There is no denying that the conviction of former President Donald Trump was an electoral ploy by Democrats achieved by manipulating the law to target the GOP nominee. There is also no denying that Trump and the GOP did a fair share of this damage to themselves.

To get all of the stipulations out of the way, Trump was targeted for being the GOP nominee (or GOP front-runner, back when charges were first brought). As even CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig wrote, “no state prosecutor — in New York, or Wyoming, or anywhere — has ever charged federal election laws as a direct or predicate state crime, against anyone, for anything. None. Ever.” And Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who brought the case, has twisted the justice system for his political goals at the expense of the safety of New Yorkers.