The Progressive-Democrat drive to politicalize criminal law strikes again. Just days after the House of Representatives announced it would investigate President Biden’s role in his son’s business dealings, Attorney General Merrick Garland retaliated by appointing a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee Trump’s ongoing criminal investigations. The odds are that the current special counsel will have no more success than Robert Mueller or the people running the current state and federal investigations into Trump’s activities, but convicting Trump probably is the last thing on Merrick’s mind.

Special Counsel Jack Smith

Garland’s immediate goal is to give the press something to talk about other than Hunter Biden and the Big Guy’s business deals. Given the depth of Biden’s incompetence and corruption and that two years remain in Biden’s stolen term of office, such a distraction is an absolute necessity. As a bonus, the distraction also doubles as a threat to other wannabe truth-tellers: you, too, can be investigated.

Garland’s secondary objective is keeping the anti-Trump narrative alive. In what looks and feels like a real-world version of Orwell’s two minute hate, “respectable” news outlets have rained slander and calumny on Donald Trump. Once the allegation is made, other media outlets repeat it until they can no longer defend the lie. The story is then dropped down the memory hole, and a new equally false and outrageous report is released.  

In 2016 it was golden showers. In 2020, just weeks before the election, The Atlantic claimed Trump called veterans suckers and losers.  In 2022 it was purported top-secret documents stashed behind Melania Trump’s underwear at Mar-a-Lago.

It’s been a long sick ride, but it does serve a purpose. As noted, it is a distraction from Biden. It’s also a divide-and-conquer strategy. When NeverTrumpers in the Republican party talk about how Trump is too divisive and toxic to lead the party, how do you think he became divisive and toxic in the first place? Keeping the two-minute hate alive is one of Merrick’s best politicization efforts, and the new special counsel is a part of that.

Garland’s final goal is convicting Trump of obstruction of justice. Why obstruction? Truth is not a defense against obstruction charges. If telling the truth in any way annoys, pesters, or obstructs an investigation, you are at risk of being charged. And another thing to beware of is that the obstruction charge is separate from the original charge. You can be found guilty of obstructing an investigation into a crime that never happened.

At any time during Robert Mueller’s investigation into the collusion delusion, Trump could have proved his innocence by releasing documents in his procession. By releasing actual facts to the public, Trump would have arguably obstructed Mueller’s efforts to falsely accuse him of various crimes. Given how the law is written and the swamp’s hatred of Trump, does anyone doubt Trump would have been convicted?

Another way the game gets played is by the government leaking to the press.  The Mueller investigation constantly leaked stories to the media. If Trump had lost his temper and began tweeting in the heat of the moment, and had the tweets not been 100% correct, he could have been accused of making false and misleading statements to obstruct Mueller’s investigation. 

I’m not a lawyer, but given the weakness of the collusion charges and the constant leaking to the press, I often wondered if Mueller’s real goal was to goad Trump into such an obstruction trap. I now wonder if Jack Smith, the new special counsel, intends to play the same game. If Trump zips his lips, his reputation and presidential campaign suffer a death by a thousand cuts via leaks to the press.  If Trump wins re-election, the investigation will follow him back to Washington, where a never-ending series of well-timed leaks becomes a dead weight dragging down everything Trump wants to accomplish.

If Trump rises to his own defense before the election, he will get arrested, probably ending his campaign. Long after the election, Trump goes to trial. He might even win his case in court (though before a DC jury that is improbable), but so what? The damage is done. 

The best part of this is that it isn’t limited to Trump.  Any outsider attempting to reform the federal government can be made to suffer.  For the swamp critters like Merrick Garland, this politicization is a win-win situation. For the Republic and the rule of law, it’s an absolute disaster, but what can be done? An excellent first step would be for the Republicans to use their razor-thin majority to build the legal case against Merrick Garland and others who turned the Department of Justice into Biden’s Gestapo. Only when the people politicizing the legal system are held accountable will there be less politicization.

Photo credit: Hague Court of Internaitonal Justice, via Twitter