Last month I outlined how things were proceeding in the drive to eliminate firearm ownership in the United States in the post A Perfect Storm. The world dodged a bullet, so to speak, because the Biden administration appears to have backed down. Texas is moving ahead with putting up more fencing and is building a base at the border. It doesn’t look like civil war is going to break out from that flashpoint.

Last week the media’s attention was focused on the Kansas City shooting and there’s still no news on what weapons were used other than a Glock 22. The usual suspects have been calling for more gun control. Because obviously an assault weapons ban would fix the problem of juvenile gang bangers using pistols to shoot up a crowd. We were also briefly dazzled with the news that Russia is developing a nuclear anti-satellite capability. That was a nice juxtaposition to Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin. Fani Willis was on the stand. Oh, and Dan Bongino connected the dots on the Jan 6 hoax. It seems we’re being confronted with a nuclear dense pack of explosive news to keep us distracted.

Ask yourself why the Biden administration keeps pushing gun control, even though it’s clearly unpopular?

Meanwhile, the lawfare against Trump continues apace. Trump supporters have been angry that Judge Engeron issued a $350 million fine against Trump. #TruckersForTrump is trending on Twitter/X. (Be warned, there is some salty language in the memes and videos in that stream.) There is a boycott of New York City underway to protest against the ruling. Whether or not that boycott is significant enough to affect the price of food in New York remains to be seen, but Benzinga has picked up the story and trucking company stocks are down.

I support #TruckersForTrump telling NYC to 🖕 off. You? pic.twitter.com/PNSFfVbDi0

— LivePDDave 🇺🇸 (@LivePDDave1) February 18, 2024

While that ruling was shocking, that’s not the most important bit of lawfare that occurred last week. There was a hearing last Thursday in Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan case against Trump. Jury selection has been set to begin on March 25:

“It’s a rigged state,” Trump said, using the same term he has applied to elections that went against him. “It’s a rigged city.”

The trial, which Bragg estimated could last five weeks, threatens to take Trump off the campaign trail as states continue to hold primaries. Criminal defendants are expected to attend their trials, in contrast to civil trials where attendance is optional.

I dislike being right about this. I predicted it back in August of 2023:

As of now, his first criminal trial, the Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York, is set for March 25, 2025. There are 34 felony charges in this case. He’s going to be convicted on at least one of them by an extremely anti-Trump Manhattan jury and likely will get convicted on several charges. Biden won Manhattan by 84% in 2020. Trump may be from New York, but they don’t like him there.

The judge in this trial has already sentenced many of Trump’s close associates. Even leftist commentators admit that this case is extremely weak, but this judge is full speed ahead. Trump is going to be convicted of something. Full stop.

This article series has not been received well on Reddit. One of the articles had its post deleted by moderators, while another was mocked:

That August 2023 article talked about how quickly things could degenerate into civilian disarmament if widespread violence breaks out as a result of Trump getting convicted and incarcerated. It’s not much of a stretch:

There’s a reason why the left calls modern sporting rifles “weapons of war.” They know they’re not going to get an “assault weapons ban” — even John Tester, who votes 93% with Chuck Schumer, has come out against Biden’s AWB. This is all battlespace preparation. The left thinks and acts for the long term.

Those people in the middle will be swayed when they see what will be portrayed as pitched battles in the streets by the media. While CNN called the 2020 George Floyd demonstrations “fiery, but mostly peaceful” they’ll take something as innocuous as a group of peaceful, armed demonstrators with rifles slung and call it “paramilitary groups on the hunt for politicians.” Recall how just a few years ago the left was able to implement huge changes in the way we conduct elections because of what was for most people the risk of a sniffle or bad cold. Imagine what an election would look like if the left and the mainstream media can point to actual violence?

We are now looking at a verdict in the Manhattan trial coming out at the end of April. If people are riled up about financial losses for Trump (something I did not take into account when I made those predictions), imagine what they are going to do if he is taken into custody.

“But Trump will not be taken into custody! He’ll get bail awaiting sentencing and appeal, and the process will be drawn out for years!” That’s the argument made against this scenario. Unfortunately, it’s not what would happen. Here are the considerations that go into granting bail awaiting sentencing:

Flight Risk Considerations

When setting bail, judges evaluate whether a defendant is likely to make future court appearances. A defendant who might leave the area to avoid prosecution is a flight risk. Factors relevant to flight risk include:

• the defendant’s record of appearing (or not) in court
• the defendant’s ties to the community (such as employment, family, and property ownership), and
• the severity of the sentence and how much time the defendant is facing.

Trump’s ties to the community were effectively removed by Judge Engeron. He has the means to flee to anywhere in the world in his private jet. He is facing 34 felony counts in this case, each with a potential sentence of 4 years. If the jury returns a guilty verdict on only a few counts, he’s still looking at a severe enough sentence to be denied bail awaiting sentencing. The absolutely best case for Trump is an ankle bracelet and house arrest in Manhattan. If he gets that, the court will no doubt require that he not talk about the case — something he will certainly be unable to restrain himself from doing.

If truckers are willing to stop taking loads to New York City because of what Judge Engeron did in a civil trial, what will happen when Trump goes into custody? There are 21 bridges and 15 tunnels to Manhattan. An Ottawa style freedom convoy would be devastating to Manhattan. Just park the trucks on the bridges and tunnels and honk horns for a couple of weeks. Manhattan struggled with food supply as a result of COVID; imagine the effect of a major disruption to anything coming in.

But that will probably be the least of their problems. What if the trucks open up a bridge so that an “army” of MAGA protestors can get in? Do you think after January 6th they’re going to show up unarmed? How do you think the authorities in New York are going to react in this situation? Or what if the authorities start seizing trucks, and the “MAGA Army” shows up to protect them? There’s just no way this situation doesn’t go sideways. We’ll also have the continuing situation at the border going into full swing as the weather changes.

Back in August 2023 I hoped for Trump to bow out of the race. It’s too late for that now. Maybe he somehow walks on all of these legal cases, but so far he’s 0-2 on the civil cases in Manhattan this year. We are going to be extremely lucky if this entire thing doesn’t get out of hand.