Justice system types like prosecuting Trump because it makes them feel good

Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If that’s true, then what the American justice system is doing to Donald Trump is barking mad. 

Yes, he’s been indicted, again — on seven federal criminal charges. It’s all unprecedented, again — he’s the first president ever to face, blah, blah, blah. We’re all familiar with the “Trump facing…” news loop by now. America is stuck in Trump legal groundhog day — he’s remorselessly prosecuted, over and over, on so many fronts. He always responds the same way, protesting his INNOCENCE in capital letters on Truth Social, saying he can’t believe this is happening in America. Then his team fires out fundraising emails.

Last time it was the civil rape case in New York. The time before it was tax records and “hush money” payments. This time it’s in Miami and is about the “hoarding of classified documents” — or “the box hoax,” as Trump calls it — and prosecutors have used the Espionage Act to add spice. Next time it will be Trump’s attempt to “find” votes in Georgia. There’ll be others. He was impeached twice, too, remember. 

Last night Republicans were quick to point out that the timing of this latest Trump “bombshell” was suspicious. It came just after senior house Republicans, having seen a document the US government wants kept secret, accused President Joe Biden of having been part of a bribery scheme involving a foreign national. Biden called that claim “malarkey,” one of his favorite words.

But the Biden family’s long history of leveraging Joe’s political power isn’t just malarkey. It’s interesting and underexplored. It’s certainly more intriguing than Donald Trump’s failure to return classified documents — a silly “crime” which Biden is guilty of too. But most journalists would much rather than talk about Trump’s legal huis clos. 

There’s a comfort in conspiracy theories. At least a conspiracy would make sense: the truth is probably more banal and senseless. It’s true to say that Joe Biden, as president, is in charge of the Justice Department. It’s also true that Team Biden wants Trump to win the Republican nomination because he brings out opposition in hives and they think they can beat him. But it’s a stretch to believe that the White House and the attorney general are working hand-in-glove with various state-level prosecutors and federal agencies to coordinate a multi-faceted and obviously absurd legal campaign against Trump. What’s more likely is that many figures in the justice system are happy prosecuting Trump because it makes them feel good. Who cares if it means doing the same thing over and over? 

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.