Is Justice Finally Being Done?

There are events in history so impactful that long afterwards we can vividly recall where we were at the time. I remember, with movie-like clarity, where I was when on the car radio came the news Freddie Mercury had died. Fast forward 10 years and I remember waking up to the chilling news of the attack on the World Trade Centre. I remember thinking that our world would never be the same.

Fast forward another 15 years and it’s November 2016. I get a text from a friend, “Trump has won. The media’s heads are exploding.” I was sitting in a company car outside the small rural town of Chinchilla in South East Queensland, bracing myself for the 5-hour journey back to Brisbane.

In the weeks and months that followed it was almost entertaining to witness the collective meltdown with all the earnest talking heads prophesying economic collapse and the prospect of war. Nuclear even. None of which happened of course. After a minor dip, the share market rebounded quickly and then took off to record highs sustained over the 4 years. The US economy started booming and most Americans believed they were better off, with wages rising as employers competed vigorously. President Trump was later able to take the gong for being the first president, in a very long time, who didn’t start another war.

The collective meltdown was even given its own name. It was called Trump Derangement Syndrome – TDS for short.  It wasn’t isolated to the fringe of the Democrat Party either. Seemingly well-adjusted people in completely different countries would start frothing at the mouth at the mere mention of his name. They were convinced he was Putin’s illegitimate puppet, and of the need to impeach, impeach, impeach.

Concepts like innocent until proven guilty went out the window as the Mueller Investigation rolled on, with strategic leaks to media every other day appearing to prove Trump’s guilt. Even on this side of the world we had two relentless years of the constant media drum beating and barely concealed sanctimony.

The hatred it inspired was so visceral that if you offered opinion counter to the dominant media narrative, or dared suggest Trump deserved procedural fairness, the result was awkward social occasions followed by disinvitations to future events. There was social ostracism in the workplace and directives not to discuss politics, unless of course it was to bag Trump, in which case it was ok to discuss politics.  I hate to think how many friendships were damaged over this.

Fast forward 5 years from the start of the TDS era and special prosecutor, John Durham, is handing down yet another indictment, this time to Igor Danchenko. Who’s Igor? He’s the Russian that Hillary Clinton’s campaign colluded with to construct a salacious dossier. That dossier, now recognised as Russian disinformation, was fed to the media and the FBI who used it (knowing it was false) to get court warrants so they could spy on then candidate Trump. Later it formed the basis of the Mueller Investigation; a naked attempt to end the Trump presidency.

Danchenko has admitted the contents of the dossier were the result of drinking sessions with buddies. I’m guessing the more drunk they got, the more salacious the content. Before the dirty dossier was even given to the FBI, then CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Obama on Clinton’s plan to link Trump to Russia. It was to distract from the scandal over her private (also illegal) email server (for which she's never been held to account).

With each investigation and indictment, Durham is unravelling what really happened. It looks like he’s working his way up the chain of the Democrat Party. Numerous key figures in the Democrat machine are being revealed for the role they played. Immediate names to watch out for are Michael Sussmann, who represented the Clinton campaign but didn't tell the FBI this when he gave them alleged 'evidence'. Charles Dolan, a close Clinton adviser and campaign regular. He also happens to have ties to the Russian Government. Another key figure was Russian expert, Fiona Hill who was, not so incidentally, the Democrat’s star witness in the first attempt to impeach President Trump. Ironically, it looks like the only person who didn't have close links to Russia was Trump.

The Clinton campaign cooked up a dirty tactic to damage a political opponent. Her party then attempted to remove a legitimately elected President using salacious fiction, a show trial, and the kangaroo court of public opinion. In the end, they charged Trump with obstruction - he dared to defend himself in other words.

The FBI knew as did the CIA. Even Obama knew. Let that sink in.  With the help of friendly, activist media peddling constant anti-Trump propaganda and corrupted intelligence agencies, Clinton and the Democrats had half the world convinced of an utter lie. It was an attempted soft coup without the use of military.

Now of course it’s crickets from much of the media, and all those acquaintances who were so sure of Trump’s guilt are reluctant to discuss, even if they know of Durham’s work. This isn’t about whether you like Trump or not. This is about living in fair and just society where that level of corruption isn’t rewarded, not if democracy is to survive. It's a lesson in being discerning over the media we consume and the possible agendas at play.

That so many otherwise intelligent people rushed to judgement and seemingly suspended their critical faculties will be the subject of future sociological studies into mass Group Think. Taking swipes at Trump and condescension towards his supporters was socially de rigueur for a time there. Some still can’t bring themselves to admit they got caught up in a politically manufactured frenzy of falsehoods. To admit this is to admit intellectual fallibility. They double down in their dislike, as if this is all the justification that’s needed, and the belief that Trump must be guilty of something (in addition to his mean tweets); we simply need to keep looking. Along with propaganda, political persecution isn't new either. “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” said Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s head of secret police.

I sincerely hope that the methodical and precise John Durham continues to wend his way to the very top, and that justice is finally served on all those who deserve it.