What’s Happening to Trump Can Happen to You

Former President Donald Trump was convicted on Thursday in what most can clearly see is a politically motivated effort to skew the outcome of the upcoming presidential election in President Joe Biden’s favor.

The development elicited an outpouring of outrage and condemnation against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who later gloated about the conviction. As egregious as this entire farce has been, it is bigger than the former president.

WATCH Manhattan DA Bragg's Provocative Reaction to Trump Conviction; He Thinks He's a Real Statesman

If America is ever to have a chance at liberty, Trump’s situation should be a wake-up call to the masses: What happened to him can and will happen to you if we do not do something about it.

My colleague Jim Thompson penned a fiery op-ed responding to the verdict describing a conversation he had with friends in which he explained in detail the myriad of flaws in the prosecution’s case. Yet, because “Orange Man Bad,” they still supported it. This is no surprise, given the current political climate. But it was Thompson’s comments about the judicial system that struck me:

I had little respect for the “integrity” of the judicial system before the Trump trial because I’ve seen, first-hand, some judges ignore their ethical duties. But now that a crooked DA and crooked judge have manipulated a willing partisan jury into committing political lawfare against a political opponent. I will not be cowed into “respecting the jury,” when the jury doesn’t respect justice.

Thompson is right to have lost all remaining faith in the system. The truth is that it has been corrupted and flawed for decades. Trump just happens to be the single most high-profile example of how the criminal justice system is weaponized to railroad people.

The reality is that what happened to Trump happens every day to regular folks across the country. I’ve written about several of these stories.

You might have read my work on Dexter Taylor, a Brooklyn native who has been sentenced to ten years in a cage for manufacturing his own firearms. During his trial, Judge Abena Darkeh specifically admonished Taylor’s lawyer not to bring up the Second Amendment because it did not “belong in this courtroom.”

NYC Man Convicted Over Gunsmithing Hobby After Judge Says 2nd Amendment 'Doesn't Exist in This Courtroom'

There is also the story of Corey and Diana Sullivan, whose children were kidnapped by Georgia’s government under false accusations of child abuse. In fact, I have written about two other similar cases already, and there are more on the way. Georgia’s supposed child protection agency is ripping families apart for no valid reason.

We also can’t forget the story of the Marion County Register, a local Kansas newspaper that was raided by law enforcement for publishing reports critical of a restaurant owner and the police chief. Fortunately, in this case, there appears to be some accountability coming. Unfortunately, one of the co-owners of the newspaper, a 98-year-old woman, died the day after her home was needlessly raided, possibly due to the stress of the encounter.

These are only three examples of government malfeasance that I have covered over the years. The fact of the matter is that corruption is rampant at local, state, and federal levels of government, and it thrives off of our inaction and ignorance.

I’ve often heard it said that if these things can happen to Trump, it can happen to us. I’m telling you that it is already happening to us. Even worse, very few of those the government targets have the same resources the former president has to fight back.

My hope is that Trump’s situation becomes a catalyst for a major paradigm shift in which America finally wakes up to what is happening in their country because of the rampant corruption that has infested all levels of government. I desire to see the American people finally rise up and scrutinize their state officials, regardless of party. The fact is that corruption knows no political party, and neither should we when it comes to holding the state accountable.

Corruption thrives on inaction, ambivalence, and ignorance. This is the lesson we must learn from Trump’s situation. If we don’t, we are in for even darker times ahead. As Dexter Taylor said just before being sentenced:

“So, when our adversaries look for us let them find … “A bee shiniest at a wasp’s hostility.” Let us show them a soldier’s intensity and diplomat’s calm. Let our adversaries find us stern in battle, patient in defeat, and gracious in our ultimate victory which is certain. In short, when our adversaries look for us, let them find reasonable men and irrational patriots.