Trump's "Weaponization" Narrative Just Got Shot Down
A savvier Trump would consider shelving this talking point because it can easily be turned back on him.
"It’s weaponization of the Justice Department, of the FBI, and that’s all coming out of Washington." So said Donald Trump last week on Fox News, part of his strategy to delegitimize his felony conviction.
The charge doesn't make any sense. Trump was prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney, not the federal Justice Department, and convicted by a jury of his peers.
Trump does face federal charges related to election-stealing and classified document-stealing, but these decisions were made by a special counsel and not President Joe Biden, and all the trials have been delayed.
A person connected to a president has been prosecuted by the federal government and found guilty, but it's not someone named Trump. It's Hunter Biden.
What does that do to Trump's narrative?
First, here's what's leading the Washington Monthly website:
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Beacons of Hope for the Ukrainian Economy: Tamar Jacoby, director of the Progressive Policy Institute’s New Ukraine Project, reports from Mykolaiv on the rebuilding challenges facing Ukraine. Click here for the full story.
“It’s Time for a Resurrection, Not an Insurrection”: Terry Edmonds, a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, reviews Dr. William J. Barber II’s new book, White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy. Click here for the full story.
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The notion that Biden has weaponized the federal justice system to destroy Trump and other Republicans for political purposes makes zero sense. Consider all that Biden's Justice Department is doing to convict prominent Democrats at considerable political risk.
Senator Robert Menendez is in the midst of a bribery trial. While he bowed out of this year's Democratic primary, he is pursuing an independent run that risks what would otherwise be a safe Democratic seat.
Representative Henry Cuellar has been indicted for bribery, even though he represents a battleground Texas district crucial to Democratic hopes of reclaiming a House majority.
Perhaps those cases haven't received big enough headlines to complicate Trump's effort to spin his threadbare yarn. But the Hunter Biden verdict is impossible to ignore.
Plus, the president's son faces another trial in the fall, during the general election campaign, for failing to pay taxes. If Trump continues to claim that he has been unfairly targeted, his complaints will have to compete with more headlines about Hunter, rendering them ridiculous.
A savvier Trump would consider shelving this talking point because it can easily be turned back on him.
President Biden has already ruled out a pardon for his son. This presents a stark contrast to Trump's long record of pardons for his friends and staff, which I detailed in this newsletter last week.
If Trump wants to shine a spotlight on the downsides of a two-tier system of justice, he may not like what the public sees.
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Best,
Bill Scher, Washington Monthly politics editor