I think it’s pretty clear at this choice that Trump makes pretty terrible choices in lawyers. How many of his lawyers have gone to prision, been disbarred, and/or convicted of crimes at this point? It’s got to be a pretty large list. Almost like Trump can only hire lawyers who are as morally bankrupt as he is.
I have no sympathy for Trump’s lawyer in this case. The talking heads on the various news networks said over and over again he was a skilled criminal defense attorney (and not a “criminal” defense attorney like Trump usually hires). He had to know what he was getting himself into by taking on Trump as a client. Someone he couldn’t control, and someone who would strongarm him into ill-conceived and self-destructive trial strategies. This was supposed to be the “weakest” case, after all. I hope for his sake he got a good retainer given Trump’s reputation for stiffing attorneys on their payments.
His crime wasn’t a victimless crime paying off a porn star to bury a potentially embarassing story. It was falsifying business records to commit election fraud and the victim was the rest of the world.
I know 2016 feels like 100 years ago at this point but using the the lens of 2016 the things he was covering up would have very likely meant something especially with it being hot on the heels of the Access Hollywood tape. Trump clearly knew this which is why he committed crimes to cover those things up. (We can’t look at this through the lens of 2024 where the MAGA cult will excuse literally anything he does.)
As a result, Trump’s crimes helped to subvert the 2016 election which led led to 4 years of violence, death, and suffering all over the world.
The consequences of his crimes were pretty violent as far as I’m concerned. I feel completely consistent in my view that we should let most non-violent offenders out of jail but let’s put Trump in jail for a little while.
If he didn’t want to sit in front of a New York jury, he should have incorporated in a different state. Because I’m pretty sure that he is incapable of running a business without committing crimes.
It’s complicated. We incarcerate far too many people for non-violent offenses. OTOH if the real estate crash of 2008 and robosigning and other bank shenanigans teach us anything it is that for some non-violent criminals, nothing short of jail time will dissuade them. Certainly if we decide to legalize weed (as we should) we should also release people whose only crime was possession or distribution.
As others have said, given his age, the non-violent nature of the crimes he has (thus far) been convicted of, the fact that this is his first felony conviction, (as well as his wealth and skin color) Trump is unlikely to serve any prison time for these crimes, despite his non-contrition and the fact that he didn’t “plead out.”
And yet his accomplice Michael Cohen was sentenced to prison time. And Trump wasn’t just not contrite, he was hostile to the judge and routinely violated court orders. Men like Trump may not often go to jail, but there’s not a lot of precedent for that getting ignored either.
Both the defense and the prosecution will make arguments to the judge about prison time. The defense will probably have numerous character witnesses.
The prosecution will be able to ask consideration for things other than past criminal convictions.
His losing sexual assault civil trials. His attempted intimidation of the jury, witnesses and court employees. His past frauds and discrimination settlements. His $450 million dollar fraud judgment by New York State. His showing zero regret for his crimes.
He doesn’t come into this with the same background as most other nonviolent criminals either. And though he is elderly- so are many prisoners. Weissellberg was older, a first time nonviolent offender and didn’t have Trump’s other relevant record. And he got prison time in the same criminal conspiracy here. As did Michael Cohen.
What Trump has in his favor in skipping out on prison time is that he’s a former president. And that shouldn’t matter.
Trump rigged the jury himself!
This is chess on dimensions liberals can’t imagine!
You see, by rigging the jury against himself, he’s drawing attention to how rigged the system is! As a white male, you can’t get a fair shake in this country anymore, and Trump is sacrificing himself for us, just like Jesus, did, so that we too can bear our convictions (of the felony kind) as a badge of honor.
Also, he’s going to win on appeal, showing this whole thing [accountability? justice? Rule of law?] for the woke sham it is and inspire ALL real™ Americans to vote a straight Republican ticket with their guns, and save the constitution by putting it away someplace for safekeeping while… (and on and on on) .
/s
