Trump’s indictments threaten citizen liberty. Especially next to Biden’s misdeeds. | Opinion

The Atlanta indictments against Trump are , like Jack Smith’s, examples of prosecutorial misconduct that threatens every citizen’s liberty.

The indictments label as criminal words and actions that have a long list of precedents that were never labeled criminal, including denying election results, seeking to have results overturned, creating a second set of electors. Both indictments base all their charges on the premise that Trump’s words and deeds were a criminal conspiracy because, unlike all the other legal precedents, Trump really knew he lost the election and we know that because a whole lot of very bright people told him so. In the past the Supreme Court has protected such speech and actions, even if based on known falsehoods. Obviously no one has first amendment rights if someone from on high says s/he is knowingly spreading falsehoods and the government must punish him/her.

Those who loathe the man reiterate ad nauseum that it is obvious that Trump is a would-be dictator. But few examples are ever offered. Trump was reversed on two executive orders because he had not followed regulation procedures in promulgating them. His authority to issue the orders was not denied. For two years January 6 was used to certify that all the suspicions regarding Trump’s nefarious ambitions were true. But there has been found no evidence of any planned, organized insurrection to take over the government. Even Smith, after all the January 6 committee findings, did not indict Trump for such: and the riot was a disaster for Trump’s efforts to have the election reconsidered.

In contrast to the imagined autocratic overreaches of Trump both his predecessor and his successor have a long list of undisputed monarchial acts often with no legal/constitutional authorization or in defiance of constitutional definitions of government overreach. Obama’s include: demanding that a private insurer not send out letters to customers explaining its opposition to Obamacare; the President’s knowingly lying to the entire nation about Obamcare’s ramifications; the rewriting of the law after passage and his signing it; the President having his Cabinets buy up millions of bullets, including dum-dum for target practice; the President making an agreement with Iran and presenting it to the world as if it were a treaty (though never presented to the Senate for ratification); the President appointing people without the required Senate approval; the Supreme Court unanimously overruling Obama’s actions more than any other President.

Biden’s monarchial acts include: surreptitiously endorsing mass political violence in 2020 by promoting the thought that almost all the BLM riots were peaceful, having Harris insist such should continue through the election, and in the next two and a half years prosecute 369 across the nation for riotous acts while prosecuting 1000 for the Capitol riot, the large majority for parading in the Capitol; establishing a mis/disinformation office to tell citizens what was true and what was not; insisting that public forums censor and filter information according to government wishes; investigating as domestic terrorists parents objecting in public school meetings to teacher introduction into curriculum gender ideology; never prosecuting governmental officials who perjured themselves before Congress or Hillary Clinton for violations of federal law concerning possession of government documents – Trump never prosecuted any of these people; prosecuting Trump for possession of federal documents though he, Biden, had many such from days he was not President and had no authorization to have any; denouncing state law requiring voter ID and secured drop boxes as racists; denouncing opponents as racists and fascists; asserting he had the authority on his own to forgive half a trillion dollars in debt owed the federal government

Had Trump done such things he would have been legitimately and successfully impeached.

Given the above I find the recent Miami editorial beyond ludicrous and a conscious effort to project, distort, deflect, and mislead all for partisan/ideological (progressive/Marxists) purposes. And that I find frightening in the extreme and very destructive of liberty and democracy.

J. Larry Hood is a retired state government employee who presently teaches world civilization at Midway.