Former President Donald Trump – charged by a Democratic prosecutor, tried by a Democratic judge, and convicted in a heavily populated Democratic jurisdiction – is now awaiting a summer sentencing. More than once through the process, Trump has complained about the weaponization of the justice system against him and has delivered different versions of the same message to watching Americans: "If they can come after me, they'll come after you."
Indeed, Americans need not limit themselves to coverage of Trump's trial to see the scales of justice weighted against conservatives and their causes, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said on Washington Watch Monday.
"Just this week there was an abortion protester, a 75-year-old woman, praying outside of an abortion clinic in Washington, DC. They sentenced her to two years in jail for a non-violent offense of peacefully praying in front of an abortion clinic. The January 6 people … certainly there were some who were violent; but there are people sentenced to years in jail for non-violent offenses, for being present in Washington, DC, on January 6," Davidson told show host Tony Perkins.
The list goes on: parents arrested when a school board meeting in Loudoun County, Virginia, was deemed an "unlawful assembly"; spying on Americans through the banking system and flagging transactions with terms like "MAGA," "TRUMP" and more.
These are some of the actions that have occurred under President Joe Biden's administration – and they're geared for a definite outcome, according to Davidson. "It's all designed to have a chilling effect," he stated.
MacIntyre: Democrats can't be shamed
The trial of Donald Trump – the only meaningful obstacle between Biden and a second term – has brought concern for weaponization of government resources for political gain to a completely different level. The question is, how will Republicans respond?
Blaze TV show host and columnist Auron MacIntyre last week suggested the response has to be played by the rules of Democrats.
"For the last few decades, conservatism has been defined by saying, 'No matter what you do to us, our principles say we won't do it back to you,'" MacIntyre told American Family Radio's Jenna Ellis. "That works if you have [opponents] who ultimately can be guilted to say, 'Oh, we're in the wrong. We've done something that is immoral. We're violating the principles and the honor of the Constitution, and therefore we've been shamed back into line.'"
He said today's Democrats openly sneer at the Founding Fathers, adding that Republicans have to speak to them in the language they understand – political penalty. The Republican message should be, "You can't shred these institutions without some sort of consequence," he emphasized.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Dr. Al Mohler said on Washington Watch Monday that such an "eye-for-an-eye" approach will lead to the nation's destruction.
"I can't think of many things that are more dangerous for our republic. The one thing that would add danger would be conservatives gaining control and trying to do the same thing. This is the destruction of the rule of law. We have to be the people who uphold the rule of law. Our job is to do what is right and uphold what is righteous and just," Mohler said on Washington Watch.
House Speaker Mike Johson, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said the fight is coming.
"We have to fight back, and we will with everything in our arsenal [and] within the confines of the rule of law. We believe in our institutions. We are conservatives, and we are trying to preserve the greatest country in the history of the world – and its institutions are an important part of that. Our system of justice is an important part of that, so what we'll do with our tools that we have in Congress, and in the House is we'll use our oversight responsibilities," he said.
GOP has to embrace possibility of a shutdown
Davidson said the Republican response should be aggressive but agreed with Johnson in saying it should be targeted within the laws conservatives are trying to preserve. But the only chance for change, he warned, will require discomfort for many Republicans – because it will require shutting down the government.
"[The Democrats] view [is] that we're in a war, but on the Right we're still saying that we're going to have oversight hearings," Davidson explained. "People are fully aware that this is going on. Their frustration is that they don't see anything changing."
Johnson backed a $1.2 trillion funding deal that was eventually signed by Biden on March 24. The bill included funding for various government agencies, defense, homeland security, education and healthcare. It also included money for 2,000 new Border Patrol agents and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But it angered many Republicans who said it didn't do enough at the border and piled more spending on top of the U.S. debt.
Eventually, it caused Johnson to have to fight to maintain his Speakership. Some House members were in favor of shutting down the government then.
According to Davidson, Democrats typically blame Republicans for any government shutdown. "Unfortunately, Republicans keep folding on that," Davidson added. "Anyone that's been part of any business negotiation or watched one episode of a show like 'Pawn Stars' or something knows if you're going to accept whatever offer is made, you're not going to get a counter offer. That's how Republicans go to these negotiations."
And that's got to change, he said. "The question is, are we willing to risk some disruption [caused by a shutdown]? It's not that we want it in order to get a change to the status quo, but of course, Democrats aren't going to go along with change. It's rigged in their favor right now."
The long march through the institutions
Temporary disruption is the best available option Davidson sees to fight against a Democratic plan for control that has been decades in the making. "In the 1960s, they committed to a long march through the institutions," he said.
The "Long March through the Institutions" was a phrase attributed to the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) and then coined as a succinct mission statement by Marxist student activist Rudi Dutschke in the 1960s, Renew.org reports.
The phrase is used to describe the intellectual takeover of a society without the need to resort to a military conflict. Instead, the strategy focuses on slowly winning over the chief institutions that determine the direction of a culture, thereby creating a soft revolution from within those institutions. So, the focus was on the universities, then the unions, the arts, the K-12 schools, the media, then corporations, and finally the society as a whole.
"They've marched through them, seized them, and now they're wielding them as weapons against the American people," Davidson lamented.
In his estimation, Republicans have to fight – and they have to place conditions on funding … and the product of that fight may be a government shutdown.
"If we don't defund those abuses and put fences around it and say, 'None of these funds may be used to do X, Y, Z,' … We can't get there without Democrats saying, 'You want to shut down the whole government.'
"The reality is we don't [want a shutdown]. But we have to have a fight," he concluded. "We're not going to get there without a fight."
