Trump may not be ‘above the law’ but a lot of others are

Have you noticed how they say it, solemnly lecturing us about how “no one is above the law”? By “they” I mean liberals who were counting the days until Donald Trump would be formally charged with a crime. They want him to stand trial and, if they have their wishes granted, be marched off to prison.  

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard them say, with earnestness, that “no one is above the law,” I might not have enough nickels to buy a yacht but I sure as heck would have enough to put down a hefty deposit.  

Are we really supposed to believe that liberals haven’t noticed what’s been going on in plain sight for quite a while now? Are we supposed to believe that they haven’t noticed that all sorts of people — mainly in places that Democrats control — really are “above the law”?

What about the looters in Chicago and other big cities who were never charged with so much as littering as they strolled out of high-end stores with all sorts of expensive stuff? A reasonable person might conclude that they were above the law.

How about the rioters in Portland and Seattle who weren’t charged with any crimes, despite causing damage from vandalism and fires? Weren’t they above the law?

What about the shoplifters in San Francisco who walked into drug stores, filled trash bags with stuff they took off the shelves, and casually walked past security guards and out the front door?  They were above the law, weren’t they?

What about those “mostly peaceful protestors” who burned down a police station in Minneapolis during the riots after the killing of George Floyd? One man got prison time and must pay restitution, but those who cheered him on evidently got off scot free; were they above the law?

Every day, thousands of illegal immigrants sneak across our southern border. A few are deported, I suppose. But there must be some law the others are violating — or else, why would we call them “illegal migrants”? Sure seems like they’re above the law.

And then there’s Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who will try to convince a jury that Trump isn’t “above the law,” even though he’s the same Alvin Bragg who has chosen not to prosecute all sorts of miscreants, including those who (non-violently) resist arrest. They’re obviously above the law, too. 

But we’re supposed to believe that no upstanding DA, in good conscience, could let Trump off the hook for the unthinkable crime of allegedly paying off a porn star to keep her quiet about a liaison — and then allegedly accounting for it on Trump Organization books, (supposedly) improperly. If you took liberals — in and out of the media — seriously, you might actually think Trump’s alleged offense is right up there with the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. 

You may believe, as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and others believe, that Trump is unfit to hold high office and yet still think his prosecution stinks to high heaven. As Holman Jenkins points out in the Wall Street Journal, “It isn’t an obligatory case. It isn’t a case a prosecutor would be failing in his job not to bring. But he likely didn’t flip a coin either. He asked what would the Democratic Party and party leadership, from Joe Biden on down, want him to do.”

But it’s not just Democrats; both sides are getting what they want. Trump’s allies can say their fearless leader has been right all along, that he really is the victim of a Democratic-led witch hunt. And Democrats now have the impending trial they’ve been dreaming about since the moment Trump rode down that golden escalator at New York’s Trump Tower to announce his candidacy in 2015.  

And you might have noticed that the indictment makes Trump even more popular among many Republicans, which elevates his already good chances of winning the GOP nomination for 2024. That, in turn, gives Joe Biden his best shot at winning reelection. You think maybe the politics involved is something Bragg took into account when he went after Trump? 

No one wants to sound political when it’s just as easy to sound noble — to sound sincere as we recite the cliché that “no one is above the law.” But I’m starting to think Democrats are channeling the late George Burns, who wisely told us, “The key to success is sincerity. And if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”  

Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He was a correspondent with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” for 22 years and previously worked as a reporter for CBS News and as an analyst for Fox News. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him on Twitter @BernardGoldberg.