That’s a misdemeanor, and the statute of limitations for misdemeanors had already run, but it becomes a felony if it is done in furtherance of another crime, which gives the state more time to prosecute. So, they claimed that the federal campaign law violation — something Trump was never even charged with — fits the bill, and they charged him with felonies.

Does that sound like something a man should face years in jail for? There was a time when we could condemn a man’s adultery and other moral failings without searching for some way to throw him in jail over it. That time was 1998, when Bill Clinton committed perjury about a consensual, adulterous relationship and no one in the press or the Democratic Party really thought he should pay any price beyond having his wife be angry with him.

Both men’s wives should be angry with them. But if every time a businessman or politician paid hush money to someone he had sex with, he gets convicted of a felony, half of Wall Street would relocate immediately. And maybe they should do so now, or at least make sure they stay in the progressive prosecutor’s good graces.

Bragg’s case against Trump combined a prosecutor’s ambition, an establishment’s rage, and a few lawyers’ scouring of the statute book to stick it to the man they hate. It was a circus from start to finish, politics by other means, and Trump played a role in that emotional atmosphere with his outbursts in the media about the judge and others.

Regardless of the scenery, it is a case that any impartial observer must admit would not have been brought against anyone not named Donald Trump. Whether you love him or hate him, everyone should see the threat to the rule of law in such a selective prosecution.