"A sham case, and everyone knows it." So writes the iconoclastic Matt Taibbi, once counted as a left-wing writer, and he's not the only one from outside MAGA precincts who has been appalled by the Manhattan district attorney's case that produced a guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump.

"Bragg should have settled the case against Trump, as would have been normal procedure. But he made a political decision," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told The Atlantic's McKay Coppins. Romney, the target of repeated Trump insults and one of seven Republican senators who voted for his impeachment and removal, concluded, "Democrats think they can put out the Trump fire with oxygen. It's political malpractice."

A longer and more detailed condemnation of the prosecution comes astonishingly from CNN contributor and former Alvin Bragg colleague Elie Honig: "The jury did its job, and this case was an ill-conceived, unjustified mess."

"Trump cannot be permitted to engage in wanton lawbreaking, but neither can he be subjected to prosecution that risks even the appearance of retaliation," New York magazine's Jonathan Chait wrote. He argues persuasively........

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