Q&A – How Many Families Have Had Someone Incarcerated & Two-Tiered Justice

Q&A of the Day – How Many Families Have Had Someone Incarcerated & A Two-Tiered Justice System 

Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.   

Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com  

Social: @brianmuddradio 

iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.    

Today’s Entry: Submitted via talkback asking about what we/voters can do to combat a two-tiered justice system.  

Bottom Line: I hear your frustration and understand. The two-tiered justice system is something I’ve commonly spoken of since the Mar-a-Lago raid last year which, with hindsight, ushered in a sign of what we were to see this year with four criminal indictments and 91 charges levied against the former President of the United States and current Republican front-runner. What’s more is that the initial impact of Donald Trump’s mugshot being released Thursday night, is a sharp rise in those polled who believed he “committed a crime”. The Navigator Research Poll released over the weekend found 62% of Americans now believe Trump is guilty of something. Most problematic for Trump politically is that the mugshot seems to have had the biggest impact on the perception of independents with a 12-point increase in independents who've said he’d committed a crime (compared to the same poll taken in the prior week). The reason I’ve started with that analysis is because it directly ties into the broader conversation about what we can do as concerned citizens to attempt to combat a perceived two-tiered justice system.  

The obvious answer in combating a two-tiered justice system, or to exact any type of meaningful change that requires a political result to achieve, is to vote. And that is without a doubt the only real way we can expect to see meaningful change in the way justice is carried out across this country. I’ve already mentioned that 62% of Americans now believe Trump is guilty of something. That doesn’t mean Americans don’t broadly think justice is being doled out fairly or equitably. In one of the most stunning polling results I’ve ever seen, which speaks to the extent Americans have their eyes open on this issue, only 12% of Americans agree with this statement: There’s one system of justice with laws applied to all Americans equally. Only 12%. It turns out one of the issues Americans most agree on is the selective issuance of justice in this country. There’s growing evidence that most Americans view both President Biden and former President Trump as both being guilty of a crime or crimes, but that only Trump is being prosecuted for them. One of the reasons so many Americans appear to be clued in on this topic is personal experience.  

Cornell University conducted a study on incarceration a few years ago and found that a whopping 45% of Americans have had at least one immediate family member incarcerated. It’s a number that’s far larger than many of us might think would be the case. And that doesn’t mean 45% of Americans think the incarceration was unfair, but what it does do is create a specific sensitivity to the subject of equal justice under the law. If people have seen their loved ones prosecuted by the justice system, yet they see and hear about what they believe to be crimes by those in power which go unprosecuted, there’s a deep resentment which often builds and that is reflected in only 12% of Americans believing justice is doled out in this country according to what the US Constitution states. Contextually, the rising perception that Trump is guilty of something by most Americans is increasingly problematic and could illustrate the effectiveness of what Trump supporters believe is an election interference operation against him. Families which have experienced justice being doled out firsthand are among the most inclined to believe that those in power need to be held accountable. But while this is potentially an electability issue for Trump – it is increasingly too for Biden.  

Most Americans, 53%, now believe Joe Biden, not just Hunter – is guilty of a crime or crimes too. It’s rather remarkable when you consider that Trump has had his home raided, has been arrested four times and now has a mugshot to show for it, and yet only 9% fewer Americans think Joe Biden isn’t guilty of something as well. I’ve spoken of the walls closing in on the Biden Crime Family. That’s not only true regarding potential legal jeopardy, as investigations by the Justice Department are ongoing, including two separate Special Prosecutors currently investigating alleged Biden family misdeeds...but it’s also true in terms of public perception as the 53% figure indicates. With all of this background research and info established let’s get back to today’s question about what we can do.  

As far as voting and a two-tiered system of justice goes, it’s obviously not as easy as just voting for a Republican. As we know not all Republicans are created equal. The reason there’s what’s now evidenced to have been pervasive biases in the CIA, FBI and with DOJ prosecutors specifically – is due to many years, likely decades – of inaction by presidents on both sides of the isle. To that end, and ironically for Donald Trump, while he frequently talked of the deep state while president – he was wholly ineffective at combating it. Had he been he may not be facing nearly the same amount of legal jeopardy he’s facing today. That takes us to the change catalysts on this issue.  

Three Republican candidates for president have been the most forceful on this issue and they happen to be the three polling leaders currently... Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump has repeatedly stated he would restore equitable justice in this country should he become president again. There’s little reason to think he wouldn’t be motivated to do so given the opportunity. You know he’d clean house with leadership at all related agencies. The question is as to whether he’d do a better job with appointments to leadership posts the 2nd time around? Governor DeSantis of any candidate demonstrably has the most credibility on this type of issue of anyone running for president. He’s shown repeatedly during his time as governor that he’ll remove officials who fail in their duties. From Broward Sheriff Scott Israel to Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, to school superintendents and most recently to the rouge prosecutors in Hillsborough and Orange Counties, DeSantis has not only been aggressive in exacting change – importantly – the people he’s replaced the bad actors with have been solid people. Then there’s the person who’s been most forceful on this subject.  

In last week’s debate Ramaswamy, who has consistently spoken of DOJ weaponization, said something that caught my attention. He said the politicians on the stage stood for incremental change and that he stands on the side of a political revolution. He’s specifically called for not just overhauling federal government agencies but for dramatically shrinking or outright eliminating them. He’s a wildcard in terms of whether he could deliver on those promises given the opportunity, but he’s expressed a willingness to go further on reforms than any other candidate. So, if you care about this issue, what you can do is vote. And vote for the candidate you feel will best fix this issue.