Trump indictment story started Oct. 19, 2016 | Guestview

So distressing, a former U.S. president indicted for criminality for trying to block the transfer of power to a legitimately elected successor.

But that is what has happened in our great country. The spectacle undermines both U.S. domestic stability and global prestige; it does nothing to make America great again.

The Trump campaign, Fox News/Newsmax, and most of the Republican party leadership and rank and file want to morph this spectacle into issues of asserted free speech and weaponization of the U.S. judicial process.

They will not succeed because truth and justice will not permit it. The former president’s public behavior over the years repeatedly shows his free speech assertions to be bogus. And the only partisanship involved here is from those pushing the Big Lie to the point of Jan. 6 violence.

What happened following the 2020 election was demonstrably a calculated continuation of Trump’s years long strategy to achieve his political goals by fostering electoral mistrust and misleading unquestioning supporters.

Trump’s “stolen election” lie had its official start Oct. 19, 2016 at the presidential debate in Las Vegas, when he publicly refused to commit to accepting the results of the upcoming election. Responding to a direct question by debate monitor Chris Wallace of Fox News asking if he would accept the election result, candidate Trump responded "What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. OK?"

Every American today should watch this exchange, with full knowledge of the succeeding events and statements; it is clear that January 6 was sadly inevitable in the event of a Trump loss.

Many adhering to the Republican party line on the indictment know that they have no argument. House Speaker McCarthy, then Minority leader, made it clear when he told the House on Jan. 13, 2021 that “most Americans want durable bipartisan justice…, the president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s (Jan. 6) attack by mob rioters, these facts required immediate action by President Trump, to accept his share of the responsibility… and ensure that President-elect Biden is able successfully to begin his term…”

Speaking to the Senate on February 13, 2021 Senate Minority Leader McConnell stated that “There’s no question, none, President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day, no question about it.” Both men were clear in condemning Trump’s actions and responsibility, although McCarthy now clumsily tries to dance away from his earlier statements.

The former president himself long ago provided the most convincing evidence that his Great Lie was just that. Although winning the 2016 electoral vote, he lost the popular vote to Clinton (48.2% to 46.1%, a 3 million vote difference) and immediately launched into unproven assertions of vast voter fraud. But his own administration’s “Election Integrity” Commission failed to prove any fraud before its disbandment, effectively repudiating his unending claims of election fraud.

Fast forward to 2020 and one is left with only two possible conclusions, both confirming the former president to be unfit to serve again as president.

The first conclusion − that he was not exercising his right to free speech but coldly manipulating his supporters and others in the electorate − is amply confirmed by the facts. False assertions of election fraud have long been the foundation of his political strategy and he continues even today. His Jan. 2, 2021 call to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger irrefutably laid bare this strategy. The Special Prosecutor’s indictment and the historical and public record clearly show this to be the case. Stated most simply, his Big Lie is the political equivalent of yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater.

Alternatively, and more damning to his current presidential aspirations, is the compelling case that he is demonstrably divorced from reality and is thus mentally and emotionally incompetent for high political office. Overwhelming evidence of the 2020 election’s legitimacy, conveyed by his own personal staff, own senior political appointees, 61 confirming court rulings, and the official electoral count has no had impact on his “belief” in his own election fraud lies. That numerous Republican candidates were elected across the nation on the same ballots further shows that assertions of a stolen election are senseless. In such circumstances, the country’s future stability is clearly threatened by the former president’s own personal Trump derangement syndrome.

Sadly, there is no third explanation, no matter how hard his party acolytes and base assert the contrary.

Ours is a country of the rule of law and, as such, is a beacon to the world. It is critically important that U.S. institutions and citizenry stand up to the challenge of the former president’s actions, resulting indictment and ongoing slanderous attacks on judges and prosecutors. It is also imperative that the judicial process proceed on the basis of innocent until proven guilty. If he is found guilty, so be it.

Then candidate Trump, defiantly saying he would keep the country “in suspense” in October 2016, finally faces accountability as a former president in 2023. Such accountability via the law and the courts is, at its heart, essential to making America great again.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Trump indictment story started Oct. 19, 2016 | Guestview