Yet his methods persist in New York’s courts.  Stalin’s notorious henchman Lavrentiy Beria famously said that if you identify a person to him, he’ll surely be able to find a crime to accuse him of, and after the usual show trial, that person would then be eliminated as a problem.

Beria was so feared within the Communist Party that when Stalin died, Khrushchev called a meeting of the top dogs of the Politburo — including Beria.  Standing behind a curtain in the meeting room were two army generals, holding pistols.  When they convened, the generals stepped out from behind the curtain, took Beria under arrest, and put him in front of a firing squad. 

Neither Stalin nor Beria was an ethnic Russian — they were Georgians.  And Stalin kept Beria busy snuffing out his opposition.  Stalin was a jealous person, and whenever someone began to rise up within the party ranks, possibly as a rival, his life became seriously more dangerous.  In the same way, Trump is a political threat to American petty tyrants who just happen to be Stalin wannabes.  Hence the grotesque farce of the “hush money” trial.

As an American, I’m embarrassed.  In previous political campaigns, tactics involved “leaked” innuendos stoking unfavorable rumors about opponents.  This has been common practice in all kinds of competitive endeavors.  Now the gloves are off, because Trump scares them so much that they can’t afford to be careful.

Volumes have already been spoken about the obvious defects in the trial.  It really wasn’t a trial, but rather a clumsy spectacle.  As a result, Mr. Trump’s supporters are even more militant and committed to his re-election.  Legalities notwithstanding, Mr. Trump’s martyrdom will live in history as a turning point, or at least I hope so.

Stalin went out feet first.  Subsequently, the USSR took on a slightly less obnoxious persona.  It was still an enemy of civilization, but it wasn’t as scary — especially to its own people.  The petty tyrants trying to keep Trump out of the White House have few tools to work with, since they can’t just snuff anyone in their way, so this trial and its derivatives are just about all they’ve got.  We now call it “lawfare” — AKA war by other means.

We have always relied on judicial resolution of disputes, and now that is uncertain.  In a civilized society, disputes need to be resolved equitably — or else other means must be employed.  This “hush money” trial may be an outlier rather than a turning point.  The strong reaction in Trump’s favor is indicative of the latent resentment over government oppression felt by much of the populace.

Meanwhile, nonsensical agendas are being pushed by authoritarians all around us.  Bernie Sanders’s Vermont just enacted an assessment against the petroleum industry because of weather events, irrespective of any evidence confirming actionable cause and effect.  California’s Senate has just enacted a requirement that all new cars sold after 2032 have governors that make it impossible for them to break the speed limit.  Governor Hair Gel, who has already advocated amending the U.S. Constitution to drastically change the Second Amendment, will probably sign it should the assembly follow suit.

Space does not allow for anything near a complete list of these proposed assaults on personal freedom, but suffice it to say that Trump’s conviction has provided a well needed rallying point for the non-totalitarians to form ranks and reverse this trend.  And that seems to be really happening.  Stalin would not be pleased.

Image via Picryl.