After Donald Trump’s recent criminal conviction on all counts in a New York City trial on felony accusations of falsifying business records in connection to hush money from before the 2016 presidential election, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predictably joined the chorus of prominent Republicans trying to defend dear old Donald.
“This disgraceful decision is legally baseless and should be overturned promptly on appeal. Any judge with a modicum of integrity would recognize that this entire trial has been utterly fraudulent,” complained a post from Cruz’s personal account on X, formerly Twitter.
“Dear Harvard Law School: please revoke this insurrectionist monster’s degree,” replied Norman Ornstein of the think tank/policy organization the American Enterprise Institute.
Other replies to Cruz’s complaining were similar.
“YOU are a lawyer,” said author Bill Carter, a former New York Times reporter. “Legal process here was standard. Grand jury of reg Americans indicted; case presented by prosecutors and well-funded defense. Defendant had presumption of innocence. 12 Americans found him guilty. If you disparage verdict you disparage our entire legal system.”
A consistent feature of Republican reactions to Trump’s conviction has been a comparison to authoritarian regimes like governments in Cuba and the Soviet Union, although there are key differences here.
Trump’s proceedings were based not on political stances or vagaries, instead hinging on specifically alleged actions on his part that connected to already established law. Throughout the process and in every one of Trump’s other cases, he’s had the opportunity to challenge the proceedings, including in manners that could derail an entire indictment (particularly in the case of his presidential immunity claims). Even after his conviction in New York City, he can still bring appeals in that case as well. And there is just no specific evidence of secret orchestration of these developments by President Joe Biden and/or his political team at the White House.
