(Part Two will be posted tomorrow morning, April 25th.)
Donald Trump will soon be subjected to a show trial in New York City for the sin of being a competent and sincere opponent of the Democratic Party oligarchs and the corrupt politicians they fund. There is nothing new in the story. Political show trials date back to ancient Greece when the philosopher Socrates was publicly tried and executed in 399 BC. District Attorney Alvin Bragg is following in the footsteps of earlier politicians who misuse and abuse the rule of law to persecute and eliminate “dangerous” opponents.
The Show Trial of Socrates – 399 BC
Socrates (470 – 399 BC) made the mistake of being a free-thinker in Athens a few years after the city lost the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 BC). The old philosopher was accused of impiety against the city gods and of “corrupting” young people with new ideas. His real crime was questioning the state’s authority and angering its leaders. According to Plato, his most famous student, Socrates believed the state was like a “great and noble steed.” His job as a philosopher was to sting it “all day long” to keep it honest. Is it surprising that Socrates was tried, convicted, and forced to take poison?
The Show Trial of Joan of Arc – 1430-31
Joan of Arc (1412 – 1431) was a young French woman who believed God wanted her to help France defeat the English armies attempting to conquer France. Amazingly, an unknown young peasant girl quickly became an inspiring leader and helped the French Army win a great victory over the English in the siege of Orleans. Joan was eventually captured and handed over to the English. She was taken before an ecclesiastical court and put on public trial for religious crimes, including blasphemy. After a long trial, she was found guilty and burned at the stake.
Joan’s real crime was being a peasant outsider who made France’s leaders uncomfortable and simultaneously upset the English attempt to occupy France. The French nobility distrusted, and the English hated her. Joan, like Socrates, was a danger to the establishment – both English and French. She told her followers what the aristocracy did not want peasants to hear: “to surrender what you are, and live without belief - that's more terrible than dying…” Believing that was her real crime. The powerful almost always think that allowing ordinary people to think for themselves is dangerous.
The Show Trial of Galileo — 1633
Two centuries later, the astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) published a book based on irrefutable scientific evidence that the Earth was not the center of the universe. He was arrested by the Holy Inquisition and tried for defying the Catholic Church’s prohibition on teaching that the Earth revolved around the Sun. In other words, he was guilty of blasphemy for defying Church doctrine.
After trial, torture, and interrogation, Galileo recanted publicly: “I abjure with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I curse and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally all and every error, heresy, and sect contrary to the Holy Catholic Church.” He spent the rest of his life imprisoned (comfortably).
Galileo defied the official doctrine of the powers that be and paid the price. His show trial took place in the age of brutal religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. There was no middle ground. If one man could defy the Church, then others could. Galileo had to be publicly crushed.
The Show Trial of Zinoviev and Top Soviet Leaders — 1936
In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin, the absolute ruler of the Soviet Union, put his former political rivals and allies on trial. These included Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and many other top Communist Party officials. Zinoviev and Kamenev were among a group of sixteen top officials and old Party members accused of various crimes in a highly publicized trial in 1936.
According to prosecutor Andrei Vyshinsky, the defendants were guilty of forming a “terrorist” cell aimed at assassinating Stalin – a dubious charge at best. The trial was a pretense, and the outcome pre-determined. Although outwardly, the form of a legal proceeding was used, the charade quickly degenerated into a farce as Vyshinsky verbally abused the prisoners calling them "mad dogs,” "terrorist thugs,” “degenerates,” and "accursed vermin." Held in custody during the trial, the defendants were interrogated, threatened, and probably tortured. Zinoviev and Kamenev finally promised to “confess” if their families were given immunity. Stalin agreed. They confessed in open court, were sentenced to death, and shot. In spite of the promised immunity, Zinoviev’s wife was sent to the Gulag.
The show trials continued, and millions of Soviet citizens were executed or imprisoned. Ironically, Nikolai Bukharin, a top Soviet leader who had helped Stalin dispose of Zinoviev and Kamenev, was himself put on trial. The highlight of the event was a public “confession” by Bukharin: "the monstrousness of my crime is immeasurable, especially in the new stage of the struggle of the U.S.S.R. May this trial be the last severe lesson, and may the great might of the U.S.S.R. become clear to all.” The trial and execution of senior Soviet leaders eliminated Stalin’s political rivals. It also served as an object lesson to the public: if we can crush Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Bukharin, we can do the same to you… which leads us to the January 6th trials…
The Show Trials of the January 6th Offenders — 2021 – 202?
The Jan 6th prosecutions were, and are, show trials. The outcomes in the great mass of cases were a forgone conclusion and were intended as a warning to Trump voters. The accused were put on trial in Washington, DC, in front of hand-picked Democrat “hanging” judges. Juries were carefully selected from a tainted juror pool in an overwhelmingly Blue city. The DOJ withheld video evidence from the defendant’s lawyers. Defendants were intimidated and pressured into signing legal releases and confessions that ruined their chances of putting on a real defense or a successful appeal. Defendants were often denied bail and kept in solitary confinement. Trials were delayed for months or over a year while defendants rotted in a notoriously vile DC jail. They were treated worse than convicted murderers, rapists, child molesters, and gang members.
The Democratically controlled House select committee on January 6th provided a steady stream of propaganda as a background to the trials. Every effort was made to convict the accused in the “court of public opinion” and to squeeze maximum political benefit from the show trials. The committee’s public hearings were offered as a form of a virtual show trial in which the defendants were ritually abused and Trump relentlessly trashed. The message of the arrests, trials, and committee was clear: we are in charge, don’t defy us – or else.
Tomorrow: PART TWO
The Trump Show Trial – 202?