The commentary on Fox News on this first day of Donald Trump's civil fraud trial is just mind-blowingly bad. Between John Yoo claiming that this will send a message that Republicans aren't welcome to do business in New York City, thus admitting that Republicans are frauds and cheats, and this segment with Douglas Murray and Harris Faulkner, they're just reaching for whatever lifelines they can get.

In this segment, our perfectly proper British commentator Murray is just appalled that his hero Trump is being prosecuted for a "victimless crime."

"You know, what we're seeing here is a very, very hack-handed political prosecution as far as I can see," Murray opined. "I mean, as you say, this is a victimless crime."

"Is it unheard of for anyone in New York to inflate assets, claim that the buildings are worth more?" he wondered.

Every taxpayer in New York City is screwed by what Trump did. Every resident of New York City is screwed by what Trump did. And every customer of the banks that lent the money and the insurance companies which insured the properties are victims. Every one.

In case it's not self-evident, here's why. By undervaluing the properties for tax purposes, Trump cheated New York out of tax revenue needed to pay police, fire fighters, repair streets and other city expenses, which means the rest of the taxpayers picked up that tab. By overvaluing the properties for loan and insurance purposes, Trump used more of each bank's share of "lendable assets," so that the next person in line for a loan might have been declined, or had their loan shorted because the banks can't have more than a certain percentage of their assets in loans at any one time. By overvaluing the properties for insurance purposes, every other insured would have had to pick up the tab for excessive insurance claims, had any occurred. It doesn't matter if the loans were paid off before he refinanced them, because they put banks and insurers at risk for more than they could have collected if he defaulted.

So no, this is not a "victimless crime." It's white collar crime and it's a rich man's crime, but it's not a victimless crime.

After this blather, Murray went on to cry about how Trump's claims that it's a witch hunt will just make him stronger, which I'm sure is true, at least among his cult. But this Fox News spin about it being a victimless crime is just absurd on its face.