Rantz: After Trump, Seattle’s Pramila Jayapal could soon be indicted

Special counsel Jack Smith indicted former president Donald Trump for his attempts to stop the certification of what he thought was a fraudulent election. It was a coordinated campaign, we’re told, based on lies.

Based on the new standard for stretching criminal law beyond recognition, Seattle congresswoman and election denier Pramila Jayapal could be indicted next. She’s acted eerily similar to Trump.

A Jayapal indictment would be rather outrageous, but given the similarities with her conduct and the allegations against Trump, it may be an inevitability.

More from Jason Rantz: Mayor’s office demanded fewer white men, military in Seattle police recruitment

Jayapal’s election interference similar to Trump indictment allegations

Jayapal, best known as the grandmother to the Squad and a progressive who traffics in anti-Semitism, made waves in 2017 when she cast doubts on Trump’s election.

Though there was no evidence, just a campaign opposition research smear by Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign, Jayapal lied and alleged Russian collusion.

Whereas Smith indicted Trump for attempting to illegally reject legitimate votes, depriving Americans of their voting rights, Jayapal was part of coordinated Democrat efforts with 10 other co-conspirators to do the same thing. She and 10 colleagues tried to stop the Electoral College certification for Trump.

The former president was indicted on obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. Jayapal’s political career is on borrowed time every day that goes by without an indictment for the same thing.

Jayapal’s misconduct doesn’t even stop with election interference, either. She helped inspire an insurrection.

Flashback: Here's Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Seattle) trying to stop the Electoral College vote certification for Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/NGVpG7AOce

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 1, 2023

Jayapal’s lies inspired an insurrection

After the death of George Floyd, Jayapal used inflammatory rhetoric, based on lies, to incite a mob.

Jayapal has charged that the criminal justice system is racist. She argued the system is “designed” to work against blacks, Latinos and Native Americans (though not Asians), to benefit whites. When her constituents armed themselves and took over six city blocks known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), Jayapal refused to condemn the violence and instead cheered them on for “standing up and speaking out against police brutality, racism, and anti-Blackness are planting the seeds of justice.”

Even the year after helping inspire violence with her rhetoric, she continued, arguing the criminal justice system “denies the value of black lives.”

Smith argued that Trump knowingly spewed lies about the election (something he thinks he can prove beyond reasonable doubt while maintaining it’s illegal to lie for political gain, which should terrify all politicians unless you know this position won’t ever be equally applied), making Jayapal’s commentary open to an indictment.

Assassination plot after Jayapal’s rhetoric

The Seattle congresswoman also helped create a dangerous environment for conservative Supreme Court justices after they overturned Roe v. Wade.

She sought to delegitimize the Supreme Court as an institution, thereby denying Americans their right to seek justice from constitutional overreach. She called the “extremist” justices a “direct threat to our rights and our democracy” for “upholding white supremacy.” Then she demanded the radicals in her base, which she knows can be violent, to “take to the streets” to “fight tooth and nail.” While it’s no demand to peacefully protest, which Trump said on January 6 before the riot we were told he conspired to create, Jayapal’s language might be tied to the threats against justices, including a thwarted assassination plot.

Smith thinks it’s illegal for Trump to express his opinions about elections, however unfounded. We have to imagine that the same standard will be held against Jayapal.

More from Jason Rantz: Democrats shocked to learn their drug legalization plan is deadly

‘Whataboutism’

Whenever conservatives point to the clear hypocrisy inherent in Radical Left arguments, we’re derisively dismissed as engaging in “whataboutism.”

It’s a transparent attempt to dismiss and highlight Democrat’s rank double standards. When their positions are wholly inconsistent with how they’ve acted in the past, we’re supposed to ignore it and pretend their attempt to use Joe Biden’s Department of Justice to jail his main political rival is done in good faith.

When we point out that Democrats did not screech “Law and order!” and “No one is above the law!” as cities burned, people were murdered, cops were savagely beaten, stores looted, and property destroyed by their radical base, we’re met with a lazy argument that “January 6th is not comparable!” I actually agree with that statement: a shameful and violent riot for a couple of hours pales in comparison to a year-long, sustained effort to sow chaos and abolish police that led to significant loss of life and billions in property damage is different.

The Biden admin passed an EO on student debt forgiveness knowing it was unconstitutional and would be overturned by SCOTUS. It was all political.

Biden’s DOJ is doing the exact same thing to Trump: indicting for political purposes, knowing it’s not a solid legal case.

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) August 2, 2023

Trump broke Democrats

Trump broke Democrats and their allies in the media. They imparted their unhinged hatred of Trump to low-information voters who became convinced that the former president is a fascist (of which none of those making this claim can even define). Now, what these people are doing to our institutions and this country is both irredeemable and likely irreversible.

You can condemn the riot on January 6 and Trump’s embarrassing, selfish, and incompetent reaction to it, while also noting the Jack Smith legal case is a politically-driven sham. You don’t get to weaponize the DOJ against your political opponent because you don’t like him without severe and long-lasting consequences, which will include ensuring it happens again or having even more Americans lose faith in the institution. Sadly, the Radical Left enjoy the loss of faith because it allows them to rebuild it through their far-left political lens. This is how they dismantle systems they pretend are oppressive and steeped in white supremacy. We can’t and shouldn’t let that happen.

Is one’s hatred for Trump truly worth all this damage? If you legitimately think democracy hangs in the balance because of one man, you desperately need to brush up on your history. Authoritarians usually don’t willfully give up power and then allow themselves to be indicted three times.

Imagine, for a moment, if we applied the exact same standard and logic to going after Pramila Jayapal as what’s used to go after Donald Trump. You should be upset. Speech, even when abhorrent, is protected. Holding views, even when unsubstantiated or fringe, is protected. Trying to convince others that your views are true, even when they’re not, is protected. And, to be clear, lying for political gain, while immoral and deeply unethical, is also protected — which is why all of Congress isn’t behind bars. If you don’t want it happening to Jayapal because you have to support her views, you shouldn’t want it to happen to Trump because you don’t support his.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). He is the author of the book What’s Killing America: Inside the Radical Left’s Tragic Destruction of Our Cities. Subscribe to the podcast. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Check back frequently for more news and analysis.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz