In the aftermath of yesterday’s guilty verdict, a number of people have been declaring that they will still vote for a ‘convicted felon' this November. For instance, here’s Libs of TikTok saying that:
My name is Chaya Raichik.
— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) May 30, 2024
I live in the USA 🇺🇸
And I WILL be voting for a convicted felon this November.
You? pic.twitter.com/dCSCDSczfR
She ended up reposting a number of people who said the same thing, or something similar. But Dan Bongino beat them all with the cool factor:
I’m voting for the outlaw.
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) May 31, 2024
To misquote Star Lord/Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy: ‘I come from a planet of outlaws: Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, Donald Trump, Sr.’
When we first saw that post, we were about to point out that he was technically misusing the term. These days we use the term ‘outlaw’ just to describe any criminal or when an act is made illegal (outlawing cocaine, for instance). But, according to Cornell’s wonderful Legal Information Institute, outlawry was historically a punishment meted out to people who were fugitives. Judges would declare fugitives to be ‘outlaws’ which meant that they were no longer protected by any law. So, if you came across that fugitive, you could literally kill that person under circumstances when you normally couldn’t, like if he or she was peacefully surrendering. You could do whatever you wanted to them with no legal consequences. It’s not well understood by most modern Americans because it just isn’t done anymore, so we count it as ‘nerdy legal knowledge.’
So, this author was about to say something like that on Twitter/X … and then we realized his analogy was actually more appropriate than we thought at first. After all, as we said the other day:
The left loves to say no one is above the law (*cough cough* Hunter Biden), but apparently, they think Trump is below the law, including the Constitution, entitled to less protections than your average jewelry store thief.
So, in some sense, just like outlaws centuries ago, Trump is outside of the law’s protection and has been for some time. Jonathan Turley thinks that the hush money Trump paid was the result of extortion, but there was no prosecution for that. Cohen admitted to embezzlement on the stand and we seen no sign of prosecution for that. Trump was denied his right to a truly unanimous verdict found in the Sixth Amendment, as well as his right to be informed of the nature of the charges against him. He wasn’t told what predicate offenses he allegedly committed until the state’s closing argument, at which point he and his lawyers had no legal way to respond so that the jury would hear. Trump famously said he wouldn’t lose votes if he shot a guy on Fifth avenue, but if someone shot him in Manhattan, would Bragg even bother to prosecute his attacker? We’re genuinely unsure.
Indeed, we are tempted to use the slogan: ‘Vote for the Outlaw: It’s important.’ That is a throwback to the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election between David Duke and Edwin Edwards. Most people were of the opinion that Edwards was a crook, but reasonably decided that the crook was the better option, leading to the sarcastic slogan: ‘Vote for the crook: It’s important.’
Naturally, there were reactions:
Outlaw Trump, brought to you by the Biden Administration 😏 pic.twitter.com/JjoJAPzxRL
— Heatherheather007 (@LibertyValkyrie) May 31, 2024
I can’t wait to cast my vote for a gangsta pic.twitter.com/3nn241EB6o
— lsd (@alittlelsd) May 31, 2024
I’m with Dan. The outlaw gets my vote ! 💯
— Elon Eagleman (@eloneagleman) May 31, 2024
— Omega Rio (@GibsonAubr11146) May 31, 2024
Me, too! pic.twitter.com/5cGLLzqHSO
— Donna Marie (@sabback) May 31, 2024
Me too stay updated pic.twitter.com/VrRgBz0BcV
— America History (@AmericaHistory8) May 31, 2024
That is today’s actual New York Post cover.
Of course, we are also hearing a refrain from the left saying we should respect the jury’s verdict, that through our criticisms of the trial we are undermining the justice system, and that this is even incitement. This would be many of the same people who call Kyle Rittenhouse a murderer despite the fact that he was acquitted.
The truth is, if we can ignore partisanship for a moment, is it is an objectively true fact that people are convicted unjustly in America (and in every other country). There are people who were once convicted felons who today aren’t convicted of anything because eventually the courts overturned those convictions. Sometimes the trial courts used procedures that weren’t fair, so that the appellate courts had no confidence that the defendant was actually guilty and sometimes they might say that the person didn’t commit a crime at all.
Let us give you but one example: Bob McDonnell. He was the governor of Virginia from 2010-14. In 2014, Jack Smith went after him and secured a conviction for essentially selling out his office. So, for a few years, you could have truthfully called McDonnell a convicted felon.
But you can’t truthfully say that today. In 2016, the Supreme Court overturned that conviction in McDonnell v. US, 136 S. Ct. 2355 (2016), saying that what Jack Smith claimed McDonnell did wasn’t even a crime. And the decision wasn’t even close: It was unanimous.
The point is that not even the courts pretend that our justice system is perfect. We tend to think it is the least bad system in the world, but no rational person thinks it is perfect and isn't subject to outright abuse in the wrong circumstances. And the people today saying we have to just accept that the jury is definitely right are like the people saying during the Kavanaugh hearings that we should ‘believe all women’—it’s a ridiculous position contradicted by logic and history. The people saying ‘believe all juries’ today probably know that this is illogical and irrational. We think most of them are saying it because they think other people are gullible enough to believe it—and maybe they are also saying this to rile up the people supporting Trump.
All 56 signes of the Declaration of Independence were guilty of treason. Press on, patriots.
— Cato__1776 (@Cato__1776) May 31, 2024
Trump'24/MAGA Forever
Technically true, although we are not sure any of them were convicted. But we all know they were factually guilty, and morally right. You can say that rather than appealing to the law, they were appealing to Heaven.
— Magical Trevor (Meme TV) (@MagaMemeWizard) May 31, 2024
They can say “convicted felon” all they want but it’s their motive, charges, Judge, trial, jury and verdict which are all corrupt and illegitimate. They act like they want rule of law but it is the true rule of law which will be their demise.
— ImaLuckyDog (@RealDaleGolden) May 31, 2024
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” - George Orwell
— Kenny Howard (@God_winsforever) May 31, 2024
For only the 2nd time in my life, I've donated to a political campaign. For the first time in my life, I will be voting for a convicted felon. Why? Trey Gowdy put it simply and succinctly: "We are in a situation where we have prosecutors going after people, not crimes. If…
— Dennis Crawford (@DCrawfordKY) May 31, 2024
The cut off text reads:
If this continues, it could be the undoing of our country’. I'm not voting for a man, but for my country. This kind of legal warfare against a political opponent is un-American and makes us a third world country. It's time to get off the sidelines - to stand up and speak up. It's time to quit being afraid of ‘cancel culture’. We can't afford not to get involved anymore. TRUMP 2024 - FOR AMERICA!
Indeed, as we said in another post:
[The lawfare against Trump] is also a reason why a person who might not like Trump very much should want to see him win in November. Alvin Bragg doesn’t get to tell us who we can vote for. Neither does Jack Smith or Fani Willis, and neither do any of the judges involved in their respective cases. But these prosecutors are all trying to use the courts to influence the election.
It’s bad enough that they have done this. But you know what would be even worse? If it succeeded, because once they see that this works, they will do again, and again.
Furthermore, the other danger that should bother all Americans is that Republican prosecutors will start using the courts against them. Indeed, Trump would have no good reason not to go after his opponents if he wins in November. We have already seen a number of conservatives suggest doing exactly that. For instance, Matt Walsh wrote on Twitter/X:
I don't want to hear elected Republicans complaining. I don't need to see their tweets and statements condemning the verdict. The only thing I want to hear from these people is which Democrats they will have arrested. Don't tell us that you're sad about the verdict. We don't give a s—t about your feelings. We want to see corrupt Democrats frog marched on camera in handcuffs. If you won't do that, then shut up.
(Curse word censored.) Is that what we want our country to devolve into? We haven’t seen any sign of any Republican prosecutor doing this so far, but if this lawfare against Trump proves to be a successful election strategy for the Democrats, we suspect that Republicans will start adopting it, too.
Finally, as an aside, the featured meme is an AI creation from DeepAI, generated by using the phrase ‘Donald Trump as the Outlaw Josie Wales,’ and we thought that this was the funniest image that worked overall. We had help with the lettering from Grateful Calvin, so now we are grateful to him.
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