Opinion

Democrats mustn’t be allowed to bankrupt Trump before he even gets to appeal $454M judgment

Democrats have resorted to astonishingly sleazy tricks to stop voters from backing Donald Trump, yet perhaps none as sleazy as their bid to have a court artificially bankrupt him — even before he has a chance to appeal.

Trump’s lawyers said Monday the ex-prez has been unable to get a bond to satisfy a $454 million judgment against him in state Attorney General Letitia James’ civil-fraud case.

Which was James’ real goal, in hopes that impoverishing him will make it hard, if not impossible, to run an effective campaign for president.

Unless Trump comes with a bond (or cash) by next week, James can start seizing his properties. His only way to avoid that: a fire sale of those same properties.

It’s outrageous. How would he get them back if his appeal succeeds?

Either way, his losses would be enormous.

And enormously unfair.

The penalty itself, nearly half a billion bucks, was beyond absurd. And patently biased.

No one — not a single person — was harmed by Trump’s supposed wrongdoings in this case; even the judge admits that.

Banks that Trump supposedly defrauded themselves don’t think he did; not one lost a penny.

Yes, the court found he exaggerated the value of his properties.

But that’s standard practice in the big-time real-estate banking world, which is why lenders don’t rely borrowers’ estimates.

Yet not only did Justice Arthur Engoron find Trump guilty, he hit him with $355 million in penalties, plus interest.

And obviously fearing the fine would be tossed on appeal, Engoron ruled that Trump must raise the dough immediately, in order to even be able to appeal the trial-court decision. (An appellate judge declined to block that “post the money now” ruling, though a higher court is now reviewing it.)

How is possible — in America in 2024 — that a man could be stripped of hundreds of millions in assets even before he has a chance to appeal? It’s simply unthinkable.

And is there any doubt there’d be no case against Trump if he weren’t running for prez?

You don’t need to be a Trump-lover to see how Democrats, with media support, have resorted to every low-down trick in the book to keep voters from electing him — from RussiaGate to squashing The Post’s 100% accurate reporting about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Over the past year, they’ve indicted him in four separate cases on 91 charges.

Now James and her pals aim to strip him of his assets, based on the most ludicrous charge.

Other cases against Trump have enraged the public — only to see voters rally behind him. Expect the same result now.