Deep State Goes After Trump and Musk’s Financial Assets—Who’s Next?

Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom with attorneys Christopher Kise and Alina Habba during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court in New York City on Nov. 6, 2023. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)

Commentary

Is America as we know it over? Are we in the middle—or perhaps the end—of the transition from a national republic to a single-party regime that rules by fiat instead of law?

If we look at what’s happening in two high-profile cases, the answer is less than comforting. It is becoming difficult to argue that the U.S. judicial system has not become a political arm of the Democratic Party.

The Left Waging Political Lawfare

Nations are based on either the rule of law or the rules dictated by the powerful. The former is meant to restrain, or better said, eliminate the possibility of the latter. But, as we’ve witnessed with the relentless political persecution of former President Donald Trump and, lately, Elon Musk, laws only work when they’re fairly applied and enforced.

Neither of those things are happening with President Trump or Mr. Musk. President Trump was found guilty of fraud by a left-wing judge who determined this without considering, or despite, mountains of evidence to the contrary. New York Attorney General Letitia James accused President Trump of overvaluing his real estate to obtain loans.

Coincidentally, Ms. James ran for the office of attorney general in 2018 with the campaign pledge to go after Trump, showing clear political animus toward President Trump. What’s more, Judge Arthur Engoron has been accused by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) of violating “political giving rules with financial contributions to Democrats as recently as 2018, and ignored a decision on the appropriate statute of limitations in the case,” according to NBC News. Ms. James prosecuted President Trump in a civil trial, which was by design; criminal court cases require a trial by jury and proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Somehow, Deutsche Bank was “defrauded” by President Trump into lending him hundreds of millions of dollars on a property, the value of which the bank determined by its own analysis. Talk about shifty business dealings. Then, after a period of time, the former president had the audacity to sell the property at a more than $130 million profit and then pay the loan back, with interest.

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Despite all of this exculpatory evidence that showed no fraud, money loss, or any other determinable damages, the judge refused to allow President Trump to give his closing argument in his own defense and found him guilty of fraud, fined him $354 million plus interest, and forced him to forfeit the profit he made on the deal with Deutsche Bank. President Trump was also ordered to pay $111,000 per day in interest. The financial penalty is excessive under the Eighth Amendment, which disallows “excessive fines,” which is the case because the penalty doesn’t reflect the value of the “damages,” which are nil, nor the profits he made.

What’s more, President Trump is barred from doing business or getting loans in New York for three years, and two of his children are also barred from their executive roles in The Trump Organization for two years. All of this for paying back loans on properties that the bank made willingly, according to its own value assessments, and profited from.

Court Voids Musk’s Payday

Meanwhile, a Delaware judge voided Elon Musk’s $56 billion Tesla payout. The judge arbitrarily determined that the record-breaking compensation granted by the Tesla board was an “unfathomable sum” and was “unfair” to shareholders. The payout was the result of a 10-year pay plan that the board agreed to with Mr. Musk in 2018.

Mr. Musk is not only an entrepreneur extraordinaire but also a fan of America and our constitutional right to freedom of speech. He attracted the left’s wrath after acquiring Twitter (renamed X) and making it a bastion of free speech for conservatives who were formerly censored by Twitter and other social media outlets. In short, Mr. Musk single-handedly broke the stifling monopoly on speech and thought control that the left—allegedly in close coordination with the federal government—had prior to the acquisition.

The rationale for the judge’s unlawful decision was that the board was, in some way, “beholden” to Mr. Musk. Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery speculated if the payout plan was necessary in order to keep Mr. Musk involved in Tesla and achieve the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s business goals. By that logic, the entire EV market is “beholden” to Mr. Musk since he is the single biggest influencer in the industry. There is no indication that the judge has a seat on the Tesla board or possesses expertise in the Tesla business model or investing strategies.

So far, Mr. Musk’s response has been to begin moving his companies out of Delaware to the business-friendly states of Texas and Nevada.

The World’s Largest Banana Republic

As unfair and anti-American as those two prosecutions undoubtedly are, they point to a more fundamental development in our national government, which is the undeniable breach of the walls that form the separation of power between the executive, judicial, and legislative branches on which our republic was founded.

Of course, these aren’t the only examples of unconstitutional behavior by the left. The Biden administration is still holding American citizens in jail without bail from the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and has reportedly arrested a journalist for being present, reporting on the incident, and providing evidence that conflicts with the Justice Department’s version.

Sadly, thug rule is becoming more common, not less. So is the celebration of it in the mainstream media. Persecuting political enemies through lawfare and unlawful asset seizure is the stuff of communist regimes, dictators, banana republics and, apparently, the United States of America.

Imagine, if the legal system can be used to go after a billionaire former president and the most innovative and wealthiest man on the planet without due process of law, the question that comes to mind is simply, “Who’s next?”

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.