Motus Mentis

I’ve had nothing, so far, to say about Donald Trump’s show-trial for “fraud” in New York, which the other day resulted in a guilty judgment, and a fine of $355,000,000. I’m still having difficulty.

The process was a sham, of course, from start to finish. There was never any crime, any complainant, or any victim. The only thing on display was the personal will of a political faction to harm and intimidate a powerful enemy. The prosecutor, Letitia James — who had campaigned for office on the promise to go after Donald Trump — found an eager partner in Judge Arthur Engoron, and together they used the power they shared to inflict as much damage as they could on a man, and a vision of America, that they both fear and despise. Jonathan Turley, commenting on this unholy persecution, points out also that even to file an appeal will require Mr. Trump to put up a bond covering the full amount of the damages awarded. (Also, because the ruling blocks Mr. Trump from doing business in New York, my understanding is that to borrow money to cover the bond, he must find a lender that doesn’t do business in New York either.)

That such a thing could result from a private business dealing in which both parties were perfectly happy with the execution of their contract will of course have a chilling effect on anyone thinking of doing business in New York. In response, the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, publicly tried to reassure investors that they had nothing to worry about, because this was all just about Donald Trump, and nobody else. In other words: this was a nakedly political assault, and as long as you don’t threaten the Democratic machine, you should be fine.

I’ve been around long enough to know that for ruling parties to use state power to harm political opponents is nothing even remotely new in history. In the first century B.C., for example, the Roman statesman Cicero had his home seized and burnt, and in the end his severed head and hands were displayed on the Rostra. (In Mr. Trump’s case, as of this writing only his property has so far been taken, while the fate of his head and hands remains uncertain.) What’s different now, in America at least, and quite suddenly so, is the extent to which it’s all just done right out in the open, and that so many people either think it’s now acceptable to behave this way — or manage to convince themselves, somehow, that this isn’t really political persecution at all. While it’s bad enough to imagine that our national ethos has become so badly degraded that this level of acceptance of “dirty work” is just how things have to be nowadays (we must destroy our enemies, by any means necessary), frankly I find it even creepier to think that so many of the decent and intelligent people I know can be so taken in by 24/7 propaganda that they could actually believe that all of this is anything resembling “impartial justice” or the “rule of law”. But many of them actually seem to. How can this be? It’s no longer frustrating to see this any more; it’s horrifying, like watching a zombie movie.

This is going to be one hell of a year, folks. I hope you are ready.