Fox News Anchor’s Trump Jury Instructions Claim Is False

Here is an article detailing some of the objections that those who are decidedly not on Trump's side, and often even on the left, have to the persecution ("oops", prosecution) of Trump. We are talking Mitt Romney, Jonathan Chait, Elie Honig, Maureen Dowd, and more. It's not just a pro-Trump echo chamber that objects to this--for that matter, some of the most cogent objections to this charade are by Andrew McCarthy, who is not a "close personal friend" of Trump by any measure.

Here is an article detailing some of the objections that those who are decidedly not on Trump's side, and often even on the left, have to the persecution ("oops", prosecution) of Trump. We are talking Mitt Romney, Jonathan Chait, Elie Honig, Maureen Dowd, and more. It's not just a pro-Trump echo chamber that objects to this--for that matter, some of the most cogent objections to this charade are by Andrew McCarthy, who is not a "close personal friend" of Trump by any measure.

Even CNN has had numerous legal advisers commenting on how unorthodox this process has been. However, for those who are willing to be influenced by the most extreme media voices out there- those people will not listen no matter how many facts are given to them. These are often the same people who would never consider ever trusting any media source that would ever say anything positive about Trump, but would absolutely trust the media sources that support the killing of unborn babies, the mutilation of children in the name of gender identification, the inclusion of men in women's locker rooms, the promotion of sexually explicit literature in our schools that encourages homosexual sexual relations between adults and minors- destroying the definition of marriage in this country, that promotes racism and racial tensions, that support policies that promote crime, that support policies that make it difficult for low skilled workers to enter the work force and gain experience so that they can get better jobs, that constantly attacks Christians....

Even CNN has had numerous legal advisers commenting on how unorthodox this process has been. However, for those who are willing to be influenced by the most extreme media voices out there- those people will not listen no matter how many facts are given to them. These are often the same people who would never consider ever trusting any media source that would ever say anything positive about Trump, but would absolutely trust the media sources that support the killing of unborn babies, the mutilation of children in the name of gender identification, the inclusion of men in women's locker rooms, the promotion of sexually explicit literature in our schools that encourages homosexual sexual relations between adults and minors- destroying the definition of marriage in this country, that promotes racism and racial tensions, that support policies that promote crime, that support policies that make it difficult for low skilled workers to enter the work force and gain experience so that they can get better jobs, that constantly attacks Christians....

Ok, you have repeated yourself about the Democratic Party and now use the same exact wording about the progressive media sources. I agree with your take on Democrats in regards to abortion, LGBTQ, redefining marriage and supports policies that undermine religious liberty (all reasons why I don't vote Democratic) but I'd really like to know what your sources and specific examples are that the Democratic party as a whole "promotes sexuality explicit literature in our schools between adults and minors, are promoting racism and racial tensions, support crime policies that promote crime and policies that make it difficult for low skilled workers to enter the work force and gain experience so they can get better jobs..."

I'd really like to know what your sources and specific examples are that the Democratic party as a whole "promotes sexuality explicit literature in our schools between adults and minors, are promoting racism and racial tensions, support crime policies that promote crime and policies that make it difficult for low skilled workers to enter the work force and gain experience so they can get better jobs..."

Some good questions Joel. As far as the sexually explicit homosexual literature issue, numerous parents have brought this issue to the attention of numerous school boards and many progressives on those school boards have continued to defend the literature and the teachers who distributed it. Although many school board elections are not necessarily democrat vs republican, this is definitely a progressive issue. Further the Biden administration has used its power to use the FBI to intimidate parents who protest such behavior. Further, numerous democrats have campaigned on not allowing censorship of such books. I cannot give you specific names of those campaigning as such, since I did not write them down, but I remember many prominent democrats bringing up this issue.

As far as promoting racism and racial tension: One of the most racist comments I have consistently heard from democrats is that blacks cannot get ID's and thus democrats vote against voter ID. This goes along with the idea that blacks are poor and uneducated and cannot succeed without politicians giving them extra help (sic). Although much injustice has been done to blacks throughout our nation's history (and I thank you Joel for bringing so much of that to people's attention who may not be aware of much of it) that does not mean that blacks are not smart and capable. In the places where they lack education it is because of the schools, not because of their DNA. Yet, we have democrat policies continually standing in the way of black parents making choices about giving their children a better education. Here is a well balanced article from the Hoover Institute that shows that many of the polices that hurt black Americans are not necessarily racist, but some are. Progressive Lawmakers Decry Racism, But Their Policies Devastate People Of Color | Hoover Institution Progressive Lawmakers Decry Racism, But Their Policies Devastate People Of Color

Policies that promote crime: You have pointed out problems in our criminal justice system in a way that shows much compassion. It was our last Republican president who started to take some steps toward criminal justice reform. I am confident you have a much better handle on that issue than I do however. What I do know is that many of our bluest cities have decided not to prosecute crime and thus shoplifting has become an epidemic. Kansas city and Minneapolis/St Paul are the huge metropolises close to us and the policies of not prosecuting car theft have led to that being a regular occurrence. These are democrat DA's who keep getting elected by people who vote democrat. I have no doubt that the democrat people who live there are fed up with the crime and wish it would change, but too many of the elected leaders keep implementing policies that harm the citizens. A few years ago democrats were campaigning on de-fund the police. Thankfully there was enough outcry from their constituents so that policy has mostly been backed away from. Still it was not just a few fringe democrats who promoted the idea. Democrats have earned their soft-on-crime reputation - Washington Examiner Here is a letter written by one of our senators: Thune: Democrats’ Soft-on-Crime Policies Are Making Communities Less Safe - Press Releases - U.S. Senator John Thune (senate.gov) BTW, this ties in with the race issue since so many of the victims of violent crime are minorities and according to PEW, blacks are some of the most concerned about this issue. That is understandable.

Laws that substantially raise the minimum wage make it difficult for low skilled workers to enter the work force. Often automation replaces those low skilled workers who have not yet had a chance to enter to workforce. The low skilled workers are the first to be laid off when companies have to lay off workers because of a higher minimum wage. Such laws also lead to inflation that disproportionately affects the poor.

Joel, you and I share a compassion for the poor and for minorities in the inner cities. We have challenged each other over our views about how to best help them. I hope we can do that without getting upset with each other- that we can both learn from each other and understand each other. I hope you can help me better understand you and the people you are ministering to and their challenges without thinking of me as the enemy.

I don't see that the Democratic Party is uniformly as JD claims, but I do see it as very similar in principle to what goes on in the United Methodist Church. You have a variance of views in various areas, but when push comes to shove, the final say is held by those at the top. At the UMC, it's the almost uniformly liberal bishops, and with the Democratic Party, it's the progressive wing. In either place, you can be thinking you're making progress on things that matter to you, and then those powers that be speak up and you're left on your back wondering "what happened here?"

Bert, I think what you said above is a fair assessment (I clicked like). I do not think that a lot of the grass roots democrat voters think the way I represented, but I do believe that those in positions of power within the democrat party do. Years ago there used to be a number of "Blue Dog Democrats" who more closely represented the grass roots and would vote outside the central Democrat power structure. That for the most part has become a thing of the past, yet Joe Manchin, and John Fetterman are as close as it gets today. If the people at the top of the Democrat party were like Joe Manchin and his approach, then I could understand why people would encourage Christians to vote that way. Even though there are plenty of things I would disagree with Manchin on to the point that I would probably not vote for him, he is not as extreme as I represented above and I could be persuaded to support him depending who the other candidate was. I actually have voted for a Democrat in the past for similar reasons.

“As far as the sexually explicit homosexual literature issue, numerous parents have brought this issue to the attention of numerous school boards and many progressives on those school boards have continued to defend the literature and the teachers who distributed it...."

I think the book that concerned parents are having banned is “Gender Queer: A Memoir.” At least that was the book in a West Michigan public library that was shut down over a short time. Having done some research, it is an over-sexualized book written in comic book style by Maia Kobabe who graphically describes her struggles dealing with her sexuality as a teenager (a girl trapped in a guy’s body). We could make an argument that a handful of scenes have pornographic elements to them. There is one illustration of an ancient Greek vase with two naked persons (one older and one younger), and she imagines herself as the younger person on it, which is the scene that may insinuate pedophilia. The majority of Democratic politicians that I’ve seen in my state may argue for free speech but have no issues with putting it behind the counter where a student would have to request it. The protests and public book bans of gender queer have unintentionally created a huge market for it not only through private avenues but a few public libraries in places and school libraries in NY and SF have made it readily available on the internet, giving it even more publicity. The publicity has made Maia a rich women.

As far as promoting racism and racial tension: One of the most racist comments I have consistently heard from democrats is that blacks cannot get ID's and thus democrats vote against voter ID. This goes along with the idea that blacks are poor and uneducated and cannot succeed without politicians giving them extra help (sic)....

I am very familiar with the infantilization of blacks by progressives. I first saw this 30 years ago when Planned Parenthood targeted my neighborhood when they hired two teen girls from the housing projects in our community to aggressively hand out condoms to all their friends, which they attempted at a recreation center where I was employed at. It created chaos, including teen boys sexually harassing other girls in the program. My boss, a black nationalist with the nation of Islam, after stopping the situation, pulled me aside and angrily observed, “Planned Parenthood treats my people like we’re a bunch of animals.” It was from that moment on that I realized that white supremacy and racism don’t usually emerge in a white robe and hood but often come from people with power and influence who exhibit paternalistic attitudes and cultural stereotypes and distort and cherry-pick black history or statistics. I see it frequently among progressives, such as the New York governor who just recently claimed in an interview, "Right now, we have young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word 'computer' is," she said. "They don't know these things." Yet I see it also among conservatives, especially conservative cultural warriors such as Charlie Kirk, who questions the competence of a black pilot because of DEI. If Kirk would actually do some research, the tests that pilots have to do to become a commercial pilot are all based on merit and he disregards the fact that United Airlines since their DEI announcements has been cherry-picking seasoned pilots from smaller airlines, including many minorities to reach their goals.

Lets us also not forget that when Donald Trump was running for president in 2015 when a black BLM protestor tried to interrupt a Trump rally, and the protester was physically assaulted by MAGA supporters, the very next day, Trump re-tweeted racist fake crime statistics from a Neo-Nazi group to strike fear in his supporters and then refused to apologize for it. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/nov/23/donald-trump/trump-tweet-blacks-white-homicide-victims/. It was retweeted by millions of his supporters. It showed up on my Facebook newsfeed about 20 times, and I spent an entire day refuting it. Half of my Facebook friends realized their mistake and pulled it. The other half doubled down about it, defending Trump even if it was based on blatant lies. One former Facebook friend argued with me that it was good for Trump to post it because it would finally shine a light on the issue of violence by black people. In those conversations, 6 of my Facebook friends unfriended me that day over the incident, some of which I’d known since middle school or college.

And bad habits die hard, as Trump retweeted a video (created by a white supremacist group) in 2020 of a black man pushing a white woman off a subway platform into a train with the caption BLM/Antifa, even hough it turned out to a homeless mentally ill black man with no connection to either group. Of course, it happened a few months before the election as a ploy to strike fear into his supporters and others.

My point is that i can go on and on with both sides. Neither group has the higher ground when it comes to racial issues and has racialized conversations in our current cultural war landscape This should not surprise us because both conservatives and progressives and everyone in between have the sin nature. Often times, I wonder when Christian conservatives go way out of their way to attempt to prove that racism is no longer a problem in America (or existing mainly with Democrats) if they’ve become functional pelagianists on the issue of race.

By the way, I agree with you about minimum wage. I would only add that states should determine it because the cost of living in each state is so drastically different.

.....What I do know is that many of our bluest cities have decided not to prosecute crime and thus shoplifting has become an epidemic. Kansas city and Minneapolis/St Paul are the huge metropolises close to us and the policies of not prosecuting car theft have led to that being a regular occurrence. These are democrat DA's who keep getting elected by people who vote democrat. I have no doubt that the democrat people who live there are fed up with the crime and wish it would change, but too many of the elected leaders keep implementing policies that harm the citizens. A few years ago democrats were campaigning on de-fund the police. Thankfully there was enough outcry from their constituents so that policy has mostly been backed away from. Still it was not just a few fringe democrats who promoted the idea. Democrats have earned their soft-on-crime reputation...

This is probably where I have the most disagreement with you, but that does not mean I am on the side of the democrats, but rather hold to more a form of Libertarianism when it comes to crime and criminal justice reform. The vast majority of democrat lawmakers (except for a minority of scattered cities such as Minneapolis-St Paul, Portland, San Francisco, and Chicago) are not soft on crime (although many still falsely believe that poverty is the biggest cause of crime, ignoring many other factors, including addictions, fatherlessness/breakdown of the family, etc) Republicans have made a habit out of slandering Democratic Lawmakers on this issue to keep their base paralyzed with fear. Crime has been on the decline since the mid 1990s and is back down since the COVID bump. But in regards to progressive DA's, what most conservatives don’t know is that right now there is a fierce battle among Democrats between the small minority of elite progressives and the moderates (who are mostly black, hispanic, and asian) when it comes to handling crime in urban communities. There are small minorities of far-left Progressives raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from out of state through SuperPac’s trying to hijack the county prosecutor’s races. So when city councils (such as the battle in Cleveland right now) https://stateandfed.com/campaign-finance-2/campaign-contribution-limits-doubled-for-cleveland-city-council-candidates/ that are controlled by moderate black Democrats fight back and pass legislation to increase money they can get from the average donor in their community, The progressive media and far-left progressives cry foul, even though most of the council’s constituents are moderate democratic blacks. Only 5% are far-left progressive democrats. I've watched clips of these meetings, and it's fascinating to me. There are many stories like this all over the country, but Republicans (like their Democratic counterparts) cherry-pick news stories and broad-brush straw man arguments when it comes to crime and policy to demonize the other side. These battles like Cleveland are off the radar for most Republicans and seem to want to assume the worst about Democrats that all of its leaders have become far-left progressives like a Bernie Sanders.

Even with the Shop-Lifters narrative being portrayed as the main thing that is driving retail business out of urban communities. When actually the data shows that it is organized crime retail fraud. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/its-not-people-shoplifting-why-retails-focus-is-organized-crime.html

Now that doesn’t mean that DAs shouldn’t prosecute shop lifting. They should and shoplifters need to pay back what they stole plus interest even if they have do it through a work program. Jail time (which I'm not necessarily opposed to) is too easy and doesn’t make the perpetrator deal with the victim and the consequences it caused on the victim. But no, the answer for most conservative DA’s is more and more jail time to show that they are tough on crime.

As for Defunding the Police, I’ve already addressed the false narrative that the Republicans concocted here. https://sharperiron.org/comment/131423#comment-131423 I really don’t need to address this unless someone wants to debate me on this.

Joel, you and I share a compassion for the poor and for minorities in the inner cities. We have challenged each other over our views about how to best help them. I hope we can do that without getting upset with each other- that we can both learn from each other and understand each other. I hope you can help me better understand you and the people you are ministering to and their challenges without thinking of me as the enemy.

Despite several disagreements with you and many others on Sharper Iron on issues of race, poverty, criminal justice reform, etc… I have never thought of anyone on SI as my enemy but rather have enjoyed the unity that I have in Christ with y’all, even though this unity is not uniformity. I also realize that people such as you care for the poor, the downtrodden, and the marginalized just as much as I do. The questions we are attempting to figure out are more about How to help, rather than if we should help.

Joel, I appreciated what you had to say. I especially appreciated what you had to say about crime and using work programs as punishment. I do not think that just letting criminals free is the answer, but I also do not believe that simple incarceration is working either.

I also appreciated your take about most black democrats being much more moderate and even conservative. That corresponds to what I have heard from conservative news sources as well. In fact, I am surprised that the black community votes mostly democrat because my take is that if the black community were more willing to accept voting republican, then they could run more moderate candidates in their community as republicans in order to counter the progressives that hold so much power in certain areas. I view the black community as having a lot in common with the policies that are often promoted by republicans and would welcome their input and inclusion. I really feel that having political diversity within a community could be very empowering. Of course, as you pointed out, the fallen nature often causes people to say insensitive and often obnoxious things about those who are different than they are. Sadly, people on both sides of the political spectrum and on both sides of the skin tone have fallen into that. Thank you for encouraging us all to do better.

I do think you have oversimplified the book controversy by simply focusing on one book. There are many others and the one you sited is among the more mild examples. BTW, parents that have been going to these school board meetings to protest these books are represented across the racial spectrum. Although blacks do tend to vote mostly democrat, I actually assume that if we were to simply talk policy and not party, that I would find agreement with the majority of them on most issues.