You’re Not Donald Trump—Break Election Law and Go to Prison | Opinion

So, let’s say you believe making Donald Trump president is the only way to save America. You’re armed with your beliefs or you’re empowered as a public official—or maybe you’re just plain armed.

Why should you fear going the extra mile to put your man in power—even if it means doing things others will say are illegal? After all, Trump has run rings around his flat-footed opponents in court with delays and appeals that have left him with money, support, and out of jail. He’s avoided accountability, so what’s to fear?

Here’s one thing for starters: you’re not Donald Trump.

Think instead about Tina Peters, the former county clerk from Colorado. Peters bought false claims about secret software and wireless devices that were supposedly cooking the books in the 2020 presidential election, and tried to assist those telling the lies. Last week she got her reward for blind loyalty to Trump’s frauds—felony convictions and nine years in prison.

Peters isn’t alone. Trump lackeys far closer to him haven’t fared any better. Among those that have now been sentenced to prison are his former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump 2016 campaign chief Steve Bannon, 2016 deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates, trade advisor Peter Navarro, foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos, and political consultant Roger Stone.

Consider also the 18 defendants arrested in Georgia other than Trump. They range from lawyers pitching claims rejected by more than 60 courts to elections officials and fake electors who falsely claimed Trump won and tried to cast bogus ballots. If convicted, they face long prison sentences and likely bankruptcy. A similar gaggle of 18 have been arrested in Arizona for conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and artifices, fraudulent schemes and practices, and forgery. And don’t forget six more in Nevada and 16 in Michigan. Oh yes, don’t neglect the fate of the around 460 people who were jailed and around 1,200 people convicted for—ask them—listening to Donald Trump and attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Even the rich and famous have been brought low by trading their belief in the rule of law for their belief in Donald Trump. Look at poor Rudy Giuliani. Once “America’s mayor,” this former prosecutor decided to lie to courts to keep his man in office. Now he has been disbarred, indicted, bankrupted, and humiliated by his own daughter endorsing Kamala Harris for president and blaming Trump for his ruin.

Trump didn’t rescue Giuliani or anyone else from their fate. Instead, Trump has raised more than $250 million from foolish followers for non-election purposes and, as of several months ago, has spent over $100 million for legal defense—solely for himself. He’s not sharing it, and don’t expect him to. Trump generous? Protective? Loyal to his followers? Who would expect any of that from a man most famous for the line, “You’re fired!”

So, if you are thinking of taking legal chances for Trump, remember he thinks of you only as a useful idiot. Trump’s own former press secretary said he thinks of his supporters as “basement dwellers” and Trump thinks of self-sacrificing soldiers as “losers and suckers.”

Finally, don’t take any comfort from our needlessly complex and glacially slow legal system. Ultimately, it will work even against Trump. But it will work faster for Trump supporters stuck using their own money or using public defenders. Thanks to other people’s money, Trump may be successfully holding things up in his cases, but most people under Trump-related indictment will quickly run out of resources and face the music—financial ruin, prison, unemployment—and life-long regret.

Sure, if Trump were fighting on the side of justice like George Washington, Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, losing these things might be worth it. But Trump wants people to break the law for his lies and for himself and certainly not for the benefit of supporters foolish enough to go out on a limb for him. Only magical thinking will make it seem otherwise.

So, as an American, consider supporting the rule of law after the election. If Trump wins, Trump wins. If he loses, he loses. It’s best for the country to accept this—and based on experience— best for his most ardent supporters too.

Thomas G. Moukawsher is a former Connecticut complex litigation judge and a former co-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Employee Benefits. He is the author of the new book, The Common Flaw: Needless Complexity in the Courts and 50 Ways to Reduce It.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.