Del Beccaro: The Criminalization of Politics Has Reached a Dangerous Height
The indictment of former President Donald Trump marks a new peak in the criminalization of American politics. Elections based on policy differences no longer suffice for the American Left. Today, in coordinated fashion, their donors, elected officials, the Department of Justice and the FBI have graduated from the “politics of personal destruction” to the criminalization of candidates on the Right.
In the good ole’ days, the U.S. witnessed some very rough campaigns. The attacks on Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were anything but gentile. Long ago, politicians usually waited until their opponents were elected before conducting investigations of them. For instance, President Ulysses S. Grant’s Vice President, Schuyler Colfax, was investigated during his Vice-Presidential term for his association with the Crédit Mobilier scandal – the events of which occurred when he was a Congressman.
One hundred years later, the term “politics of personal destruction” came into our political vernacular. Opponents of Republican President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork, including Joe Biden, employed scorched earth tactics to prevent his elevation to the Supreme Court. They did so despite Joe Biden stating at the time of Bork’s appellate nomination, after which he was unanimously confirmed, that Bork likely would be approved if he was nominated to the Supreme Court. Years later, Justice Clarence Thomas would later survive a similar gauntlet.
Of course, the impeachment of Bill Clinton represented a heightened new phase in politics. After that, every President since has been the subject of an ever-rising tenor of calls for impeachment.
Even so, those past efforts remained largely with the political system, which included Congress.
Today, however, the Left is using the criminal justice system to do their best to prevent Republicans from taking office. Recall that presidential aspirant Republican Rick Perry was “indicted” by a Democrat official. Although the indictment was eventually thrown out, there is little doubt that it served its purpose to limit Rick Perry’s political trajectory.
Then came Donald Trump. The world knows that the FBI and the DOJ started an investigation of Trump as part of the 2016 Presidential campaign. With Hillary Clinton Campaign seed money and help, Russia, Russia, Russia allegations were spread about Trump with the helpful bidding of those within the FBI and the DOJ – as an “insurance policy” against his election. Altogether, that effort represented an unprecedented and dangerous coordination of candidates, campaign money and government officials – all using the criminal justice system – to stop a political opponent.
In the years that followed, the United States was put through falsely predicated and malicious investigations about Trump and Russia. The truth is now evident. However, the political napalming of Trump and the collateral damage to the nation were nevertheless politically successful for the Left – and not one person involved in the awful deeds, despite overwhelming evidence, paid any price at all.
Not to be outdone by Congress or Hillary, the New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg decided to get in on the political blood sport of the day – attacking of Donald Trump.
James told NBC news, before she took office, that “We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well,” James, a Democrat, told NBC News in her first extensive interview since she was elected last month.”
So much for the 4th Amendment, which hitherto required probable cause before an investigation. Keep in mind that one of the driving forces of the Founding of the United States was England’s use of “Bill of Attainders,” i.e., punishment without trial often for political opponents. The arbitrariness and punitive nature of punishing political dissent was one of the reasons why the 4th Amendment came into being.
Now, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has benefitted from at least a million dollars in donations that trace back to George Soros’ organizations, has indicted Trump. No one need wonder why. He too campaigned on getting Trump
All should be alarmed by the literal criminalization of political differences – not to mention the two-tiered system of justice that protected Hillary Clinton and likes of Hunter Biden, Andrew McCabe and potentially Joe Biden.
The sick Irony of the Left’s use of the criminal statutes to stop their opponents, which is or should be a crime, is that fact that Democrat law enforcement officials are wantonly abandoning the rule of law on our streets. They allow dangerous criminals out on the streets as a matter of policy – all with the help of George Soros’ funding.
As for the response of some Republicans that such use of the system could be turned against Democrats one day, that too is a disgrace. At risk is the foundation of the Republic and the rule of law. The proper response to such actions is that they are forever wrong – not that they are subject to be used by who is in power.
Overall, no one should underestimate the danger to a democratic republic of the marriage of government officials, donors and one party to dictate the outcome of elections. That threat has become a real and present danger and must be stopped.
