Trump during his presidency with Air Force One (official White House photo, public domain).
Editor’s note: Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insight on various topics in Marketplace.
— Steve’s Marketplace —
Donald Trump faces 91 criminal charges and potentially 700 years behind bars of injustice, but bold Florida congressmen are speaking out to support the former president. Sort of get-out-of-jail words of advice.
The onslaught of calculated charges is unprecedented. It stacks up as an orchestrated political attack on Republican frontrunner Trump, designed to interfere with another presidential election. If you believe otherwise, we know of submerged land for sale to grow sunflowers.
“I think the word you’re looking for is weaponized,” Congressman Aaron Bean told a local television station. Bean, who represents Nassau, Clay and Duval counties, was just elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The U.S. Department of Justice is “being weaponized right now to go after a political opponent of our president,” said Bean, a longtime state legislator prior to being elected U.S. congressman.
The timing of the charges is the most suspicious; the alleged violations occurred several years ago, or more. And the proposed trial dates ironically interfere with important points on the upcoming election calendar.
This eerily mirrors Russia, where political opponents of President Vladimir Putin are routinely prosecuted. In fact, foe Alexei Navalny just got another 19 years added to his prison sentence for being a critic and political rival of Putin.
In comparison, we are openly jailing political opponents with even more conviction, with greater trumped-up charges, than in a dictatorship. Meanwhile, the mainstream media – acting as the public-relations arm of the Democrat party – tries to validate the fiasco.
Our country is taking the shape of a Banana Republic – but the fruit is still green here. We have only just begun sliding down this slippery slope.
Meanwhile, legitimate concerns arise about the alleged behind-the-scenes ringleader, President Joe Biden. And whether he is compromised from lucrative family business dealings with our enemies. Such as China, and Russia.
So far little has happened to the president or his troubled son, Hunter Biden. While emails and text messages and testimony tie the Biden family to reported acts of bribery and money laundering and tax evasion. But little attention or mention from the media.
“Yet once again we see a criminalization when it comes to Donald Trump,” said Michael Waltz, another U.S. congressman from Northeast Florida. “This is dangerously eroding public trust in the fairness of the law, and the fairness of the Department of Justice and our institutions.”
While deriding Trump’s treatment, most of the U.S. congressmen in Florida have also endorsed him for president — despite the record-setting indictments. One supporter is former Duval County sheriff John Rutherford.
“I am proud to endorse my friend, President Donald J. Trump,” Rutherford said in a tweet. “As a former sheriff, I understand the importance of a fair and impartial system of justice. The systematic targeting of Americans with conservative ideals, especially our 45th president of the United States, disgraces our nation’s legacy.”
Other prominent U.S. congressmen from Florida are also backing Trump wholeheartedly, like Anna Paulina Luna, Matt Gaetz, Greg Steube, Carlos Gimenez and Byron Donalds. In addition to supporting Trump, Steube recently introduced articles of impeachment in the House against Biden.
Donalds has been a vocal supporter of Trump, regularly appearing in the media. Previously, Donalds had been allied with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is battling Trump for the Republican nomination. Nowadays, Donalds openly praises Trump and criticizes DeSantis.
It’s another installment of the roadrunner and the coyote cartoon. The more his adversaries throw at him, Trump always escapes and prevails – and grows stronger in the polls. His lead over Republican rivals is historic.
The resilient Trump almost thrives on the onslaught. After his concocted arrest in Atlanta last week, Trump posted his defiant mugshot on Twitter. He is now raising campaign money off it, selling memorabilia with the sour expression. His campaign raised $7.1 million in a few days after his arrest. Commemorating something we all hoped would never happen in the U.S.
Like many Republicans, Bean sees a two-tiered system of justice. Nothing happens to the Bidens, while Trump’s house is raided and he’s arrested multiple times. It’s now been seven years of investigations targeting Trump, beginning with the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane to the Mueller probe to back-to-back impeachments. And now this.
“We always took pride in that there was blind justice in our country, but it appears that Lady Justice now is peeking from her blindfold,” Bean said, “and checking the letter behind your name before she seeks justice.”
______
Steve Nicklas is the managing partner of Nicklas Wealth Management in Fernandina Beach. He is also an award-winning columnist. His columns also regularly appear in weekly newspapers in Northeast Florida and in Southeast Georgia, and on his website at www.SteveNicklasMarketplace.com. He has published a book, “All About Money,” of his favorite columns from the past 20 years. The book is available on Amazon. He has also done financial reports for area radio stations and for National Public Radio in Jacksonville. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 904-753-0236.)
Community Voices And Freedom of Speech September, 2023 Editor's note: Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insight on various topics in Marketplace. -- Steve's Marketplace -- Newspapers crave reader participation, almost as…
