ROGER KIMBALL FROM SPECTATOR WORLD
Justice Merchan told the jurors that they did not have to agree on what the crime in question was. The case started with a possible misdemeanor charge that, through the alchemy of partisan animus, was ginned up to felony status. Since the underlying tort was like the Wizard of Oz, though, Justice Merchan said it would be just fine if they disagreed about what the crime was just so long as they agreed that there was a crime. Four might say it was this, four might say it was that, four might say it was some tertium quid. Just so long as they agreed that Trump was guilty, guilty, guilty — ex, as if were, officio — that was good enough for government work.
It can be interesting to spend some time picking among the ruins of a once-great civilization. The ruins can be physical, as in they are, for example, in ancient Egypt or ancient Rome. But they can also be as it were metaphysical, as they are whenever a society somehow outlasts is animating vitalities.
The United States was built on the ideal of equality before the law. The very words now ring with a mournful quaintness. Who still believes them? As we troll through the vacated monuments of our civilization, we’ll often be reminded of David Hume’s observation that it is seldom that freedom is lost all at once.
