Free Republic

May 31 - Supporters of former President Donald Trump, enraged by his conviction on 34 felony counts by a New York jury, flooded pro-Trump websites with calls for riots, revolution and violent retribution. After Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, his supporters responded with dozens of violent online posts, according to a Reuters review of comments on three Trump-aligned websites: the former president's own Truth Social platform, Patriots.Win and the Gateway Pundit. Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection. “Someone...

Nikki Haley, who campaigned on ending the “chaos” that follows Donald Trump, found herself in a strange position as the former president’s legal troubles exploded on Thursday. Haley offered her long-sought backing of Trump just eight days before a 12-member New York jury found him guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records that could potentially carry up to four years in prison. While other Trump 2024 rivals and vice presidential contenders have rushed to back the former president, Haley has yet to say a word as of Friday afternoon. Since she dropped out of the race for the...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared his support for Donald Trump after guilty verdicts were handed down in his New York City trial on Thursday. Orbán hailed Trump as a “man of honor” and urged Americans to “make their verdict in November” at the ballot box. “I’ve known President Donald Trump to be a man of honor. As President, he always put America first, he commanded respect around the world and used this respect to build peace,” Orbán wrote on social media platform Twitter. “Let the people make their verdict this November! Keep on fighting, Mr. President!” Orbán said, echoing...

After years of trying — in the words of the judge — “to get the damned rascal in this court,” it was a conviction that many welcomed. But those words were not from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, and the conviction was not that of former President Donald Trump. Rather they were from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, at the end of the 18th century, when America embraced political prosecutions to target critics and opponents. The man on trial then was James T. Callender, a muckraking writer critical of President John Adams. For accusing politicians of corruption, Callender...

Attorney General Merrick Garland is not going to save democracy. Nor is the attorney general of New York, Letitia James; the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg; nor the Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis. As the apparent collapse of the New York district attorney’s investigation makes clear, criminal cases are hard to make. Donald Trump, despite his many seemingly criminal acts, is unlikely to ever spend a day in jail. Observers of the Trump malignancy have an unfortunate habit of wish casting—believing that their most optimistic fantasies will become reality. They did this with the Mueller investigation—remember “It’s Mueller Time”?—and...