At one harrowing point in Mel Gibson’s masterwork The Passion of the Christ, as Jesus carries his cross to Golgotha, a woman’s voice in the crowd cries out, “Somebody stop this!” Though evangelical Christians and millions of other people of faith believe former President Trump is their best bet policy-wise, Trump’s no Jesus Christ. But the lawfare assault he’s being subjected to raises a question that every American must grapple with.
Imagine, conservatives and Republicans, that this was happening to someone that you don’t support—for argument’s sake, let’s take it to the level of hate—and your gut understanding was that despite your loathing for the individual, what was happening to them was wrong. Would you speak out? In the case of Trump, would a Democrat step forward and say, in effect, “Somebody stop this!” While it’s impossible to keep track of the positions of the scores of pundits on the matter, one Democrat voice has been consistent in pointing up the legal and unconstitutional malfeasance in play as Trump marches toward what the left hopes will be his Golgotha. That voice belongs to Alan Dershowitz. Attorney Dershowitz knows that what’s happening is wrong, and has turned his legal and ethics concerns into a cottage industry, earning the ire the same hypocritical Martha’s Vinyard liberals who gave planeloads of illegal aliens the bum’s rush.
Bringing this back to the citizenry, how many Democrats know that what’s being waged against Trump is legally groundless and unfair, and dare to speak against it in their own circles of influence? In my own orbit, as a Portlander, I know that when I’m in certain socially-civilized artistic circles I’m mostly, if not exclusively, in the company of people who are left of center. Nobody dares break the unspoken rule about discussing politics at these gatherings, but I wonder, if each person was individually polled, would any one of them, assuming they believed the treatment is unjust, be brave enough to pull a Dershowitz: “The last thing I want is another Trump term, I despise him. But this is partisan persecution, election interference, clear and simple. The hush money case was rejected by the feds and the state of New York. The statute of limitations has run out. The Mar-a-Lago property valuation case is ridiculous, there’s no victim. I’m frankly worried this will backfire.”
I’ll bring the question to my own table. What if what’s happening to Trump was happening to somebody I don’t like, at the hands of Red State/Washington levers of power controlled by my Republican Party? “Don’t like” is putting it mildly for political figures like U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden. If any one of these elected officials were being unconstitutionally marched toward Golgotha, would I remain silent, in a secret glee of revenge and retribution?
I like to think I’d say something like, “I loathe Chuck Schumer, but this ain’t right.”
