Trump on Trials: How Our Legal System Shouldn't Work

Today, after Donald Trump announced it on Fox and Friends, law enforcement told the public it had apprehended a suspect who turned in after confessing to the murder of Charlie Kirk to his father, a former Sheriff’s Deputy and minister. The suspect, a cisgender white man raised in a religious, Republican home, will undoubtedly remain in custody pending trial. The community can now feel safe, at least where he is concerned. State officials have already announced that the crime is death penalty eligible.

Also on Fox and Friends, Trump weighed in on how criminal cases should proceed. He said prosecutions should move more quickly and that the United States should become more like China. “We have to have quick trials,” he said on “Fox & Friends.” “I call it quick trials because in China, they do have quick trials. You know, they don’t wait six years.”

Donald Trump has never read and clearly doesn’t care about the Constitution.

This morning, he suggested that the slow pace of trials in the U.S. is leading to unsafe streets. What comes next? Declaring yet another emergency? Suspending due process?

Criminal cases do take time. That’s because defendants receive discovery, have an opportunity to file pretrial motions, and receive adequate time to prepare for trial. Prosecutorial and judicial resources have limits to, sometimes resulting in scheduling delays. And as Donald Trump well knows, criminal defendants can raise issues and take appeals before trial, which can significantly delay a case.

That’s particularly likely in a death penalty prosecution, where insanity defenses and competency issues can substantially slow down trial and lengthy appeals delay punishment.

Is Trump suggesting that the entire criminal justice system and our history and tradition of respecting the rights of criminal defendants, even those accused of the most heinous crimes, should be tossed out the window?

“What happens here is you go through seven, eight years,” he said. “And by the time it ends, and then they say, ‘Well, you know, he had a reason to do it, because he wasn't treated right in grade school, and it's his teacher's fault, and it's the government's fault.‘”

Trump was discussing the response to the tragic stabbing death of a young woman riding on public transportation in Charlotte, North Carolina. He said, “That guy should be — he should have a trial the following day.”

Apparently, if you’ve been convicted in the court of public opinion—or if the dictator thinks you’re guilty—constitutional rights are just an inconvenience.

This is Trump’s America, where he gets a pass from prosecution for criminal conduct, even when it involves a coup that nearly took down American democracy, but he says others should get a Soviet-style conviction without the benefit of any due process. We have lived with Trump for far too long to be able to cavalierly dismiss his words as crazy talk, even though they are.

As the news of a suspect in Kirk’s murder dominates the news today, Trump’s comments earlier this morning could easily be overlooked. But they signal the approach of another dangerous red line. We cannot afford to look away.

When the president makes a comment this disturbing and it goes largely unnoticed, it’s a reminder of why context and vigilance matter. Civil Discourse catches information that might otherwise get overlooked and explains why it matters for our democracy. If that’s the kind of clarity you value, I hope you’ll consider becoming a subscriber. If you already subscribe, thank you for being here! I hope you’ll become a paid subscriber if you’ve had a free subscription up until now and you’re able to. Your support makes it possible for me to devote the time and resources necessary to write the newsletter.

We’re in this together,

Joyce