An ill wind blowing from lower Manhattan.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference after the arraignment of former president Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. (AP Photo – FILE/John Minchillo)

For the simple reason that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Donald Trump marks the first time in American history that a former president has faced a felony prosecution, we have been subjected to a massive volume of commentary.

That volume increased by an order of magnitude earlier this week when the case against Trump was placed in the hands of the jury.

Much – let’s say most – of what is being written and said revolves around the legal intricacies of the case. Read and listen all you want. I promise you will not be able to explain in a simple declarative sentence Bragg’s case against Donald Trump. His theory is so arcane and so tortured that it defies simple explanation.

That isn’t normal in criminal cases.

Criminal cases almost by their nature must be straightforward if they are to be tried before a jury of laypeople. “The defendant murdered his wife,” or, “The defendant embezzled $20 million,” are easily understood.

Bragg’s case isn’t. Among the pundit class, only the lawyers understand Bragg’s theory as to why he believes Donald Trump should be incarcerated as a felon. Even so, when I hear them explain it, I find myself nodding in understanding only to say two minutes later, “Wait, what?”

Against this backdrop, one of the most insightful pieces of commentary comes from FOX News contributor Guy Benson. He believes, as I and many well-credentialed people believe, that if Trump is convicted by a partisan Manhattan jury in the courtroom of an openly and unapologetically partisan judge, the conviction has almost zero chance of surviving on appeal.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump is astonishingly flimsy. The Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission looked at the same set of facts that Bragg has and declined to take any action against Trump.

So, if Trump is convicted anyway – as I and many people believe that he will be – the conviction will be temporary. Bragg’s prosecution of Trump is a sieve. It reeks of reversible error. If Trump is convicted, that conviction will shrivel at the appellate level.

But that’s OK by Bragg, and by the Biden campaign, and by radical leftist billionaire George Soros who funded Bragg’s campaign for Manhattan district attorney, and by all those on the left who despise Donald Trump. They only need a Trump conviction to stand until the morning of November 6. That way an enfeebled Biden can use the words, “convicted felon” in every campaign ad.

But, as FOX’s Guy Benson points out, the words “convicted felon” temporarily tattooed on Trump’s forehead could be just enough. The words could move a small – but sufficient – number of votes to give Biden the thinnest edge in one or more of Michigan, Wisconsin or Philadelphia to squeak out a win in the Electoral College.

And thus, we have a third world-worthy example of election interference thanks to a legal system that is losing the respect of ordinary Americans every day.

It all bodes very ill for the health of the republic.