Threats to Government Officials Triple as Trump Doubles Down Attacks on our Judicial System
As former President Donald Trump’s mouth continues to spew lies, hatred, prejudice, and threats of violence, his behavior continues to inspire wanna-be MAGA types. This is not accidental — this is intentional.
Lady Justice. Courtesy file.
In the past weeks, as Ark Valley Voice has already covered, there has been a three-fold rise in violent threats to civil servants, from county clerks and election workers, to line staff in public offices. Trump and his minions are reserving some of the worst threats for judges, juries, and their families. These are the public servants who uphold the Rule of Law — the question becomes — for how long and at what cost?
The closer our justice system gets to finally holding Trump accountable, the more he rants and raves and incites his followers to ignore the Rule of Law. The more Trump claims he’s being treated unfairly, the more some people distrust our legal system. The more they do that, the more Russian troll farms and Chinese intelligence are mimicking the threats and antics — spewing disinformation and further pushing at the foundations of our democracy.
This week the case of the People of New York v. Donald J. Trump began. This is the first of the criminal trials that Trump faces for his actions and activities before, during, and after his tenure as the 45th president of the United States. That the former president must sit in court each day (just like the rest of us citizens) has some irony, especially when we hear that he might actually have fallen asleep during the ongoing jury selection process.
Those who know say that this may be the only one of the four criminal trials to take place before the 2024 election. It actually isn’t about hush money paid to silence both a porn star and a Playboy model; it’s about falsifying business records to cover up these alleged affairs, which is information that voters had a right to know before they voted in the 2016 election.
In the profession of journalism, the key question is always before us. We ask ourselves, on any given news story: “Does the public have the right to know?”
Yes, in this case, we did, and you do.
This is the first time a former president has been tried for criminal offenses. Trump continues to complain and rant and rave about the unfairness of this all; as if any of the rest of us would still be walking around claiming lies and threats to be mindlessly parroted by supporters. We’d likely have been clamped in jail a long time ago. But we’re on earth One.
In all the other criminal charges, Trump appears to be on earth Two.
From all appearances, he is essentially running on the charges –that he had a right to keep highly classified documents (Not according to the Presidential Records Act). That he didn’t really ask the Georgia Secretary of State to find a little more than 11,000 votes, or just “one more than we have.” That he didn’t mastermind a false state elector scheme to replace the Electoral College votes and steal the 2020 election. When that failed, he didn’t really order his armed supporters to go to the U.S. Capitol “and fight like hell.”
He’s spinning all those criminal charges — except this one where hush money payments were dressed up and made to look like business expenses as the 2016 election loomed. It was like putting lipstick on a pig; only at the time the information was covered up so that “We the people wouldn’t know”. He continues to say – ‘Nothing here, when you’re president they let you do it.’ In reality, he is being treated better by this system than the rest of us would be, were we in that position.
The behavior, if we continue to tolerate it, makes a mockery of our justice system — and by that our Rule of Law and ultimately this democracy. It’s a double standard of justice — one for Trump, another for the rest of us.
Some folks say it’s time to say “Put a sock in it, Trump”. We’re tired of you believing you must be treated like a little prince. You’re not a victim. You’re a pompous, petulant, pathological, poisonous, pretender. You’d love to break our court system. We can’t let you do that.
Editor’s note: As this Ark Valley Voice editorial opinion goes live, we have received word that a full jury of 12 people and six alternates has been seated for Donald Trump’s hush money case, setting the stage for opening statements next week in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Outside that same courthouse today, according to the Associated Press, a man set himself on fire. He is reported to have spread conspiracy theory pamphlets containing all sorts of disinformation around the courthouse park before dousing himself in a flammable substance and setting himself on fire. He is in critical condition as of Friday afternoon.
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