Joe Kent: ‘We have a very broken system’ ahead of Trump indictment

Former President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned on approximately 30 charges in New York Tuesday after he was indicted last week by a Manhattan grand jury convened by District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“I was still surprised, even though we sort of saw it coming,” Joe Kent said on The Jason Rantz Show. “I think it’s really easy to sort of be numb to the ‘get Trump’ [crowd] and then not realize that this is actually different, they’re going to indict him for things that essentially are, at worst, a campaign finance violation.”

Kent is running for a congressional seat in the 3rd District of Washington in 2024 after he previously lost the same race in last year’s election to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

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As Trump has become the first president to be criminally indicted, Kent believes something is truly wrong with the U.S. judicial system.

“I think we’re just seeing that our justice system is weaponized against one side of the political aisle,” Kent said. “I know Trump can be divisive. I like him, some people don’t, but regardless of how you feel about President Trump, people should really take a moment and just reflect on how dangerous and un-American this truly is.”

“Is the system broken?” Rantz asked further.

“Absolutely. I mean, 100%,” Kent responded. “Just from everything that we’ve seen, and we see it here all the time in Washington state, what they’re doing to our Second Amendment, what we’ve seen them do to parents who show up at school board meetings, what we saw in the aftermath of Jan. 6. I do believe we have we have a very broken system that needs a lot of oversight.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Twitter she’s hosting a protest in New York Tuesday to rally against the indictment. In Southern California, Trump supporters rallied over the weekend, chanting “Stand up for Trump!” at Huntington Beach Pier and downtown Los Angeles. One person was arrested while another was injured during an altercation at the rally.

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Mar-a-Lago was also home to multiple protests featuring no fewer than a few dozen participants.

Trump’s campaign claimed it raised over $4 million in donations following the indictment, according to BBC, a quarter of which came from first-time donors.

“There’s definitely going to be a lot of the left that wants to see Trump’s supporters act crazy, like some sort of reenactment of Jan. 6, so that they can then throw the book at them,” Kent said. “And what I encourage people to do is, do exactly what they fear. Get really involved in your local politics. Donate and support candidates that you like and lean into the system. Going and yelling at the system, that’s our right as Americans, but really, how effective is it?”

Both Former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, two potential presidential nominees on the Republican ticket alongside Trump, both came to Trump’s defense after the indictment, claiming it’s “un-American” and “outrageous.”

Trump has not announced a change of plans since the news broke last week, maintaining his stance to run for president for a third straight time.

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