Why the Story of Matthew Perna Shows the Importance of the Weaponization Fund
The idea of political prisoners in a country such as the United States was unthinkable just a decade ago. While there have been a few memorable yet brief periods where due process and core constitutional rights have been suspended during war, these moments have been short and fleeting in US history. Lincoln’s Alien and Seditious Act and the internment of Japanese Americans through what is know as the Koramatsu cases are now a distant memory to most Americans.
Yet the weaponization of the justice system against Americans, which includes the wrongful incarceration and persecution of Americans such as Mathew Perna, shows, unfortunately, that the Left did not learn from those harrowing chapters of US history. The story of this 37-year-old college graduate with no criminal record who committed suicide after years of persecution by the disgusting Biden regime’s targeting of him for his political beliefs is at the heart of the important current debate over the $1.8 Billion Weaponization Fund.
Perna was an honest and upstanding citizen with no criminal record who briefly and peacefully entered the capital for 20 minutes on January 6th. He videotaped himself saying make America great again during his short time in the capital, and then made another innocuous recording when he got back to his hotel room on that same day. Despite the usual corrupt legacy media outlets labeling him a rioter, the evidence clearly shows he was nothing more than a peaceful protester.
This is why the disgusting and ruthless abuse of the justice system by federal prosecutors against Perna, which ultimately led to his suicide, shows the importance of Trump’s recently proposed $1.8 billion dollar fund. Perna originally pled guilty to low level charges after his defense attorney assured him the 37 year old wouldn’t face more than 4-6 months in prison, if he served anytime in jail at all.
The case against the Penn State graduate looked like a normal one for a while. Then the bombshell was dropped. Prosecutors were delaying the case and attaching domestic terrorism charges, meaning he now faced up to 6-12 years in jail. Th constant delays and uncertainty over the potentially massive jail sentence Pernas faced led to his suicide according to family members.
Perna’s aunt personally met with President Trump in Mar-a-Lago and eventually obtained a posthumous pardon for the promising young man that cited him by name. Still, Perna remains one of many people on January 6th whose life was ended or ruined by what was one of the worst chapters in US history involving the weaponization of both the federal government and the justice system. The purpose of the weaponization fund is not just to provide important financial support to individuals and their families impacted by the Biden regime’s prosecutorial absurdities, this effort is also a critically important statement that what happened is and was wrong.
One of the oldest sayings is that those who do not remember history and bound to repeat it. The weaponization fund is a critically important way of setting the record straight on the abuse of power for future generations, in addition to a way of providing assistance to those that were wronged. This effort should go forward.
