Be Very Careful What You Wish For

by Mike Stoker

You already know that former President Donald J. Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts of “falsification of documents.” I believe the verdict – for reasons I’ll briefly explain below – will inspire even more support for the former president and will become a major campaign issue that will resonate with most Americans.

Especially with those in the heartland and in swing states where voters don’t think like those in California or New York.

The Reasons

First, Trump’s trial was nothing more than an illegitimate use of the American justice system to reach a political result. And the American people know it. The judge in the case contributed to President Joe Biden’s campaign and should have recused himself based on the appearance of impropriety. (In California a judge can neither endorse, support, or oppose, any candidate, except a candidate for judicial office.) Judge Juan Merchan was allowed by the New York Judicial Commission reviewing the ethical aspects, to proceed, whereupon almost all legal scholars across the spectrum agreed that the judge should have recused himself so that the issue of bias would never have been a factor.

Second, the Manhattan DA in office at the time these alleged offenses occurred concluded there was not sufficient evidence to charge Trump. The DOJ, at the time, also agreed. Only after Trump became a candidate for president did the new Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg – who campaigned for office as a Democrat with the promise that if elected, he would “take Trump down” – was the former president charged and tried. When Bragg announced the charges, Biden’s number-three man at DOJ was standing by his side.

The political stage was set.

Then, from jury selection to the judge’s refusal to allow the Trump defense to call certain expert witnesses, to enable the prosecution to – over the objection of the defense – call highly prejudicial witnesses with no bearing on the case, to the prejudicial jury instructions the judge forced the defense to live by, the case was a political sham.

It is for these reasons that judicial sanity will prevail, even in New York, and the Court of Appeal will throw out the conviction or will remand it back to the trial court with orders to hold a new trial and instructions on how to proceed ‘judicially’ and not ‘politically.’

A Pyrrhic Victory

Democrats should worry that they got what they wished for. Immediately after the verdict through a press conference, Trump said very softly and confidently, “Everything will be OK.” That’s what presidents do in trying times. They offer reassurances that it will be okay, something President Biden has yet to learn. Trump went on to say, “This is not something anything would want.” He said, “This is tough on family, friends, business associates, and supporters. But,” he stressed, “it is worth fighting for because this is bigger than any person or any president; this is about fighting for the American system of justice that our forefathers fought for; this is about fighting for the U.S. Constitution, and this is about fighting for what America stands for.”

And he ended, “Even if it means going to prison.”

All in all, I think the President couldn’t have handled the verdict any better.  The one thing that I recommended to one of his campaign advisors over the weekend is to consider having the President, in future comments, make it clear that unlike Biden he will ensure that his DOJ takes no actions that are politically driven.  And, he should add, if the facts warrant indictments against Biden, he will immediately pardon Biden so that the country can move on and focus on the real problems we face.

Within 24 hours of the verdict, the campaign raised a record 42 million dollars in contributions. More significantly – and unprecedented in any presidential campaign – there were almost 500,000 new contributors…people who had never contributed.

Only time will tell what this verdict ultimately means, but I am a firm believer in the American people. They often can cut through the political hype and figure it out. Especially Americans in states like Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which are the states that make a difference. In those states, Trump’s lead over Biden is even greater.

I have learned one thing from over 40 years of involvement in federal, state, and local elections. Often, news a candidate thinks is good ends up being bad, and news that the candidate thinks is bad ultimately ends up being good. I think this verdict will fall in the latter category. If 50% plus one of the voters in the upcoming general election believe that the justice system has been politicized and has targeted Trump unfairly, in a way that the justice system in countries like China, Iran, or Russia target political dissidents, this verdict will become a major centerpiece of the campaign. Someone who can’t stand Trump as a person but really cares that the American justice system is not politically driven will end up voting for Trump.

I believe Donald Trump can win this race, based upon the economy, crime, the broken borders, and the numerous failures on the foreign policy front that have made the world more unsafe.

I believe this verdict will become an additional reason voters who might not have voted for Trump will send a message that they want a system of justice where Lady Justice is blind.  Not one with a political eye for revenge.

Time will tell. But to my Democrat friends who support Biden, I say be careful what you wish for. This verdict may just result in the re-election of Donald J. Trump.

On November 5^th we will all know.

Mike Stoker is a California attorney whose law practice emphasizes environmental, land use, agricultural, and business law. He served on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, as Chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, and as California’s Deputy Secretary of State. He most recently served in the Donald Trump administration as the Southwest Administrator of the US EPA, serving 75 million people spanning eight time zones from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico in the east to the Mariana Islands in the west, with Guam, American Samoa, Hawaii, California, Arizona, and Nevada in between.

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