MAGA supporters rail against Trump’s sentencing ahead of his inauguration. Instead, they should be pleased. Let’s discuss why.
Sentencing on January 10
Politico reports Trump Will Be Sentenced but Won’t Get Jail Time.
A New York judge plans to sentence Donald Trump on Jan. 10 for his criminal hush money conviction, rejecting efforts by the president-elect to sweep aside a jury’s verdict that found him guilty of 34 felony counts.
But Justice Juan Merchan indicated he will not sentence Trump to prison time, acknowledging that incarceration is not a “practicable” option. And the judge said Trump may attend the sentencing virtually rather than reporting to court in person.
The long-delayed sentencing — unless a higher court blocks it — will force Trump to revisit the sordid hush money case just 10 days before his inauguration. And by maintaining the jury’s verdict, Merchan all but ensured that Trump will take office with his sole criminal conviction still on his record.
In an 18-page decision Friday, Merchan ruled that the Supreme Court’s July decision on presidential immunity does not shield Trump from facing sentencing for the conviction. And the judge rejected Trump’s arguments that the entire case should be thrown out in light of his victory in the 2024 election, calling the suggestion an affront to the justice system.
Merchan also sharply criticized Trump for his “disdain” for the legal process. In addition to continually criticizing the case itself, Trump repeatedly argued for Merchan to recuse himself, claiming the judge was biased. During the trial, he disobeyed the judge’s gag order and often appeared to fall asleep in court.
Democrats Cheer, for Now
Sentencing ahead of the inauguration will let Democrats claim Trump will take office with his sole criminal conviction on his record.
I view this as mostly good news.
Q: Why?
A: Sentencing now will speed up the appeals process.
This is a sham trial that never should have happened. And the mistakes made by Merchan ensure the case will be tossed out.
Had Merchan delayed sentencing, Democrats might have held sentencing over Trump for four more years.
Hunter Biden Convicted
On June 11, I commented Hunter Biden Convicted, Unlike Trump, Hunter’s Conviction Won’t Be Overturned
Hey Joe, how does it feel to have a son convicted of a felony? For now you can call Trump a felon, but that won’t last due to numerous and flagrant judicial errors.
Trump Found Guilty – a Travesty of Justice for America
I commented on Trump in my post Trump Found Guilty – a Travesty of Justice for America
I Am Outraged
I am outraged but not surprised. But the hypocrites will cheer hoping for a knockout.
They will say “No one is above the law”. Indeed. But no one should be beneath the law either.
Every effort has been made to put Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Hillary Clinton above the law. And every effort has been made to put Trump beneath the law, including judicial instructions.
Everyone should be outraged. The trial was unfair because there should not have been a trial at all. The judge’s actions were outrageous.
Pardon vs Overturned Conviction
President Biden lied about Hunter. Then is a disgraceful move, the president pardoned his son.
However, accepting a pardon implies guilt. Hunter won’t go to prison where he belongs. But no one can say he wasn’t guilty.
If New York Governor Kathy Hochul offers Trump a pardon, he should refuse it on grounds of innocence.
And as soon as the Trump conviction is overturned, and it will be, no one will be able to call Trump a felon.
Sentencing now will speed up an appeal, and the conviction will be tossed, hopefully with prejudice.
So let the hypocrites have another month or whatever of bragging. Then reality will set in with an easy overturn on multiple grounds.
Mish, agreed on all counts.
Trump is not a felon until sentence is passed (you can check that legal nicety/factoid if you like), so strictly speaking calling him that is defamation.
Marchand has no choice but to complete the process, and face the music after.
Merchan cuts off Bragg’s implied threat of holding sentencing until after Trump’s term is over, pushes this into the appellate space which will toss it, and then the judge can count his bars of gold from Mike Bloomberg. Hopefully he doesn’t fall in the shower or something so that he can enjoy it.
“Then reality will set in with an easy overturn on multiple grounds.”
Obviously it should be easily overturned. Which makes one wonder why the democrats are even bothering with it at all. Evil slim balls are always scheming. What underhanded thing are they planning?
For those who believe that jury verdicts should be nullified just because a person is a candidate, a President Elect, or a sitting President for violations of the law made while a private citizen, how to you then claim that in the U.S. all persons are equal under the law. How do you claim that you are adherent to the Constitution? One can certainly argue that a sitting President should not be distracted by lawsuits and court proceedings and that actions that pertain to the official duties of the Office of the President should not result in lawsuits against the person holding the office. But this case pertained to Donald Trump’s solely owned business for which he has ultimate responsibility and it pertained to practices the preceded him holding the office of the President. Being elected President cannot be seen as a “get out of jail free card” and that is exactly what it would be if this case had simply been dismissed as a result of his election win. If that precedent was set it would be an incentive for wealthy people who have broken the law and are under investigation or indicted to spend a lot of money to fund a campaign to become President. Of course, prior to Donald Trump this hypothetical was unthinkable because no one would have believed that someone who was indicted or convicted for committing a felony would have any chance of winning the Presidency.
The TDS is strong in this one
You’re forgetting this is a sham case, where he was ‘prosecuted’ only to derail his chances of winning the Presidency.
As Mish noted, the court case was corrupt, thus should never have occurred in the first place. Overturned, there is no felony. The people who voted for Trump saw the case for what it is: illegitimate.
Curt,
In case you didn’t hear, Comrade Kamala got trounced. You lost and now it’s going to get worse for Dems.
Stop whining about Trump’s conviction that will get overturned.
He’s soon to be the president once again with all of his flaws, but none of that’s going to make your opinions true.
Take heart, bro! I know the sting still hurts. You’ll be fine, and we’ll keep making fun over your idiotic posts.
It’s going to be a very long 4 years for you. But don’t worry; we all know Trump’s going to take some lumps, and Mish will cover them. So we’ll rally back here soon.
Cheers!
Donald Trump won the election fair and square and his winning the popular vote is a major accomplishment for a Republican candidate. That has only previously happened twice in the last 36 years. However, his win by the numbers was not in any way an overwhelming win. He won the popular vote by 1.5% or a little over 1.5 million votes. His popular vote margin win is the slimmest positive winning margin since Richard Nixon in 1968.
Nice straw man arguments.
1. You left out of your list the actual reason why people opposed the juries’ verdicts. Which had nothing to do with “because Trump is a candidate”, “because Trump was elected”, and “because Trump is president”.
2. Opposing lawfare does not mean you can’t support equality before the law.
3. The lawfare used against Trump was mostly at the state level and had nothing to do with the Constitution, which only lists 3 crimes: treason, piracy, and counterfeitimg.
4. Misdemeanor offenses for inaccurate paperwork (assuming there was even actual criminal intent) cannot be combined and prosecuted as felonies. That is lawfare.
5. The purpose of all the federal laws is so the powers that be can execute lawfare against their political enemies.
Ironically, all those involved in this lawfare can be prosecuted for election interference. Irrespective of Trump or Biden, the integrity of the judicial system requires that legal professionals at all levels are prosecuted for this.
What may follow is a counter-prosecution of a list of “legal people” for election interference. Abusing the judiciary to attack the executive is fundamentally an attack on “democracy” and on the constitution of the republic. DAs, judges and lawyers in jail? say it ain’t so!
Here’s what Mish wrote: “This is a sham trial that never should have happened. And the mistakes made by Merchan ensure the case will be tossed out.” Saying it, Mish, isn’t proving it. A jury spoke who heard all the evidence in person (unlike you) but what’s clear is Trump and his lawyer, along with the CFO, engaged in a conspiracy to hide hush money payoffs to a porn actress who Trump had sex with. There is little doubt about those facts. The hush money payoffs were deducted as a business expense in a clear, deliberate violation of NY tax laws, and federal tax laws as well. It’s felony fraud and income tax evasion and fraud. It doesn’t matter if judges overturn the verdict on some technicality. Trump will forever be a convicted felon and he will be seen as trying to overthrow the elected government in 2020 and 2021. There is overwhelming proof of this conspiracy to overthrow the government and plenty of witnesses have already testified in depositions and in the Grand Jury. Pence himself testified and wrote that Trump tried to ensnare him in the conspiracy. Trying to overthrow the government is a serious crime but because of clueless TrumpLovers, we’ll never see that trial, but the historical record has been preserved with court records and pleadings. We’ve already gotten a taste of Trump’s Presidential style with the nominations of Kash Patel, Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, and others who are not qualified to be in the cabinet or important appointed positions. RFK is a vaccine denier who will only embarrass himself if he becomes the Sec. of Health and Human Services. He’s a crackpot…just like Donald Trump. He was also a heroin user for years. Trump’s trying to turn his Presidency into a spectacle and reality TV show. It’s appalling.
“Trump will forever be a convicted felon”
If it is overturned and you believe that – then you are a moron
You are only a felon after you are sentenced, not before.
https://answers.justia.com/question/2023/02/19/when-are-you-considered-a-convicted-felo-948267
https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-publications/2020/202009_fed-sentencing-basics.pdf
Trump said he didn’t have sex with “a porn star”. He didn’t say he didn’t have sex with multiple porn stars. You have to be precise.
depends what you mean by “sex”
https://www.dummies.com/article/body-mind-spirit/relationships-family/sex-gender/what-is-sex-what-counts-as-sex-192130/
Willy Clinton gave us the template for presidents not having sex when having sex.
Donald John Trump just keeps growing larger.
The shadow he casts grows longer.
Merchan and Co. should go all out.
It would be beyond inspiring to see President Trump sworn in at Rikers and give his speech in a an orange jumpsuit. Even have the oval office and nuclear football brought to his holding cell…..
This would even beat the bullet dodging, the McDonalds kitchen, and the garbage truck!
Nothing could better cement America’s love affair with this splendid, heroic, thrice elected president! OUR president!
With tears of joy and laughter, we will gladly watch the DNC and all of their crooked judges, DA’s, agencies, and media, IMPALE themselves on their altar of corruption to become forever despised, ridiculed, and shunned by WE THE PEOPLE. Happy New Year folks!
I don’t agree with Mish that Trump’s 34 convictions represented a sham trial. Just as I don’t believe the Special Counsel who brought charges of theft of secret and top secret intelligence documents was a sham indictment. Nor do I believe that Trump’s conspiracy indictment to overthrow an elected government was a sham. But Trump supporters nullified those charges because of some insane memo written by someone in the DOJ that claimed sitting Presidents can’t be indicted or tried, but that was only an opinion and did not carry the weight of law. Presidents all over the world are indicted when they participate in criminal acts. Trump was indicted while he was not President and Trump’s own Vice President was prepared to testify that Trump conspired to overthrow an elected government and tried to enlist the Vice President in the conspiracy, which he refused to do. There is nothing in the Constitution that says a sitting President can’t be tried for crimes. He can also be impeached for crimes and removed. Trump is a lifelong tax criminal, engaging in fraudulent behavior to cheat banks, workers, contractors and governments out of money due them. He lies, cheats and steals. He cheated the students at Trump University; he cheated with his tax-free foundation; he cheated repeatedly on his taxes and was convicted of tax cheating in several trials; he cheated contractors who were forced to take him to court; He cheated the state and city of New York with fake assessments of the value of his property; He cheated his banks…and he cheated on every single wife. Mitch McConnell called Trump “stupid”, “despicable” and unfit for the Presidency. I couldn’t have said it better myself. But Mitch, when he and other Republicans had the chance to convict him in the Senate for high crimes, voted to acquit because they were terrified of clueless Trump voters. And sorry to say, Mish, you seem to be impressed with Trump’s record, even though he’s engaged in repeated criminal behavior including stealing, lying about, and obstructing the return of secret and top-secret intelligence documents…as well as chronic, persistent, provocative, promiscuous lying on TV, in court proceedings, and while President. Trump gave the wealthy most of the tax cut that he signed into law, which was insane because we had $30 trillion in debt at the time. And he’ll probably do it again. Mish, you don’t understand how dangerous Trump is as he undermines what’s left of America. Putin is happy Trump got re-elected. Trump has laundered tens of millions of dollars of Russian money by selling hundreds of overpriced Condos to Russians who are cleaning money with those transactions. Trump sold condos in Trump Tower to Russian gangsters, and that’s a matter of record. Mish, you’re hitching your wagon to the wrong star. Trump is a lifelong criminal which is why his father sent him to military school because he couldn’t behave himself…but that didn’t help. Swaggering, slandering psychopaths don’t make great leaders so buckle up….Your hero is going to turn America upside down….again.
You’re gonna have an aneurysm. A Manhattan jury would have convicted Trump of the Lindbergh kidnapping. Same with DC.
The best thing you can do with trolls is just not respond.
Yes, and who knows better the character of Donald Trump, a born and raised New York City resident and business person? A person does not earn the nickname from those in his or her own home town of “Don the Con” for no good reason.
This is so insipid that you can’t even get more down votes.
I always wonder to what extent there are people on popular sites paid by the blob to push its agenda in the comments. There are a lot of Fed keyboard digits sloshing around the planet enabling all sorts of mischief.
cultmembers don’t need paying… they usually pay to drink the kool-aid.
I like to think I hold both parties to the same standard. Just because I agree Trump was rightfully convicted doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want the same for Hunter. Hunter Biden’s situation is dripping with corruption. Biden and Trump should occupy the same prison cell.
All of what you say is true! As someone who has spent 35 years working in finance less than two hours outside of NYC, I have followed Donald Trump’s trials and tribulations since the late 1980s, I have know both bankers and subcontractors who have done business with him in the 1980s and 90s. People on this board can call critics of Donald Trump’s character and trustworthiness trolls, but that is just because they have spent very little time examining the man, his associates, his business practices, and his personal indiscretions prior to him jumping into the political arena or becoming a realty TV star where he was able to script how he wanted people to perceive him. In reality, there are very few business people in this country who have a less trustworthy reputation than Donald Trump. After his rash of early 1990s business bankruptcies and how at every turn he tried to escape his obligations to the banks who he borrowed from, every large U.S. commercial bank essentially blackballed him from borrowing from them. This is why he ended up with Deutsche Bank as his primary lender. I grew up instilled with the strong belief that the most important thing a person possesses is his or her reputation and reputation is built upon a strong character, ethics, and trustworthiness.
If the subject of this ‘case’ wasn’t named Donald Trump, the charges would never have been brought (concocted). That tells you everything you need to know about the justice (?) system in NY state.
This may be the case, but this is the case for most of our laws in this land. We cannot investigate and bring to trial every potential transgression of the law. It comes down to how big a fish you are or how visible you are. A white minivan driving the same speed over the speed limit will be less likely to get pulled over than a red Mustang. A multi-millionaire tax cheat is more likely to be audited than a road construction worker.
Apples and oranges. You’re comparing driving over the speed limit a black and white open and shut crime with a meticulously engineered and never before attempted prosecution to defame and convict a candidate for President.
how would you know?
“Hunter won’t go to prison where he belongs. But no one can say he wasn’t guilty.”
Didn’t Hunter plead guilty to the gun felony? Not sure a pardon should apply to someone who admitted their guilt.
Hard disagree on this one. The country needs to see this guy held accountable, even it’s a token gesture.
Held accountable for what? A paperwork error? The Dem J6 setup? Two assassination attempts on his life?
What was the actual error Trump himself supposedly committed? Do we really think he actually files his own paperwork? No. He pays people to do that for him.
Maybe someday it will be you facing years in prison or financial ruin because someone decides they don’t like you and creates tortured logic to pursue lawfare against you.
Sure Rob, he needs to be held accountable for 1 misdemeanor that was miraculously turned into 34 felonies. Get a life.
Judge Marchand needs to be held accountable, yes.
Did you know the judge is really a prosecutor? He was brought in as a special judge just for Trump. That is how corrupt the NY justice system is.
I don’t agree with you often but on this, you are IMO, on the money. NY and its Pols are worse than 2 bit despots.
This whole area has turned into a quagmire, from both sides, very unhealthy for the legal system, but maybe ultimately worthwhile? Dems should have exercised better prosecutorial discretion. Trump should have never badmouthed institutions the way he has all along, but the Dems fed it, and into it. All worst case. It represents to me a decadence of the system, but some of the critiques needed to be made and I guess, stress-tested. A lot of aspects of this society and system had drifted over time into a feeble state, to be questioned. Some of this is, I guess, unavoidable evolution, sort of like the weirdness of the 1960’s was.
Never lived in the 60s but talking to parents that did, they say this is a worse environment than that one. Remember we were an inch away from an assassination back in July.
I lived thru the 60s. I’d say that the average congress critter then looks like Winston Churchill or Abraham Lincoln compared to the ones now.
Nothing so amuses me as a nonlawyer trolling for Maga eyes. This is beneath you.
Geez, there’s a lot of funny stuff to be amused by. You’re really missing out. Some lawyers’ inflated opinion of themselves is pretty funny, for example.
I am one of very few with integrity to speak my mind on issues.
I don’t give a damn about political parties and I don’t care much for Trump.
If you think I troll for MAGA you are either new to my blog, a fool, or a troll yourself.
Or all 3 simultaneously.
I don’t always agree with Mish’s positions, but he’s a straight shooter.
If you think this won’t be overturned, then you’ve been living under a rock.
Are you a Brandon supporter, something that’s no longer in vogue?
Trump’s convictions are rarely overturned. He has a terrible record in court and he doesn’t even testify at his own trials because he constantly lies and his lawyers won’t risk putting him on the witness stand. Trump’s company has been convicted of fraud and tax evasion, his CFO went to prison…twice. Trump has been convicted of making payoffs and covering them up, then taking a tax deduction for the payoffs. And then there’s Pence, who has testified that Trump conspired and tried to weave the Vice-President into the conspiracy to overthrow an elected government. But in TrumpWorld, that’s not a crime. I don’t think this recent conviction will be overturned, and the jury convicted Trump on all counts. There were tax violations as well as payoffs and fraud. Yet so many in Trump’s cult claim he’s innocent. Trump is not innocent. And his hero….Mr. Putin….he’s not innocent either. There are people who love Donald Trump, and love is blind.
Such vitriol so soon after Chanukah…
Your take on the false statement by 51 ‘intelligence agency’ chiefs that Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation?… Joe Biden’s statement, on TV , that he threatened to withhold funds from Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor investigating his son?..the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s crimes?..just for starters…
Jeff, don’t hold your breath that the conviction won’t be overturned.
Try replacing Trump and Putin with, er, Biden and Obama?
This is nothing new, it is the nature of high stakes politics. There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.
Benjamin Disraeli
There’s no honor among thieves, either.
Is there a significant difference between politicians and thieves?
“Every election is a sort of advance auction of stolen goods” – H.L. Mencken, I think
The more laws, the more corruption.
(Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.)
Tacitus, 117 AD, Rome.
RICO the Democratic Party.
Might happen with Kash as FBI director and Bondi as AG. Both are loaded for bear and the swamp is pooping their pants.
Only place you’re wrong Mish is that they will continue to call Trump a felon … a racist .. and everything else. No evidence or reality needed. TDS is a serious condition and it is exacerbated by a media that keeps screaming about it.
The Kavanaugh hearings were when I became convinced there’s no going back. Trump needs to govern and not worry about being liked or treated fairly.
Agreed, but he does have a narcissism streak that will make that hard (I voted for him based on objective outcomes, I’m not MAGA) and that can be hard. On the other hand, he is the Messiah to enough people that his ego can probably do well. You are 100% correct that the absurd charged against Kavanaugh were a great foreshadowing to the absurd charges against Trump. But yes, if we don’t want to see more carnage of our nation … Trump needs to lead and needs to not focus on his detractors. I would love to see him fix the economy again to the point where we at least balance the budget … but if I were a betting man … I would take the other side on that one.
“But yes, if we don’t want to see more carnage of our nation … Trump needs to lead and needs to not focus on his detractors.”
You are 100% wrong. Nixon was driven from office for a covering up a third rate burglary of a DNC office. What the swamp did to Trump was 10,000 times worse and they need to be held accountable for it and face consequences. That includes the main stream media who conspired with and were part of the swamp.
In a perfect world they absolutely would. This is not a perfect world and focusing on it will waste energy and political capital
He can sue for defamation.
Interesting topics I’d like to hear covered. 1.Congestion pricing in NYC, seems like quite the money grab?
2.Should Fannie and Freddie come out of conservatorship?
Thanks Mish, great perspective I had not heard or considered before!
Kind of surprised Biden did not give Merchan a Medal of Freedom
Yet
For some reason, I am being logged out of your blog after every article. Something is up with the technical aspects of this site. COOKIES?
What do you mean by logged out? Just my blog?
I suppose it could be cookies.
Personally, I don’t give a damn about them on ant site, just accept them.
Many of us rationally despise cookies and reject them all.
Mish, you are balanced in your coverage of BOTH “sides” of the Aisle, but it remains clear to me that the Justice system is misnamed….
Not misnamed. Misspelled. JustUs System.
It’s not misnamed. The naming is entirely consistent with all the other federal Departments, none of which really does what it’s name might suggest.
The Department of Defense is not about defense, it’s about overseas attacks.
The Department of Homeland Security has allowed in over 10 million illegal immigrants, including numerous terrorists, making the homeland much less secure.
The Department of Education has presided over an immense decline in national eduacational levels.
The Department of Energy’s main mission is not energy, it’s nuclear weapons.
The Department of Health and Human Services is not promoting Americans’ Health, nor does it provide reasonable services and reasonable costs.
The Department of Commerce is not about promoting commerce, but about lining campaign contributors’ pockets.
The Department of State … you get the idea.
Another confirmation that the DemoRats are disgracefully evil and have nothing better to offer than this and other disgraceful debacles as they have NO substance and no issues of merit. DemoRat party is likely to dissolve in disgrace.
There are to many parasites that want free stuff and drink the coolaid.
Most sensible Americans see it for what it is. History will look back on the abusers with disdain and disgust.
Change I would make to your answer is that history “should” look back on the abusers with disdain and disgust. Remember that history is written the victors … and in communication, the media is the clear victor and their Orange Man Bad narrative will stick in spite of all evidence to the contrary. After practically deifying Biden for his promise to not pardon Hunter (much less give him such a blanket pardon) … they never came back and un-deified him when they found out he lied … they just defended his decision to lie. That is all in the record and history will probably be full of more Orange Man Bad narrative than anything else. Fact is, while he did well for the overall economy as Trump 45 … he did nothing for the debt … and I’m guessing that is where history will repeat itself. At some point, we find that Biden caused hardship and a debt crisis and Trump just caused a debt crisis. Obama somewhere in between … but the debt crisis continues. At some point, it could all be re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic if we don’t address the debt … and neither side is serious about it … nor can they be if they want to win an election.
re “ in communication, the media is the clear victor “
Not true yet, at least not as far as history is concerned. The victor is TBD, although with the academic historians all on the wrong side of history as well, it might take a while for the appropriate updates.
At this point, I won’t vote for anyone without a felony conviction.