by JOEL B. POLLAK at breitbart.com
The indictment of former President Donald Trump on Thursday by a grand jury in Manhattan is an assault on democracy.
There is no evidence of a crime being committed in the Stormy Daniels affair; even if there were, the statute of limitations on the supposed charge has expired, and the state cannot evade it by inventing a federal crime. The indictment is simply an attempt to prevent the leading opposition candidate from contesting the 2024 election.
Worse, the indictment was purchased by notorious left-wing billionaire George Soros, who hates Trump and spent $1 million to elect Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
There is no more glaring abuse of the rule of law than to allow a wealthy patron of the ruling party to fund the prosecution of its political rival. It is a direct assault on democracy, a form of election interference that will destroy what is left of voters’ faith in democracy.
In the short term, the indictment will encourage conservative voters to rally around Trump. Assuming he can still campaign while on trial, or perhaps from state prison, he is now almost certain to win the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.
He has become the primary symbol of the abuses of power by our country’s entitled liberal elite. If you don’t like what they are doing, the best way to say that is to vote for him.
But that, too, is election interference, because there are some Democrats who would rather run against Trump than against another candidate whose rhetorical style does not irritate the public as much as Trump’s does. The indictment robs Republican voters of a chance to consider alternatives. It gives Democrats exactly what they want: a weakened nominee who cannot be displaced but who will also struggle to win the general election.
This is how politics and prosecution work in the Third World — which is perhaps appropriate for Manhattan, which is quickly falling apart under Bragg’s misrule.