April 6, 2023
Donald Trump has been indicted. So what?
You’ll get news about that story, over the coming months, even if you’re trying to avoid this story!
THIS IS NOT ABOUT TRUMP OR HIS INDICTMENTS.
Donald Trump’s situation is an opportunity to educate people on a relevant issue…
Hypothesis: Campaign finance laws are written by incumbents, and they’re designed in ways that protect officeholders from challengers.
It is also highly likely that these regulations have a secondary purpose, and that is to punish any challenger who breaks through, gets elected, but isn’t an establishment “team player.” Upset the system, and a petty campaign finance violation suddenly becomes a major criminal problem.
This is the first of two episodes where I’m going to explain how and why those two statements are true. And I’m going to use Donald Trump’s case to do it.
And who am I to do that?
I have worked in challenger campaigns and seen the effect of these laws. I’ve fought them in legislative stages and in the courts. In the former case, I could tell a story where John McCain tried to sick a crowd on me. In the latter case…
I was the Executive Director for the group that was the organizing plaintiff and the primary funder for a case we took all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the McCain-Feingold. And one of our financial partners and co-plaintiffs for that case was none other than Citizens United, who’d have their own landmark Supreme Court decision several years later.
In fact, you might notice that this show is an hour long and think you don’t have the time. But the general principles explained in the first 29 minutes are so potent, that…
– You’ll know more about every future story (not just Trump’s case)
– where you see words like “candidate investigated for campaign finance violations”
– then the reporters covering these cases!
Plus, if you keep listening, you’ll hear an argument no major media figure has advanced. Not even Trump’s attorneys seem to know why Donald Trump absolutely did NOT commit a federal campaign finance violation in the Manhattan case.
And if he didn’t actually “influence” the election, then it’s highly likely the 34 charges against him will not result in felony convictions.
Every episode is also on these podcasting five platforms: Pandora * Stitcher * iHeart * Google Podcasts * Spotify
We’re featuring today’s episode on…
Please also subscribe to the service on which you listen, so that you’ll be conveniently notified of all upcoming episodes.
ZAP The State and have a nice day,
Jim Babka
Host, Gracearchy with Jim Babka
Co-creator, Zero Aggression Project
P.S. Our next episode will introduce a former congressman who was victimized by some of the very same laws. He will get a chance he didn’t receive during his trial, to tell his side of the story.