Commentary

While I continue to support former President Trump and will vote for him on November 5, I thought I would scan the news front to see where Americans are lining up.

I was puzzled by the headline, “Trump’s Conviction Made These Voters Rethink Their Choice for President,” a piece jointly written by Reid J. Epstein and Camille Baker in the New York Times. 

While they conceded that the majority of people had made up their minds about Trump prior to the verdict on 34 counts in New York, they suggest there’s “a small sliver of Trump-ambivalent voters out there.”  Voters they view as “still-persuadable.”

Four individuals were interviewed for the article.  A 65-year-old man, who owns several businesses in Reno, Nevada plans to take a wait and see if Trump is sentenced to jail time.  He’s not inclined to vote for Biden, because he’s not on the side of small business.

A 53-year-old man, who is a tech professional in Albany, Georgia, has fallen for the Democrat talking point that Trump is going to be a dictator if elected and plans retribution.  However, he might vote for Trump if he selects a “reliable” vice president.

A 52-year- old woman, who is an account executive for a telecommunications company said she “could not envision voting for Biden again.  But she also said she was never going to vote for Trump, and his guilty verdict did not change her view.

The fourth person was a 41-year-old accountant who voted for Biden in 2020.  Despite her dissatisfaction with Biden, especially over Israel and Gaza, she said she will likely vote for Biden again.

Frankly, I thought that Times review was one-sided and weak.

Analyzing views presented by a group of Wall Street Journal readers, I thought I could count on comment made by well-read people, but I was wrong.

Remarking about Trump’s belief that his conviction was the result of improper weaponizing of the judicial system against him, a man from Washington said, “Mr. Trump has stated that such weaponization is what he plans to do to his opponents if he is elected.”

Not true.  He has repeatedly said the success of his agenda will be his retribution. He also said he does not want to hurt Biden, because of his respect for the presidency.

A man from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan was critical of Trump and other GOPers’ claim that the NY trial was “rigged” and “corrupt,” calling it an attack on our democracy.  “For some, justice apparently works only when the results are in their favor.”

If he had seriously followed the trial, he would know that many top constitutional scholars, including those who are known Democrats, believed there should have been a change in venue rather than being held in the predominately Democrat district of Manhattan, brought by a Democrat district attorney who ran for office on a “get Trump” promise.  The judge who made a financial contribution to Biden and an anti-Trump group, whose daughter worked for the opposition, refused to recuse himself.  Then there was the jury selected from Democrat boroughs.

It was clear to a man from Lakeville, Massachusetts, who said, “Donald Trump was prosecuted in New York for being Donald Trump, and the jury found him guilty.”

In another view, a man from Amenia, New York, a Harvard graduate and a civil rights lawyer who practiced in Mississippi in 1968 said, “The Trump conviction and the process that enabled it may be the most shameful American political evens since our mortal political tragedies of 1968.”

“The abuse of our justice system, this sort of hunting of a political adversary, is more than a ‘threat to democracy.’ It is an assault on our constitutional system of equal justice that is the foundation of our nation,” he said.

And finally, a man from Fountain Hills, Arizona says that while Democrats are saying Trump is a threat to democracy, it’s Manhattan attorney general Alvin Bragg and his allies who are “the real threat to democracy.”

“Let’s admit it: You’re attempting to prevent Mr. Trump from campaigning, let alone competing.  The choice of leader in any democracy should be made by the people, not the court,” he added.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board notes that during the 28 days of the Trump trial, the NYPD in the boroughs of North and South Manhattan reported 4,900 arrests, and since the year before Bragg took office, complaints in Manhattan are up 7.3 percent for felony assault, 8.4 percent for robbery, and 33.3 percent for grand larceny.

It was also noted during the trial that a number of individuals being held in Riker’s Island Prison have had their day in court delayed because of the flimsy case against the hated Donald Trump.

PONDER THIS …

Actor Robert De Niro said, “If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted.  And elections? Forget about it.  That’s over.  That’s done.  If he gets in, I can tell you right now.  He will never leave.“

Now get this.  A Rasmussen Reports survey revealed that 48 percent of voters agree with De Niro, including 31 percent who strongly agree.  Another 48 percent disagree with 41 percent strongly disagreeing.

There’s more … 78 percent of Democrats agree with De Niro, including 55 percent who strongly agree.

I think those are the same Democrats who believed we were on the right track with the Biden agenda.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.