Decency on the Ballot

Below is my nationally syndicated column for newspapers. Before I get to it, however, I want to comment on the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

I think the indictment is absolutely politically motivated and I think the Comey indictment is too, though I also think there are some issues within the Comey indictment that suggest there is something more to it and we’ll see.

I think the process and dragging political enemies through the process is all part of punishment. Forcing them to hire criminal defense lawyers, spend personal funds, raise money, etc. to fight the Department of Justice is a very third world kakistocracy thing to do.

Many of President Trump’s supporters will defend the indictment, argue its legal merit until they are blue in the face, and then not bat an eyelash if the case is tossed or the Attorney General found not guilty because the verdict is not really the issue — punishing her by indicting her and hauling her into court to be made an example of is what the base wants.

And that is exactly what the Democrats wanted of Trump after January 6th. Letitia James campaigned on indicting Donald Trump, assuring voters she would get the pound of flesh they wanted from him if she won her race. Alvin Bragg did the exact same thing. And it was always going to be hard for Trump to get a fair jury in New York City, let alone a fair judge, and both James and Bragg knew it. It is notable that parts of James’s case have already been set aside on appeal. I expect Bragg’s case to get thrown out on appeal given just how novel it is.

But given a judge who had clear partisan animus towards Trump, a prosecutor who campaigned on getting Trump, and a jury in a part of the state that overwhelmingly rejected Trump, the verdicts against him were inevitable.

And they did not stop Trump so now he gets his turn at them. Just as Democrats will defend the verdicts against Trump and the prosecutions of Trump, his supporters will do the same now.

I said then that the prosecutions of Trump were persecutions and this is the same. And because no Democrat will admit the treatment of Trump was law fare, don’t expect Trump supporters to admit this too is law fare. Both sides find ways to justify what they are doing and wrap it in moral necessity.

Unfortunately for Democrats, some of whom are complaining that “Trump would do this anyway” even without those prior indictments, we actually have a 45th presidential administration where no such things happened and that was also the presidency of Donald J. Trump. Two wrongs do not make a right, but Democrats did start this. Trump intends to finish it. And the ratchet gets ever tighter because, as the Democrats kept lecturing us, “no one is above the law.” After all, Letitia James was not indicted by Donald Trump nor Pam Bondi nor the deep state nor Hillary’s server, nor any of the nonsense talking points that Democrats have been trotting out in left-wing media, but by a jury of her peers. See how that works now, Democrats?

But it is okay. She’ll be tried by a jury of her peers, so she’ll be fine. John Haywood says so.

Also, Congressman Jerry Nadler is screaming “antisemitism” because RFK, Jr., yesterday, claimed boys circumcised early after birth have a higher rate of autism, probably, he claims, because they were given Tylenol. For the record, that is not antisemitism, that is retarded the r-word people take offense to these days.

The Nobel Peace Price did not go to Donald Trump, but to Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the democratic movement in Venezuela opposing Nicholas Maduro. The award is for leadership prior to 2025, so President Trump would not qualify anyway. It comes as our President has amazed amassed (I’m sleepy) a large naval and military presence just north of Venezuela. The joke on Twitter this morning is that Trump may now embrace Maduro to spite the Nobel Prize Committee, an entity that should not be taken seriously given it gave Barack Obama the award just for showing up. I once suggested they gave him the award as part of affirmative action and Democrats screamed that I was racist. It was very telling what they actually think of affirmative action and I meant it not as a quota system for black Americans, but, per the Nobel Committee, a quota system for Americans who hate America.

Last night, the Virginia gubernatorial candidates debated and over a very awkward two minute period, Abigail Spanberger just could not bring herself to distance herself from Jay Jones. It was very awkward.

While the gubernatorial candidates in Virginia were debating last night, I was speaking to the Vermont Republican Party in Burlington. Did you know the GOP is two seats away from a Vermont State Senate majority? In fact, one candidate spent zero dollars two years ago and only lost by 50 votes. Likewise, the Vermont Governor and Lt. Governor are both Republicans and the Lt. Governor is the first Lt. Governor to beat an incumbent since 1815. It was a great night. I was, however, disappointed to learn that when you land in Vermont you are not greeted by a lumberjack who blesses you with a drop of maple syrup on your forehead as his wife gives you beer and cheese.

Now, on to my syndicated column, though you should note this is the raw file before my editor worked her magic and I’ve been up since 4am so forgive the mistakes you might find. I’m flying home from Vermont, my flight took off about 15 minutes ago, and I just got connected to wifi and need to get to show prep, if not fall asleep and keep this poor lady next to me from napping because of my snoring. It was so cold this morning, they had to de-ice the plane before we took off.

This is from last night’s debate in Virginia, prepared for the question to Abigail Spanberger about Jay Jones and his text messages. Just listen before I get into the column.

In 2017, in a special Senate election in Alabama to replace Jeff Sessions, Alabama’s electorate sent Democrat Doug Jones to the United States Senate after a series of disturbing allegations about Republican candidate Roy Moore. In 2022, Georgia voters elected every statewide Republican candidate for office except Herschel Walker, after a series of disturbing accounts of his prior behavior circulated. Now, the question is if Virginia has the same moral integrity.

In Virginia, statewide elections are in odd numbered years. The state has not split tickets for statewide offices since 2005. This year, Democrats have poured money into the state to replace the term limited Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, fill the Lieutenant Governor’s office, and oust Jason Miyares, the Republican Attorney General. Democrats have been polling very well in the state. But suddenly, Jay Jones, the Democrats’ Attorney General candidate, looks to be a drag on the ticket.

Several years ago, Jones, a former member of Virginia’s legislature and the son of two prominent Virginians, got pulled over doing 116 mph on an interstate with a maximum speed limit of 70 mph. In lieu of jail, a judge sentenced Jones to one thousand hours of community service.

Jones certified he had completed his community service with two charities. Only later did it turn out Jones had actually spent five hundred hours of his community service time working on his own political action committee raising money for himself and campaigning for himself. Under Virginia law, it is too late to do anything about it unless voters choose to hold Jones accountable.

After that story broke, a more disturbing story broke. Jones, sharing his private and candid thoughts in a text message with another member of the Virginia legislature. Jones said he wanted to put two bullets in the back of the head of the then Virginia House of Delegates Speaker, Todd Gilbert. Given two bullets and confronted with Gilbert, Pol Pot, and Hitler, Jones said he’d put two in the back of Gilbert’s head every time.

Jones went on to say he hoped Gilbert’s wife would have to watch their children die in her arms. He said only knowing such personal tragedy would Gilbert be willing to change his political positions. What awful things had Gilbert done to deserve such vileness? He had said kind words at the funeral of a member of the Virginia legislature who was a Democrat.

For the crime of saying nice things about a dead man, Jones wanted to put two bullets in the back of the Speaker’s head and kill his children who, Jones said were “little fascists.” More particularly, Jones declared that the Speaker and his wife were evil and raising little fascists because Jones disagreed with Gilbert politically.

If both stories were not enough, the same member of the legislature who released Gilbert’s text messages also says Gilbert wanted members of Virginia’s police killed because only then might they rethink how they police. It is one thing to take extreme positions in public for attention, clicks, or social media traffic, but these were Jones’s private thoughts — violent fantasies towards children, police, and political opponents.

The real scandal is that Jones lied to a court about his community service and actually served his own political interests instead of doing community service. But after two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and other violence from the left, Jones’ violent wishes are getting all the press.

In Alabama, the allegations against Roy Moore were related to indecent behavior with young women. Alabama’s voters rejected him based on those allegations. In Georgia, Herschel Walker’s behaviors were well documented and violent, but came before he sought help for mental health. Even his ex-wife against whom the violence had been committed argued that the public should not hold it against Walker because he not only got treatment for his mental issues, but punishing him could discourage others from coming forward in the future and getting help. It did not matter, Georgia voters elected every other Republican in statewide office and rejected Walker. Now we will see if Virginia’s voters have the same character as those in Alabama and Georgia.

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By the way, with a hat tip to Yoni Michani, from whom I grabbed these two pics after he pointed it out on Twitter, can you spot the editorial different Bari Weiss is already having at CBS News? The first is before her arrival. The second is after.

Before:

After:

Okay, now to get on with the day. I’ll be back on air nationwide at noon eastern time.