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What’s The Point Of Campaign Finance Laws?

   DailyWire.com

In today’s episode of The Michael Knowles Show, Michael explains why campaign finance laws are worthless.

“More or less than that, but if there’s a limit, let’s say there’s a federal limit of $5,000, you can spend on a candidate. Those candidates’ backers are still going to spend money on them. They’re just gonna find other ways to spend it. They’re gonna spend it in super PACs. That’s been one consequence of recent years,” Knowles said. “They’re gonna spend it in little backchannels. They’re gonna use straw donations. They’re gonna have family members donate money, even though it’s really just their own personal money. This is how they got Dinesh D’Souza.”

D’Souza, Knowles went on to say, had to go to jail with violent criminals because he gave too much money to his friend’s campaign — and the Leftist government wanted to take him down.

“So, I think those laws, in general, are ridiculous. That said, they are the laws. So, it’s very easy for prosecutors to get you on campaign finance the laws,” Knowles said. “The laws are very obscure and if you violate them in any way, they can really nail you.”

Video and transcript below:

Paul Manafort found guilty for what?

Tax fraud, bank fraud in Virginia. Tax fraud and bank fraud.

And what the prosecution kept bringing up is all his nice suits and he spent money frivolously and whatever. That’s what they got him on; tax fraud and bank fraud. Minutes later Michael Cohen. What’s he found guilty of or what does he admit guilt to? Tax fraud, bank fraud, and campaign finance. Campaign finance violations.

So, two of the three the exact same thing as Paul Manafort: Tax fraud, bank fraud. Now consider how the media are treating these two guys, because they pled guilty to basically the same things. They were found guilty and pled guilty to basically the same things. Cohen actually pled guilty to another crime, which is campaign finance violations.

How do they treat them? Manafort is a vicious horrible monster. Cohen, all of a sudden people are getting a strange new respect for Michael Cohen, aren’t they?

He is free. He is liberated. He’s gonna take down the president.

No, he’s a crook. He’s a crook. If Manafort’s a crook, he’s a crook.

The difference is that the left thinks that Cohen’s testimony is going to hurt Trump and Manafort’s isn’t because Manafort took it like a man and Michael Cohen is a dirty little rat, but we’ll see. We’ll see what effect that has.

So okay, what did Cohen plead guilty to? Cohen pled guilty to tax fraud, five counts of it. Between 2012 and 2016, he made false statements to a bank a couple of years ago. Unlawful campaign contribution in 2016. Excessive campaign contribution 2016, and that’s what the media are focusing on.

Before we get into the specifics too much on these guys, I do want to point out campaign finance laws are mostly nonsense and anti-constitutional. These are laws that say you can only contribute so much to a candidate. You can only spend money this way. You can only spend money that way. Those laws limit your political speech. They limit your freedom of speech.

Money is speech in politics. The poster that you’re holding up in politics is a political expression. It’s a manifestation of your free speech and that poster ain’t free. It costs money to buy the markers and to buy the poster board and to hold it up. There it costs money, it costs time. Same thing with campaign commercials. Same thing with flyers. Same thing with a website. Same thing with busses. The same thing with all of that.

This political speech costs money because we live in a real world and campaigns are tangible things. Campaign finance laws are mostly nonsense, mostly arbitrary. Many of them have been struck down by the Supreme Court. The-McCain Feingold campaign finance law was famously struck down in the Citizens United decision and it doesn’t make any sense to have these laws because people are gonna spend money on politics.

Big politics attracts big money. Surprisingly not as much money as you would think. You’d consider – you’d think these presidential campaigns are so consequential they’d cost 5 billion to 7 billion dollars. No way. More or less than that, but if there’s a limit, let’s say there’s a federal limit of $5,000, you can spend on a candidate. Those candidates’ backers are still going to spend money on them. They’re just gonna find other ways to spend it. They’re gonna spend it in super PACs. That’s been one consequence of recent years. They’re gonna spend it in little backchannels. They’re gonna use straw donations. They’re gonna have family members donate money, even though it’s really just their own personal money. This is how they got Dinesh D’Souza.

Dinesh D’Souza had to go to the slammer and hang out with murderers and rapists because he funneled some money to his friend Wendy Long, who was never going to win a race anyway.

So, I think those laws, in general, are ridiculous. That said, they are the laws. So, it’s very easy for prosecutors to get you on campaign finance the laws. The laws are very obscure and if you violate them in any way, they can really nail you.

Watch more of The Michael Knowles Show here

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