RealClearPolitics
“ 'Do you accept the verdict of the New York jury that found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts?” That will be the question asked of every Republican from now until the presidential election in November, and if Republicans don’t know how to answer, they will look like idiots, which is exactly what the left-leaning media wants."
"That will be the question asked of every Republican from now until the presidential election in November, and if Republicans don’t know how to answer, they will look like idiots, which is exactly what the left-leaning media wants.
"You can’t just say yes because the implied premise of the question is that the verdict was fair, and that could not be further from the truth. But you can’t just say no either, because the verdict is a fact, just like the O.J. verdict. It exists, and it has to be explained.
"Of course, what the media inquisitors will try to do is paint Trump supporters into a corner. If you say you don’t support the verdict, you will be “justice deniers,” in the term smartly coined by talk-show host Dan Bongino last week. But Republicans can’t let that be the final word.
"They have to explain that when you say you are accepting the verdict, it just means you are accepting that the verdict was the inevitable result of a corrupt New York legal system. Anyone who represents Trump or the MAGA movement has to be fully in command of the facts and be prepared to explain them. Start with the assignment of Judge Juan Merchan to the case and ask why this is the third Trump-related case he has been assigned to. Talk about the judge’s refusal to recuse himself despite his status as a Joe Biden donor and his daughter’s status as a multi-million dollar fund-raiser for Democrats.
"Then demand answers for the multiple reversible errors Merchan committed in creating the court record – the salacious and irrelevant testimony of porn star Stormy Daniels, the refusal to allow Trump to present an expert witness who could explain federal election law to the jury and why Trump didn’t violate it. How about the unconstitutional decision to withhold from Trump and his attorneys the exact nature of the underlying crime, which turned misdemeanor charges into felonies, and Merchan’s claim that the jury did not even have to be unanimous in identifying such an underlying crime?
"Of course, CNN, MSNBC, and the Sunday morning news shows won’t raise any of those troubling issues, so when a Trump supporter tries to explain the difference between a fair trial and a show trial, they will be shouted down by their interviewers." . . .
"But it’s not necessary to deflect; you just need to answer the question the way a smart person would answer any similar question:
No, I’m not going to accept the results no matter what. I’m going to accept them when it is obvious that the election was conducted in a free and fair manner. Do you really want me to pledge to accept the results of a rigged election? Or are you really so naive as to believe that neither political party would ever attempt to rig an election?