No Justice - No Peace

In the light of awaiting of the Trump-Harris televised debate on September 10, a rather important event for Mr. Trump personally, presidential election and entire justice system in the US happened on September 6: New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan ruled to postpone the sentencing of Mr. Trump in the “hush money” case until after the presidential election (on November 26, 2024). This is a big win for Mr. Trump and the «Deep State» has lost one more big battle.

The same judge has already delayed once the sentencing which had originally been set for July 11, 2024 after 12 jurors upheld in late May 2024 Mr. Trump’s indictment of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. Trump could get anywhere from probation to 4 years in prison in this case. However, if he wins the election, nothing will happen - a sitting president cannot be prosecuted or incarcerated. Theoretically, the judge can sentence Mr. Trump after his presidential term ends and Mr. Trump can't pardon himself here — the case is the jurisdiction of New York State, not the federal level.

Thus, Justice Merchan has made a huge gift to Mr. Trump (and, perhaps, to himself also) by fulfilling Mr. Trump’s cherished dream. The American justice system refused to make a decision in this case now, thus helping Mr. Trump in the presidential race (“no man is thief until he's caught”) and directly indicating that not everyone in the US is equal before the law. This is quite obvious to those who can see objectively, and I repeat this simple truth from time to time in my articles.

Unique case, unique time, unique defendant, unique justice..... And a unique democracy.

Justice Merchan reasoned his decision to move the final trial to November 26 by “unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in” and by the fact that district attorney A. Bragg took a neutral position and did not object to the postponement: on August 19, his team stated that «the people defer to the court on the appropriate post-trial schedule that allows for adequate time».
Justice Merchan also added that «it is the decision which in this court’s view, best advances the interests of justice.»

The impression from the outside is that the prosecutors deliberately passed the buck to the judge, and the judge was very reluctant to make a concrete decision in this case. He literally said, that “this matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation’s history”.
Yes, indeed, for the first time in the US history a convicted felon became a candidate for the presidency and thus the rest of the world is witnessing the degradation of democracy in the US and the country itself. Couldn't the Republicans find a decent non-criminal member of the party among the 333 million Americans?

The Ukrainians once elected their president - Mr. Yanukovych - who had two convictions which were formally expunged by the election though. Nothing good came out of that.

Many Americans lately have been rightly saying about the decline of the US leadership in the world. Indeed, with the unpredictable Mr. Trump who now represents a half of the US elite, selective justice in the country and corrupt judges in the Supreme Court, America cannot claim to be the moral authority in the world.

The judge refuses to judge before it's clear whether Mr. Trump will be the next president.

The “hush money” case seems to be the simplest and most provable one of all 4 of Mr. Trump's criminal cases which is definitely not covered by the recent notorious decision of US Supreme Court on “some” immunity for the President while in official duties.
The People (12 jurors from New York) unanimously came to an unequivocal conclusion: Mr. Trump falsified records to cover up the fact that he had paid hush money to a porn actress S. Daniels. It remains to put a logical point in this case, but... The opinion of the people means little in this country (this fact has not yet reached many Americans). The elites know what is better for the people and Justice Merchan declined to rule on the case before it was clear whether Mr. Trump will be the next US president.

Well, it's useless to blame the judge for anything. Not everyone is able to fulfill their civic and official duty properly. And no one wants to have a probable US president as an enemy, that's understandable.
American Themis is not impartial and constantly peeks from under the blindfold.

Alphonse Capone was convicted and imprisoned many years ago for failing to pay taxes. Apparently, this was the only thing that was proven to him, but the American people and elites had the political will to do that and finally they put Mr. Capone in jail. In the case of Mr. Trump's trials, there is no such will. The elite of the country is divided into parts, it cannot make coordinated decisions and in the heat of the political struggle does not even see the stupidity of the situation: a convicted felon is running for president of a large democratic country. As for me, it means something is wrong with the country, the democracy or with both.

I saw the rampant gangsterism in Ukraine in the 1990s when most of the policemen, prosecutors and judges were bribed and I was always amazed by the civic courage, decency and wisdom of American prosecutors, jurors, witnesses and judges in the trial against Mr. Capone.

Mr. Trump’s “do or die” situation.

The question of the future presidency is really crucial for Mr. Trump: either he becomes president and closes all his criminal cases (except the «hush money» case, but I think that's solvable, too) or he gets the full force of all his cases if he fails. There is no third way.

What's interesting: Justice Merchan has moved the sentencing to November 26. The date is after the general election (Nov. 5), but before the electoral vote (Dec. 17) and well before the inauguration of a new president (Jan. 20, 2025). The judge apparently believes that everything with Mr. Trump's presidency will be clear after November 5.
No.

That is not why Mr. Trump spent so much time in the courts and so much money for his lawyers. It is the electors in their states who really elect the president. From that point of view, I think the judge has made a mistake. He should have scheduled the sentencing for after the inauguration to be sure. That's when things most likely will be clear (if there isn't a civil war before).

The Democrats will not win the election easily. In the case of a loss, Mr. Trump will again not accept the results of voting and his supporters may go to get him to the presidency with weapons in their hands. Then the Democrats will again have to prove the legality of the election through the US justice system, but under the threat of a civil war I can guess which side the Supreme Court will take.

Objectively speaking, Justice Merchan should have held a sentencing trial in July or at least now. The fact is that any decision by a judge in such a high-profile case as Mr. Trump's “hush money” one affects the outcome of the election anyway. A delayed trial helps Mr. Trump much right now, and a non-delayed one would help Mrs. Harris, so any judge’s decision becomes a political tool. People see black and white picture of “no man is thief till he's caught”: if Mr. Trump's opponents are right and he's a felon, he should be put in a jail, and if he is not sentenced, then he's right and is a “fighter against evil”.

The judge just decided not to take responsibility.
It is ridiculous if he will have to move the verdict from November 26 to some later date. It will be a disgrace and a mockery of the US justice system, although formally everything is correct and the judge again finds some words to justify his actions.

Justice is the glue that holds a nation together.

On September 10, there was a televised debate between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Harris and around 67 million people watched it. For Americans, this show is probably like the Super Bowl - with beer and popcorn while the destiny of the country really depends on their understanding and voting. And one more common feature of debate and football - Americans are divided into two camps and about half of them root for one team and the other half for another.
America will also be split almost in half in November's election, but really the Americans will be voting for quick (Mr. Trump) or slow (Mrs. Harris) breakdown of their country. The people do not look into the future and for now they seem to have enough beer, popcorn and spectacles in their lives, although later everyone will ask a question “how could such a big and rich country fall apart?”.

The fact is that the US is already divided internally into poor/rich, the elite (all 3 branches of power) into Democrats/Republicans, and the ignorant people into followers of these parties, too. The USA still looks like a united and even powerful state from the outside, but deep contradictions have already passed to the level of cells of the country's body (i.e. citizens), the internal ties in the society are being broken and the physical collapse of the country into separate states is imminent in the foreseeable future.

The justice system in the US (like in many other countries) mainly protects the interests of the elites. In the “hush money” case, the interests of two elites (Democrats and Republicans) collided and therefore the judicial machine stalled. This shows that justice is selective, i.e. there is no real justice in the country. Something similar (only much worse), exists in Ukraine and Russia. In these countries, just like in the US, there are Justice Departments, but there is no justice.


P.S. I already wrote that justice is the glue that holds any union (family, business or nation) together.
Patriotism, pride for one's country - these are feelings that can be generated by fairness of relations between the government and the people. One can be proud of a country if there is something to be proud of. Any country sooner or later falls apart without justice which is primarily manifested in the fair distribution of material wealth in society. Such a collapse always leads to redistribution of the dead country's wealth, which often occurs with the use of force and can lead to civil war.
That is why the phrase “no justice - no peace” which is used as the title of this article is absolutely correct for any union.