Fox News host slams Democratic Party as “new Confederacy” after Trump trial

Fox News host Mark Levin has branded the Democratic Party as the “new Confederacy” following the guilty verdict in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial.

The former president was convicted by a New York jury on 34 counts of falsifying business documents to hide a payment to Stormy Daniels in an effort to conceal a rumored affair with her from the 2016 presidential electorate. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg led the prosecution.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump has denied an affair with Daniels and had pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has pledged to appeal the ruling, saying that Bragg, a Democrat, conducted a “witch hunt” influenced by the Biden administration, though no evidence has been presented to back up claims that the president was involved.

Levin, the conservative Fox News host, compared the verdict to the Confederacy during a Sunday episode of his show Life, Liberty and Levin.

“What was done to Donald Trump in that courtroom…is an attempt to nullify the federal Constitution, due process, equal protection. That’s what took place. The Democrat Party is the new Confederacy. That’s right. It was the old Confederacy. Now it’s the new Confederacy,” he said.

He accused Democrats of trying to “reverse federalism” by, in his view, allowing a judge and prosecutor to “steal the jurisdictional power of the federal government and all that implies,” referring to the U.S. Constitution and federal election laws and processes.

“That is reverse federalism. That is nullification. That is the new Confederacy. That’s what Joe Biden, the old Confederate, and that’s what his Marxist supporters now support. This needs to be fought,” he said.

Falsifying business records is usually prosecuted as a misdemeanor in New York, but this can be boosted to a felony if authorities believe it was done to assist another crime. Prosecutor Bragg said Trump falsified the records to conceal a separate violation of a state polling law. The hush money to Daniels, he said, broke election campaign finance laws because he was trying to create a false picture of himself to voters.

However, the verdict rallied Trump’s voter base, sparking outrage from conservatives who largely back the former president’s witch hunt claims. The verdict also promoted record donations to Trump, according to his campaign Friday.

Polls, however, suggest most Americans, including the independent voters who may determine the outcome of the election, believe the trial was fair and agree with the verdict. Trump has also been dealt several warning signs in polls conducted after the trial concluded last week.

A CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted among 989 voters from May 30 to June 1, found that 56 percent of Americans believe Trump got a fair trial. Forty-four percent said they believe the trial was “unfair.”

Among independents, 54 percent said Trump got a fair trial, while 46 percent said he received an unfair trial, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.

Newsweek reached out to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Fox News for comment via email.