The left tried everything to sink Trump.His campaign finance “crimes” and coverup. Tax returns. Russian collusion. “Improper” phone call to Ukraine’s President Zelinsky. Incitation of insurrection. Classified documents. The list goes on and on.But after seven years of searching for a crime, the left thinks it has finally found its silver bullet:The former president’s hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.Seriously?Mr. Trump announced to his followers late last week he expects to be arrested some time this week in connection to an investigation into how he paid Daniels to keep quiet about an affair the two allegedly had in 2006. Yes, how. The “crime” is not that Trump paid hush money. The alleged crime is nothing bigger than “how the payments were documented on the books of the Trump Organization.”And now the former president of the United States and 2024 presidential candidate might end up in jail.I’ll be the first to admit Trump might have actually slipped up on this one. But that doesn’t mean the case against him is not a complete sham. Nor does it mean that if he gets arrested, the American people should not be enraged. After a yearslong witch hunt in want of a crime, no one is convinced the left might lock the Orange Man up out of an abundance of genuine concern for some obscure business record law.His opponents have turned over every stone in search of something to indict him for. This just happens to be what they “got him” on. So let’s be clear, this is not about justice. It’s about stopping Trump. SEE ALSO: Clean privilege? Prof. says ‘anti-messiness’ is racist, sexist The moral implications of making political prisoners of U.S. presidents are far worse than any implication of violating New York Penal (PEN) Chapter 40, Part 3, Title K, Article 175, Section 175.10. The former might irrevocably divide America; the latter would not even be noted by history. The former will have serious ramifications for the American people; the latter would not. This does not mean the president is above the law, of course. It simply means the left is prepared and willing to set one of the most dangerous precedents in modern political history on vague, uncertain grounds.And although they might finally accomplish their aims of shellacking Mr. Trump, the Daniels case is far from ideal.The left has been trying to prove to the American people for years that Trump is an authoritarian threat. And if they had legitimately convicted him of any of the aforementioned crimes — let’s say, for example, they found him guilty of collusion — that might have reasonably proved their point. But the Stormy Daniels case does not.In other words, a misstep in business records does not equal a totalitarian threat to democracy. They might find him guilty of imperfect documentation, but they cannot prove he is the monster they’ve made him out to be.And all of this makes the pretext for arresting him look even more disingenuous.If Trump’s predictions are accurate, we may be on the brink of one of the most important, most damaging weeks in American history. Our nation is a tinderbox, and millions already feel disenfranchised by the system. If their president goes down (seemingly for nothing), I fear for this nation.Jakob Fay is a staff writer for the Convention of States Project, a project of Citizens for Self-Governance.
