James Comey is an ass, I really don’t care what happens to him. Letitia James has her ups (fighting Trump, the nursing home report against Cuomo) and downs (her report not one prosecutor in the state would use against Cuomo), so while I think she’s being politically targeted for prosecution, I will admit that it at least looks plausible that she lied on a mortgage application. The problem here is really rather simple- you can probably get almost anyone for something. Prosecutorial discretion, and for that matter law enforcement discretion, is a thing, and all we really hope as a society is that it is exercised in a color-blind, totally fair way. Maybe Comey lied to Congress. Maybe James lied on her application. We are only having this discussion though because Trump does not like them.

So, let’s prepare ourselves for where we’re going. Trump is sending troops into large, Democratic American cities. People on the ground are protesting, some spontaneously and some in an organized manner. I have my doubts about the effectiveness of protest in the 21st century, but I am 100% certain it is legal and protected under our Constitution. Inevitably, some protestors will go beyond their legal rights though. In a lawful society, you deal with them individually. Trump will skip that step though.

Donald Trump’s executive order targeting ANTIFA is stupid. ANTIFA is not an organization, not even a loosely affiliated terrorist network like Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, or ISIS that is united by funding. ANTIFA has no financial leader, it has no headquarters, it has no structure or leadership. There is no ANTIFA, but there are individuals who refer to themselves as “anti-fascists,” which you know, was America’s position on World War II. Trump doesn’t care about all of that though. He’s issuing this order so his government can charge elected Democrats and major funders as domestic terrorists and leaders of an organized crime syndicate.

Think of it this way- there are organized protests, especially in the Trump era. Many of them receive funding from left-leaning and Democratic groups. To the extent there is an “organized left” in America today, it is a collection of mega donors that finance left-leaning organizations on everything from electing liberal prosecutors, to fighting climate change, to protesting on social issues. Most of these groups are funded by major donors, think like George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. These big donors often “pool” their resources together to fund organizations fighting for the things they believe in. I question if it’s been good for Democrats to be driven by each interest group all these years, but it’s certainly not illegal. Unless of course, the government now claims they’re basically organized crime units and domestic terror groups. Now all of a sudden they have to be broken up, and their funders have to be prosecuted. Is it bullshit? Of course. Is it about to happen? Yes.

Donald Trump is going to prosecute the hell out of these people in the coming years. The Department of Justice is going to start dropping RICO indictments and other conspiracy-esque charges on major left-leaning donors to shut down what’s left of the Democratic left in America. In the long term, could that free the Democratic Party from it’s least popular portions of the brand? Yes, it probably will. It’s incredibly problematic though. This is effectively the end of the First Amendment as a shield against government targeting. The real question is, is this still a functioning democracy? The answer is probably no.

I wonder if anyone is re-thinking the decision to try and prosecute Trump now? Honestly, it didn’t work, and it’s basically the pretense for what we’re seeing play out. Was he guilty? Technically yes. Was it worth it though? Probably not.