“In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just in their way.”
Who can forget that meme President Trump posted to Twitter after his first impeachment? In any event, it stands as a reminder of just how hostile the left is to the American people in its desperate attempt to maintain political rule. Now, as President Donald Trump has been arrested and arraigned in New York City, we must consider the implications of his indictment, and what it means for the United States and the 2024 presidential election.
For all the criticisms of Donald Trump and his defects, one thing is certain: liberals fear him. No other man has posed such a threat to America’s ruling liberal ideology. Whether it was calling to impose tariffs, rebuild American manufacturing and industry, or reclaim any semblance of American political rights, Trump upset challenged Washington’s bipartisan orthodoxy. As for the indictment, there is no case against the former president. Even if he is guilty of all charges, that is not why New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the media and the political establishment are after him. After all, they have spent years accusing Trump of every scandal possible to bring him down for purely political reasons, without any regard for justice.
In 2016, when Trump was first elected, I was a middle school student. Like many my age, all I knew was that “Trump was bad” and “Trump was a criminal.” As his presidency went on, I watched attack after attack, culminating in the first criminal indictment of a president – a complete abuse of the American political process.
As for the current implications of these charges, the future is a lot less certain. If Trump is to be the next president of the United States, he must be extremely calculated. This is a different fight than any other election in American history. In the 2020 election, Republicans thought the Democrats had given their all against Trump. Now we know they were just getting started.
It is without doubt that these charges will damage Trump in the general election, especially as much of America is tiring of the former president. Ironically, these charges also may make him the strongest candidate for 2024, at least going off polling and donations.
I am generally skeptical of Trump’s and any other Republicans’ chances of winning, especially as many Americans will simply “vote blue no matter who” in fear of the consequences of speaking out against the left. Yet he appears to be the candidate who can at the moment present the best case to the American people. If the left is going after him this hard, it probably means he has something worth saying.
The political ramifications for you and me, however, are much more wide reaching. If the left can come after the president of the United States, no one else is safe. By even having just an “R” next to your name, you are a target and threat to the leftist agenda. It does not matter how much you try to ingratiate yourself with the left. The very fact that you believe Trump is not guilty or that he is right on some policy issues means that you are not in full compliance. In this way, they really are after you, and Trump is simply the first step in getting to you. Unless Trump can defy the odds and resolve the case, it is unlikely that he can muster retaking the White House.
The political fight is real, without doubt. The Democrats have shown their cards. I do not think it is worthwhile to overly inquire into their motives, or exactly what they have in mind for Trump. What is clear is that Trump is a threat, and this indictment is a way to halt his reelection in its tracks, especially as, according to a recent poll, a plurality of Americans support the indictment. Who are we as a conservative movement to abandon him, look the other way, or say nothing? Some may shrug their shoulders at all of this, but more needs to be done than statements. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together now. If Trump goes down, we all do. If there is any hope for political change in this nation beyond the two-party binary in 2024 and beyond, it begins with standing up for President Trump in his legal case right now and using whatever modicum of political power we have left to make sure this cannot happen again.
William Benson is a writer who has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Lone Conservative, and The College Fix.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.