The Trump conviction, first thoughts
It’s far from clear the conviction will have much effect on the race. Most people will not learn much from the conviction. Small effects could go either way: marginal Trump voters could turn away from him, stronger partisans could become more mobilized, etc.
I don’t want him thrown in jail, which I guess is unlikely in any event. With appeals the sentence would not start until after the election, and that would be an incentive for him to remain in power if he wins this year. If Trump loses he will go to jail on more serious charges.
Taegan Goddard says Democrats should emphasize “that it’s shameful for the Republican party to nominate a convicted felon for the most powerful office in the land.” I tend to think they should emphasize that the charges related to January 6th and withholding classified documents are much more serious. We could have had a trial on those charges to let the public see the evidence, but Trump delayed over and over. What is he hiding from us?
Jonathan Chait points out that John “torture memo” Yoo is calling for revenge prosecutions. Chait points out that Yoo is affiliated with AEI and Hoover, “reasonable” right-wing think tanks. Naturally, principled classical liberal Donald Boudreaux cites a WSJ op-ed which puts all the moral agency for this allegedly dangerous prosecution on the democratic prosecutor and none on Donald Trump. And just by coincidence, no doubt, this happens at a time that the capitalist rich are rallying around the former guy. The fact that Boudreaux earns over $80k a year from the Mercatus Center – where Charles Koch is emeritus board chair – is also just a coincidence.
If you think self-proclaimed classical liberals will rally to protect democracy against Trump you’re smoking dope.
I do want him thrown in jail.
I do, too. The fines are no deterrent for him or any future offender. He shows no sign of regret or remorse. Each count should be a year in prison, all 34 served concurrently.
Gitmo
Lady Justice should be blind and the finger should not tip the scales. Guilt or innocence should not be determined by race, social status, political affillation or wealth or lack thereof. My fear is our country no longer lives by these ideals and our advesary system of thoughtful exchange and rhetoric is lost. The fear means to some that the rubicon river has been crossed and the time for thoughts is over and we will be ruled by the mob. Does the end justify the mean? Sometimes the guilty go free to preserve the rights of all and keep the mob civil on both sides. We should not be Rome but better.
@Mincy,
“Sometimes the guilty go free to . . . keep the mob civil on both sides.”
So we should yield to the threat of the American Sturmabteilung? Because that worked so well the last time?
Feh.
Joel:
Loved the German, well done.
Yeah yeah yeah, we’ve all heard that “it is better for one guilty man to go free than a thousand innocents be jailed” ~ it’s horse-hockey. I’m here to tell you now what I know to be true: the guilty walk when they can pay for it, the innocent do not
The thing about double-standards is they cut both ways …
Michael
Justice was as blind as it could be in light of all of the innuendo and implied threats by trump . . . meant to incite people to take action against the judge, family, and others. There was no thoughtful exchange by trump and followers with others. There is no Rubicon in trumps actions. From the beginning, the actions taken were wrong. There is no thoughtful exchange with trump. trump going free would not protect my rights or anyone else’s. It is solely about trump. trump is the mob and the gangster amongst us.
The fear that you should have is his returning to office and the damage he could do to society, common citizens, and the economy. He does not care about you, your good fortune, or whether your company is successful or not. It is all about him and you can be sacrificed.
I am off topic here. In 2017, trump and his cronies decided to have a tax break which was passed under Reconciliation
It comes due in 2025 at which time it will either continue or be retracted. Retracted if it has not paid for itself with increased revenue to the government coffers at least balancing itself out with the loss of tax revenue. I do not care if you or the company you work for or if your investments went berserk in profits. Reconciliation must balance out. That act was literally a joke. It did not even come close to balancing out revenue with the tax cuts.
Michael
I hasten to agree with you. Sorry that my friends here don’t seem to. I have worried about them over related issue in the past. didn’t do me any good.
i don’t think the choice for Trump is jail or fine or go free. I like the idea of public service picing up trash or working in a Covid ward.
Trump was/is too dangerous to not try to stop by whatever means conscience allows. They couldn’t get Al Capone on murder charges so they got him on tax evasion.
I do agree with my friends here that the law in america is capricious and often cruel to “the least of these.” And the rich go free.
Merrick Garland waited until November 2022 to appoint Jack Smith as special counsel. Given the magnitude of the January 6th attack on our constitution, this should have happened soon after Garland took office in March, 2021. We lost a year and a half of precious time and now the Supreme Court has deliberately slow walked the January 6th case until after the election, indeed after a new President takes office in January, 2025.