When it comes to the law, Donald Trump believes the rules don’t apply | Editorial

The former president’s criminal conviction and broadsides aimed at the legal system further demonstrate why he is unfit for any office, let alone the Oval Office.

Donald Trump built his political brand, in part, by tearing down key pillars of democracy, including free elections and freedom of the press. But the most lasting damage is the wrecking ball he has taken to the rule of law.

Before, during, and after his one term as president, Trump attacked judges, the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department. His heedless assault on the legal system underscores why he remains a threat to democracy.

Trump long flouted the law and used the courts as a weapon to go after others and as a shield to protect himself. He was sued thousands of times before entering politics, and his companies filed for bankruptcy six times. Now, after a series of civil rulings and criminal indictments, Trump claims he is above the law.

Trump’s recent criminal conviction and broadsides aimed at the legal system further demonstrate why he is unfit for any office, let alone the Oval Office. Rather than accept responsibility for his criminal acts, Trump blames others.

In Trump’s view, the judge in his New York criminal trial was a “devil,” the district attorney was corrupt, the jury was one-sided, and the trial was rigged.

He said President Joe Biden was behind the charges filed by a local prosecutor in state court — an assertion even a former Trump lawyer called “ridiculous.” Trump said his criminal indictments were orchestrated by the Justice Department to interfere with the upcoming election.

As usual, Trump produced no evidence to support his tirades. If Biden “weaponized” the Justice Department, as Trump and many in the GOP contend, why is the president’s own son on trial?

How does the so-called politicization of the DOJ square with the current federal corruption case against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.)? Or the recent bribery indictment of Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat in a competitive district?

Trump only rips the judges he disagrees with. He has not criticized the inexperienced federal judge he appointed who indefinitely postponed the stolen classified documents case against him, even after she was reversed twice by an appeals court.

Trump applied the same selective argument during the 2020 election, falsely claiming election fraud only in a handful of states he lost. Trump plays by the ruse of “heads I win, tails you lose.”

Trump criticized Black Lives Matter protesters, calling them “lowlifes” and “thugs.” Yet, if elected, Trump plans to pardon the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and said he “has every right to go after” his political enemies. In other words, goodbye to the rule of law.

Trump’s salvos in the court system alarm those who value a cornerstone of democracy. But to his MAGA supporters, it’s catnip.

Before the jury began deliberating, Trump posted on social media, “KANGAROO COURT!” After the verdict was announced, Trump said he was “very honored” by his felony conviction.

Trump is irredeemable. But the broader danger resides within the Republican Party, aided and abetted by the Fox News-led conservative media and his rabid followers who march in lockstep with Trump’s all-out war on the judicial system.

Several shameless GOP elected officials “dressed like their master” as they, too, undermined the rule of law. House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Trump’s guilty verdict — an extraordinary reach in a state court matter.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), who was investigated for sex trafficking, posted on social media, “Standing back, and standing by, Mr. President,” echoing Trump’s comments before the 2020 election to the Proud Boys, an extremist group whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Immediately after the unanimous verdict on all 34 counts, the GOP issued talking points that included falsely calling the jury decision “unjust” and a “witch hunt.” Fox News and the rest of the MAGA media cranked up the misinformation machine to portray Trump as a victim of political persecution.

Based on no evidence, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said, “We have seen the criminal justice weaponized to bring down a candidate for president and a former president.” Sean Hannity called the verdict a “conviction without a crime.”

Twelve random jurors — including one who said they got their news from Trump’s own Truth Social platform — listened to four weeks of testimony and concluded otherwise. The legal system worked, underscoring a bedrock principle in America that no one is above the law.

In response, Trump supporters demanded violence and called for the judge’s execution. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg received hundreds of threats before and after the trial — as have prosecutors and judges in Trump’s other cases.

Trump leads the discord. He threatened to prosecute Biden if elected while asking the Supreme Court to grant former presidents immunity.

It is not the first time Trump’s twisted logic tied his arguments in knots.

In 2016, he called out then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was under investigation for using a private email server to handle classified information. At the time, Trump said a president under indictment would “cripple the operations of our government” and create an “unprecedented constitutional crisis.”

Eight years later, Trump is a convicted felon and faces three more criminal indictments for trying to subvert the 2020 election and for taking classified documents. That’s on top of the Trump Organization’s 17-count conviction for tax fraud, a judge’s $355 million civil fraud ruling against Trump, and a jury’s finding that he sexually assaulted a woman.

Can all the federal and state prosecutors, judges, and random juries be part of some broad conspiracy? By this point, the people have got to know their former president is a crook.

Trump’s rhetoric is reckless. While many Americans have become numb to his nonsense, his followers are inspired. It is a dangerous combination of apathy and anger given the stakes.

The American legal system is under grave attack by Trump and his supporters. Come November, voters must decide if they support the rule of law or a felon in the White House.