Bananas for The Republic

[DON'T SPEAK]

[GOVERNOR GIVES]

[MOST EXPECTED]

[POLITICAL ISN'T]

[LAWLESS DESPERATION]

[OFF ROADING]

[UTENSIL THREAT]

[DART BOARD INSTRUCTIONS]

[FINAL COMMAND]

[POLITICAL PRISONER]

[CONTORTIONISTAS]

[REVERSAL RIPE]

Von Spakovsky said Merchan’s instructions point to reversible error — “an error in trial proceedings that affects a party’s rights so significantly that it is grounds for reversal if the affected party properly objected at trial,” according to the Legal Information Institute.

“This is such a mistake. … If I were the court of appeals, the moment this case came in, I would overturn the conviction,” the former Federal Election Commission member and Heritage Foundation fellow told me before the verdict this week on the Simon Conway Show. “That is one of the craziest things I have ever heard and it is a complete violation of President Trump’s substantive due process rights.”

Von Spakovsky said the standard in like cases is that jurors come to a unanimous agreement on each of the charges they are deliberating. He said Merchan added an absurd twist to the proceedings after handicapping Trump’s defense throughout the trial.

[24 HOURS]

[CURTAIN CALL]

[HISTORIC DIVERGENCE]

[DIVISION PRECISION]

[PARDON PLEA]

[NEXT LEVEL]

[FAMILIAR SOUND]

After years of trying — in the words of the judge — “to get the damned rascal in this court,” it was a conviction that many welcomed.

But those words were not from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, and the conviction was not that of former President Donald Trump.

Rather they were from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, at the end of the 18th century, when America embraced political prosecutions to target critics and opponents.

The man on trial then was James T. Callender, a muckraking writer critical of President John Adams.

For accusing politicians of corruption, Callender was charged with sedition, fined $200 and put in prison.

It was one of the many political prosecutions carried out by the Adams administration.

Undeniable reality

Political prosecutions are something most citizens associate with dictatorships.

But the Trump prosecution has forced many to confront the undeniable reality of the politicization of our legal system.

In many respects, President Biden and Democrats have re-created the Adams era.

Biden has led calls for censorship of political critics and his administration has coordinated the silencing and the blacklisting of those with opposing views.

Democratic politicians have pressured social-media companies to serve as surrogates for the government in banning, throttling and defunding individuals and groups.

Indeed, I have previously written that Biden is now the most anti-free-speech president since Adams.

The Adams era also reflected the same blind loyalty of many media outlets.

Federalist publications supported the crackdowns while echoing charges against political opponents as seditionists and insurrectionists.

Jeffersonian publications, like Callender’s, attacked Adams for his “unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice.”

The nation was divided down the middle as both sides accused each other of being traitors and insurrectionists. Sound familiar?

[Q RETRO]