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By Andy Brack
Editor and publisher, Charleston City Paper
CHARLESTON, S.C. | Now that Donald Trump has become the first former president convicted of crimes, it’s safe to say America’s political polarization may be at a tipping point.
Brack
People’s reactions are all over the place. Some are gloating, figuring the bully Trump finally got what he deserved. Some are mad – really mad – because their hero didn’t prevail before a New York jury who heard days of testimony related to politics and a scheme to hush up a hook-up just before the 2016 election.
Some, including our foreign allies, are relieved that the American system of accountability seemed to work and that no one is above the law. And yet others are just sick of it all, not really caring one way or the other about the guy who has sucked the oxygen out of political space for the last decade.
There’s not really any wrong or right reaction, but it would make sense for liberals to back off gloating and conservatives to curb their anger. Otherwise, our off-the-rails country is going to stay politically out of whack.
So regardless of how you feel, maybe there’s a mind exercise for you that can help you get beyond any visceral reaction.
Imagine you have a neighbor – or a business acquaintance, fellow church member, friend, drinking buddy or colleague – who has gotten in some serious trouble. You don’t know if he or she did what they are accused of, but you believe them when they said they didn’t do it.
Months pass. Your neighbor goes to trial. He or she is found guilty by a jury of local people, just as happens countless times across America every week.
So how do you react? Do you gloat? (“I didn’t really like him anyway; I’m not surprised.”) Do you get angry? (“She was railroaded; the system isn’t fair.”)
Or do you move on with your life, perhaps disappointed in your neighbor, but accepting that he or she had a chance to air a version of the case in a court of law where a jury of regular people listened and took a different view?
It’s interesting that many of Trump’s supporters who are local, state and national leaders continue to buy the dishonest narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
But if you step back and look at that whole notion from 20,000 feet, it is pretty preposterous because of its duplicity. On one hand, they’re saying the voting system corrupted the results of one election, the presidential election. But on the other hand, they’re accepting the results of thousands upon thousands of other elections – including their own that put them into office – and they’re NOT saying those elections were corrupt.
Bottom line: America’s system of governance and judicial review should work the same for everyone, regardless of whom they are.
Trump is just a man, not a demi-god. That’s what the results of the trial showed.
So as you reflect on what’s happening with a case that’s ripping apart America, don’t gloat or get mad. Rather, try to put things in perspective based on your life’s experience. There’s a pretty good chance that the results of this instance of judicial accountability is little different than what everyone else in trouble goes through. This time, Trump lost. He may lose again. But he had his chance in court to make his case.
And then when you head to the polls in November, cast your ballot in a way that will allow the country to adhere to time-proven principles of freedom – or not.
We hope you’ll pick the tenets of democracy in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, not a politically-tailored narrative to give special treatment to anyone.
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