Purely Political: Fines

by Jim Buckley

Verdict First, Trial Later

Let me see if I have this correct:

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads thusly: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed (italics mine), nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

It’s good that we in the United States have the protection of our Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the Constitution – that guarantee Freedom of Speech, of the Press, of Religion, and perhaps even more importantly feature restrictions as to what the central government can do.

Okay, some of those “rights” have been abridged by an ever-encroaching federal government, but most of us are still protected by most of them.

And that’s where the Eighth Amendment comes into play.

Many of you know, or at least should know, that former President of the United States Donald. J. Trump has recently been “convicted” of fraud.

He apparently exaggerated the value of his property, while in the process of negotiating various bank loans.

No doubt he made exorbitant claims.

Let’s remember, Trump called his steaks “The World’s Greatest Steaks.”

He is, after all, a salesman at heart. He did write “The Art of the Deal.”

In the case of his property loan/s, he always had to negotiate an interest rate and he took pride in negotiating successfully.

He is, or was, America’s salesman.

And I, for one, hope he is again.

But here’s what we do know about the charges of “fraud.”

No one was hurt.

Everyone (Deutsche Bank in particular) made money and its officers indicated that the bank would gladly loan money to the Trump organization again.

During questioning, a retired Deutsche Bank executive explained that his team did its own due diligence as to Trump’s valuations; they made their own“sanity checks” and often gave substantial “haircuts” tothose valuations. Deutsche Bank managing director David Williams, under examination, reiterated during the “trial” that such things were neither unusual nor alarming.

Remember too:

President Trump was “convicted” before the “trial” began.

The “judge” announced that Mr. Trump was “guilty” and that the “trial” would be held only to determine the amount of his “fine.”

Find the Man, then Find the Crime

All of which sends me back in time to the 1950s when a man named Lavrentiy Beria infamously declared,“Find me the man and I will find the crime.” His method was to target the victim first; he would find or fabricate a crime later. Mr. Beria headed up the Soviet Union’s Secret Police beginning in 1941 and did so through the entire Stalin regime. He was not a nice man. He oversaw the expansion of the gulags and other secret detention facilities where he could hide political prisoners. Lucky for us all, he was executed when Nikita Khrushchev took power after Stalin’s death in 1953.

New York State’s Attorney General Letitia James ran for office promising to “get” Donald Trump. She, like Beria, found a crime, had her “suspect” convicted before trial, and proceeded to attempt to financially ruin her target with the impossible demand of coming up with $464 million in cash before being allowed to appeal the “trial” judge’s penalty.

Is there anyone who will not or would not agree that the $464 million seems a little over the top?

That the “fine” is, in fact, unconstitutionally excessive?

Staying with my historical theme, Trump is seen by most Democrats (and anyone dumb enough to watch MSNBC or ABC’s “The View” regularly) as America’s version of Italy’s Benito Mussolini. We who have followed the exploits of Mr. Trump and his detractors over the years, however, know he compares more fully to French author Victor Hugo’s fictional protagonist Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables.” Trump’s antagonists play the role of Inspector Javert.

Monsieur Valjean spent 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread in mid-19^th century France. Having turned his life around to become a successful businessman and mayor of a small town, he was pursued by the dogged Inspector Javert who was convinced that Valjean could not possibly be who the public thought he was, and that he should be back in prison.

How To Destroy the Country

And, staying in the realm of fiction (which is where everything President Trump has been charged with is, i.e., “Collusion,” “Insurrection,” “Bloodbath,” “Rape,” “Fraud,” etc.), I’ll reference a satire written by Benjamin Franklin in 1773, while serving as a representative of several of the American colonies in England.

The parody is called “Rules By Which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Small One,” and in it, Franklin suggests, sarcastically, that the king could “ordain Seizures of [a citizen’s] Property,” take away the person’s right to a trial by jury and give it instead to arbitrary judges of low character and beholden to the king. Other advice includes declaring that opposition to the king’s proposals would constitute Treason, and finally to financially ruin that person via the expense of proving his innocence, “or be found guilty and hanged if they can’t afford it.”

Many of the actions Franklin refers to were indeed taking place in England at that time.

What is being done to President Trump closely resembles both Beria’s methods and those Franklin wrote about; such things should not happen anywhere, anytime. That it is happening here says everything one needs to know about the direction this country is heading, and of the people perpetrating this abomination.

The fear many of us have is that the Democrat Party has completely lost its way. The octogenarians in charge of the power structure in the Senate and in their House minority are too feeble (physically and mentally) to defend longstanding American traditions against the depredations of the newly elected radical socialists leading the Party and steering the United States down the road to ruination.

The upcoming election in November is likely todecide the fate of our nation. Depending upon the results, we will decide which direction we go. It may beour last chance to hang on to the freedoms we’ve enjoyed for so long.

There is only one party and one man that can prevent the destructive results that will ensue with a Biden victory.

You know and I know what and who that is.