Desperate to take the focus off the FBIâs investigation into her use of a private server during her tenure as secretary of state,
Hillary Clinton
and her sycophants strangled reality beyond all recognition to build the case that then-candidate
Donald Trump
was an agent of Russia. Although Clinton lost the 2016 election, their efforts mired Trumpâs campaign and then his nascent presidency in scandal for three years. And to this day, no one has been held responsible for what, up until then, had been the dirtiest political trick in modern memory.
Disappointed by special counsel Robert Muellerâs failure to deliver, Democrats latched on to Trumpâs July 2019 phone call with
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked him to look into possible corruption during then-Vice President Joe Bidenâs time as the Obama administrationâs point man in Ukraine. As we know, House Democrats turned that request into Trumpâs first impeachment.
COACH WHO WON LEGAL FIGHT TO PRAY ON FIELD VOWS TO KNEEL AGAIN: ‘I GET TO BRING GOD BACK’
When the New York Post broke the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020, which raised concerns that Biden had been involved in a family influence-peddling scheme, Democrats teamed up with Big Tech and the media to suppress it. This was followed up by a letter signed by 51 former intelligence community leaders who wrote that the laptop story had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. We now know that this letter had been instigated by then-Biden campaign adviser and current Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
After FBI reports indicated the potential for violence at the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump offered to deploy National Guard troops to protect the Capitol building that day. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser both inexplicably declined this offer.
Following the riot that ensued, House Democrats again impeached Trump for inciting what they continue to insist was an insurrection.
Although he was acquitted by the Senate in both cases, the Democrats had set a dangerous precedent and had gotten away with it, further emboldening them.
Viewed in this context, no one should really be surprised that theyâve upped the ante ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Democrats have perverted the law to come up with 91 criminal charges in four indictments against Trump that could land him behind bars for 600 years.
The announcement of trial dates coinciding with key dates in the GOP primary schedule only adds to the political nature of the Democratsâ strategy.
Add to this toxic mix the latest idea brewing among Democratic secretaries of state: to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to keep Trump off the ballot. This statute
prohibits
individuals who have âtaken an oath to support the Constitutionâ and âengaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same [U.S.], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereofâ from holding public office. This move smacks of desperation.
Weâre told ad nauseam that the Democratsâ political persecution of Trump was engineered to gin up sympathy among Republican primary voters and guarantee him the nomination, since Democrats seem to think he would be easier for the octogenarian President Joe Biden to beat than any other GOP candidate. They seem also to believe that independent voters, disgusted with Trumpâs âlawlessâ behavior, would align with Democrats and Biden and clobber him in the general election.
But the Democrats may have gone too far. In their zeal to âget Trump,â their malfeasance has gone well beyond election interference and has reached election-rigging territory. And itâs entirely possible that by overplaying their hand, they have turned Trump into a sympathetic figure among independents.
As per Democratsâ calculations, Trumpâs support has increased with each new indictment among Republicans. In the months following Trumpâs Nov. 15 announcement of his 2024 run, his lead in
national polls
over his nearest competitor, then-undeclared candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), actually fell from the mid-30s to the 10-20-point range. An
Economist/
YouGov poll
conducted from Nov. 26-29 showed Trump ahead of DeSantis by 6 points. A
Yahoo News/YouGov
poll conducted from Jan. 12-16 showed Trump up by a single point.
But as the indictments began, support for Trump began to climb. He now leads the field by 40 points in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
Might we expect to see a similar phenomenon play out in the general election among independent voters and perhaps even a few Democrats who are fed up by the partyâs targeting of the former president? Have the Democrats turned Trump into a sympathetic character?
It remains to be seen. But if Trump wins the White House in 2024, Democrats will have only themselves to blame.
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Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner, Power Line, and AFNN and a fellow at the Heritage Foundation Academy. She is a past contributor to RedState, Newsmax, the Western Journal, and
Bongino.com
. Her articles have appeared on RealClearPolitics, MSN, the Federalist, and many other sites. Please follow Elizabeth on
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