• Unethical quote, and a telling one: Sunny Hostin, arguably the most unethical member of “The View’s” panel of idiots though Joy Behar is far and away the dumbest and most obnoxious, said the quiet part out loud yesterday while making the legally ignorant claim that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has a “slam-dunk” criminal case against former President Donald Trump. “I think the goal is to never have this man be in a position of power again — not even [as] a crossing guard,” Hostin, a lawyer, said on the show. And there it is! Not only does Hostin admit that these various prosecutions are political, but she has no problem with that, which means that she has no problem with using the legal system for partisan warfare, and undermining democracy by criminalizing politics, banana republic-style. “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime,” boasted  Joseph Stalin’s infamous secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria. One of Stalin’s methods was to sic Beria on any political foe and count on his henchman to  find or fabricate a crime that justified imprisoning him or making him “disappear.” This has been the modus operandi of Democrats since the dawn of the “Destroy Donald Trump” era. People like Hostin are telling us who and what they are. Pay attention, and take them at their word.
• Later—I would say “incredibly” but sadly it isn’t hard to believe at all, CNN’s Don Lemon quoted Hostin on the air regarding the “slam-dunk” case. Yes, he really did quote a member of “The View” to inform CNN watchers on a legal issue. Jonathan Turley, an actual legal expert who isn’t welcome on CNN because he spits out progressive Kool-Aid, and is just a bit more reliable on such topics, has declared Bragg’s potential indictment as a “Frankenstein indictment….to convert a misdemeanor for falsifying financial records into a prosecution of a federal crime.” He added, “There are serious challenges to this prosecution, including an argument that time has expired under the statute of limitations.”

You know: a slam dunk.

• Mysteriously, Bragg’s grand jury’s meeting today was cancelled and it looks like it may not meet at all this week. Speculation is rampant that public and professional sentiment is favoring Trump, giving the Manhattan DA cold feet. That would not be an ethical reason to suspend an indictment, if the indictment were legitimate. Many also claim that Democrats have told Bragg that arresting Trump would be an epic political blunder, turning him into a martyr and making him more of a threat to Democratic power than he already is. That would also be an unethical reason to suspend a prosecution, unless that prosecution was only a political tactic anyway. In that case, the prosecution, investigation and grand jury proceedings would all be an abuse of prosecutorial ethics.
• Brilliant! Trump says he wants to do a “perp walk” in handcuffs when and if he is arrested. The Democrats better be certain that the case is a “slam dunk” if they go through with this dangerous precedent, or it is political incompetence seldom seen in U.S. history.
• This week, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Republicans sent a letter to Bragg demanding documents and testimony related to expectations that Bragg will charge Trump over the hush-money payment to Stormy in 2016.  (Paying money for a non-disclosure promise is completely legal, though news accounts seldom point that littel detail out.) The letter called Bragg’s “Get Trump!’ effort an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.” Well, that’s clearly hyperbole, but the retort by Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee is so “it isn’t what it is” that it hurts. “This is an extreme move to use the resources of Congress to interfere with a criminal investigation at the state and local level and block an indictment,” he told the Washington Post. The letter and the demand don’t interfere with anything, unless a paper trails shows that Bragg is engaged in using the criminal justice system to neutralize a hated and feared GOP figure. Congress has an ethical and legal obligation to protect the democratic process, which has been under attack by the Axis of Unethical Conduct (“the resistance”/Democrats/the mainstream media) since Trump was so rude as to foil the ascension of Hillary Clinton. Are Republicans supposed to wait until “process as punishment” becomes a fait accompli before asking questions?
• Some MAGA extremist pundits are furious at Gov. Ron DeSantis-–whom Trump, mature and dignified as always, calls “Ron DeSanctimonious,” for his statement on the supposedly impending indictment:

I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA. He’s trying to do a political spectacle … I’ve got real issues I’ve got to deal with here in the state of Florida. We’re not getting involved in it in any way…He, like other Soros-funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety. He has downgraded over 50% of the felonies to misdemeanors. He says he doesn’t want to even have jail time for the vast, vast majority of crimes.

Apparently justly criticizing the hypocrisy of Bragg’s concentrating on the political pursuit of an ex-President while letting street criminals run amuck isn’t enough. The MAGAites are angry because DeSanis alluded to Trump’s alleged affair as if it were true. (I’m sure it’s true. Aren’t you?). I thought the statement was more than Trump deserved, given his repeated cheap shots at the Florida governor. DeSantis also said, in an interview with Piers Morgan,

“At the end of the day, as a leader, you really want to look to people like our Founding Fathers. It’s not saying that you don’t ever make a mistake in your personal life, but I think, what type of character are you bringing[to the office]? … I think the person is more about how you handle your public duties and the kind of character you bring to that endeavor.”

No doubt about it, extolling the importance of character to leadership is criticism of Donald Trump….and rightly so.