But the populace

But the populist surge of 2016 changed everything. Permanent Washington suddenly felt more threatened

by its own voters, by American voters, than by any foreign adversary. Donald Trump, to them,

seem more dangerous than ISIS. They panicked. And in their panic,

our leaders decided to turn the American legal system, as well as the American intel agencies,

and if necessary, the U.S. Army, against their political opponents. They felt they had no choice.

In doing this, they abandoned the ancient principle of equality under the law, and they replaced

it with what is effectively a loyalty oath.

Opponents of the regime became enemies of the state.

That's a huge change, and you're seeing the results of that change tonight.

Just 24 hours after a Manhattan grand jury indicted Joe Biden's rival

in the next presidential race, another jury also in New York convicted a Republican social media

influencer called Douglas Mackey. What did Mackey do wrong? Well, Douglas Mackey's crime

was mocking Hillary Clinton voters online. You're seeing on your screen the meme that Mackey's crime was mocking Hillary Clinton voters online.

You're seeing on your screen the meme that Mackey posted on Twitter during the 2016 election.

In that meme, Mackey suggests it's possible to vote for president by text message,

because only Hillary voters could be stupid enough to believe something so absurd.

But of course, in real life, no one did believe that.

Mackie's insult did not alter a single vote in the election, and no one has proved otherwise.

The government brought forth not a single victim of this crime. It couldn't. Douglas Mackey was

joking. Nobody believed he was a federal election official, and in fact, his social media profile

pictured a Donald Trump hat. It was unmistakable. This was mockery. But in the wake of the 2016

...