultimately it was not Trump, but the Democrat establishment, liberal media, and, unfortunately, the New York legal system that were damaged by this shameful incident. The only silver lining is that, perhaps, the finality of Trump’s victory means such an error will never be repeated.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
This will be very entertaining very shortly on or after Monday January 20th.
These lawfare hunters like Merchan will become the hunted. It will be addressed by true Justice seekers.
Don’t believe me just watch. Here it is as found in 18 USC section 241: “Conspiracy against rights” This is a Federal felony offense when two or more in a judiciary intend to threaten or intimidate by perverting law by upgrading statues against a political opponent. It’s in process!
Something of this sort is perfectly normal in China, Cuba or Soviet Union. This is America.this should be a wake up alarm loud enough to split an ear drum. And an eye opener to the desperate brazenness of the left. It means business. They’ve suffered a set back, I don’t think they are in reconciliatory mood ,maybe some, on the whole they are fighting for their tenures for life ,not the good of the country or constituents or the law ,that is not even in the picture.The menace is still in it’s place, people had not voted it out. Until that happens ,it will be pretty much the same old .
The left will never give up. We must not ever become complacent just because our candidate won. They are grouping together in ways we can only imagine to bring down every good policy our president enacts. Pray people. Pray that the schemes of the devil will be thwarted!
The law fare that targeted Donald Trump was supposed to serve several purposes” 1. keep Trump off the campaign trail (which didn’t work). 2. making sure he couldn’t get reelected president (which also didn’t work). 3. destroy and bankrupt him (also didn’t work). and 4. get him labeled a “convicted felon” (which so far has worked but, depending on what happens with his appeals, not for long). Another result of the law fare against Trump (which, hopefully, wasn’t intentional) is that faith bin the criminal justice system (especially in New York) has taken a very big hit.
They will just do it again as soon as opportunity knocks.
This is just another witchhunt with a leftist jury determined to smear Trump (didn’t work)
Just like the 83 million order for the sexual abuse that “supposedly” happened what 19/20 years ago?? I cannot for the life of me understand how the American people don’t stand up more for Trump. Good Grief! If I was sexually abused it wouldn’t take me 20 years down the road and at HER AGE!! what is she going to to with $83M LUDICOUS!!
Bragg and company have NO jurisdiction over this case or these so-called crimes. That will be a major basis for appeal, not to mention the stupid decisions made by Marchan during the “trial.” James, Marchan, Bragg will be tied and feathered next election.
Actually, lawfare like this is NOT dead thanks to SCOTUS deciding last Thursday AGAINST protecting the Constitution. The NY “case” against Trump never should have been allowed to proceed because it clearly ran afoul of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. So, thanks to Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett for not “remembering” basic Constitutional law concepts that I learned in my 1st year of law school, there is nothing to stop “Alvin Bragg like” DAs all over the US from pursuing these types of cases. A sad day indeed.
The deep state isn’t finished. This was posted earlier today. Really makes you stop and think what they would and could do to destroy this county.
“Christopher Wray’s motives for releasing this warning are highly suspect, especially with Trump’s inauguration in just 8 days.
He had previously announced that he would resign before Trump took office.
So why the sudden urgency for his China could attack us warning?
It’s likely he is providing a cover story for another planned DP State Psyop against the American citizens.
Are they planning to attack the inauguration or another part of the new Trump administration?
Will they create massive power outages and other utility service outages across the country?”
“The left is, typically, morally bereft.”
It’s long over due and about time. Our country needs something positive.
You know we still have to suffer through a (D) senator refusing to seat the felon, right? (insert eye-rolling emoji here)
trumped up charges(pardon the pun) and proper adjudication
TDS alert from Mike USA the loser. MAGA
One can only hope that the error will not be repeated, but that will only hold as long as the Democrats and liberals are not in power.
Have you had any book length fictions published?
TDS