The current chaos in our once stable political system is difficult to process. Inconceivable as it sounds, there have been two assassination attempts on the same major party American presidential candidate in as many months (nothing comparable has happened for nearly 50 years).

As others have observed, much of the blame lies with the apocalyptic “Trump is an existential threat” rhetoric heedlessly tossed around by Biden, Harris, and others. But I believe the explosive situation is also attributable to the naked abuse of power by the Democratic legal establishment.

The term “Lawfare” is now so trite and overused that we have become desensitized to its gravity.

In truth it is merely a euphemism. The more candid term for what Democratic officials have done to the justice system in their quest to neutralize Mr. Trump is simply “corruption.” And it is not going too far to add “a tyrannical abuse of authority.” Equal protection of law, due process, fair trial, impartial judging, freedom of speech, presumption of innocence – the essential elements of justice – have all given way to the Democrats’ relentless determination to destroy their most formidable political enemy.

No distortion of criminal or civil law has been too ludicrous to adopt, no legal strategy too blatantly partisan to pursue, no previously inviolable prosecutorial norm too indispensable to trample under foot and no constitutional right too sacred to cast aside.

It cannot be reasonably disputed that the blindfold has been torn from Justice in Mr. Trump’s case. No one else would have ever been subject to the bizarre legal contortions used to target him (although they may be in the future). The Democrats’ message to the American people is unmistakablv clear: Trump is an “outlaw” in the original common law sense of the term. That is, he is someone who is deemed to be outside the usual protection of the law which secures the life, liberty, and property of other citizens.

And the consequences of such outlawry are dire: the outlaw has no legal rights and no entitlement to mercy or humanity at the hands of his fellow citizens. Anyone who encounters the outlaw may injure, abuse, or kill him with impunity. Fittingly, the other legal name for this condition is “civil death” – a status which considers an individual as good as dead to the law. That is the very attitude the Democrats have fostered towards Mr. Trump.

So, it should surprise no one that that there are individuals who have taken Democrats’ message to heart and concluded that partisan political murder, while usually an abomination, is justifiable in the case of Mr. Trump. If it is acceptable to corrupt the previously sacrosanct judicial system for political purposes, then maybe killing for political purposes is okay too.

I cannot say that the conscious intention of the Democrats was to encourage Trump’s assassination. But they clearly knew the risk of their lawless acts. They just did not care. Openly manipulating the institutions of justice to destroy the opposing party’s nominee is unprecedented and monumentally destabilizing to the entire country and political violence is an inevitable consequence.

Peter Clines

Farmingdale