# Appropriate punishment for Trump?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Tags:** trump
**Created:** [August 31, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673 "2022-08-31T20:49:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/1 "2022-08-31T20:49:58Z")
from here [https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-is-charged-and-arrested-and-he-calls-for-insurrection-what-do-you-think-will-happen/970577/146](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-trump-is-charged-and-arrested-and-he-calls-for-insurrection-what-do-you-think-will-happen/970577/146), this thread will concern appropriate punishment for Trump, if he is found guilty of whatever felonies you think he will be indicted for. Personally, I’d prefer if hyperbole and creative punishments could be avoided, and we stick to realistic and practical punishments in line with actual guidelines, but people will be people, I suppose.
The chief issue, it seems to me, will be “house arrest” or “actual jail time,” and if the latter, in what sort of prison, country club or max security, solitary confinement or gen pop, etc. Again, I’ll ask you to reserve your creative fantasies for other threads.
Personally, I think he will be punished by some form of house arrest and ineligibility to serve in federal office, with a lot of bitching and whining over the mildness of the sentence. “How do you punish someone by having him stay in a millionaire’s luxury home? I should have such a punishment” etc. There will be three, maybe four, people satisfied with his sentence, total, on both sides of the political spectrum.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/2 "2022-08-31T21:11:22Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#):
>
> Personally, I think he will be punished by some form of house arrest and ineligibility to serve in federal office,
That works for me. Except, any visitors will be accompanied by 3 DOJ lawyers and 3 FBI agents. All of his phone and internet communication VERY closely monitored. Monitored to the point where he will not get to press ‘send’ without it being looked at. There might be a sliver of information in Trumps brain that could hurt the US or others.
Nothing gets in or out of MaL without very close scrutiny. Including his corrupt kids.
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/3 "2022-08-31T21:19:01Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#):
>
> Personally, I think he will be punished by some form of house arrest and ineligibility to serve in federal office, with a lot of bitching and whining over the mildness of the sentence. “How do you punish someone by having him stay in a millionaire’s luxury home? I should have such a punishment” etc. There will be three, maybe four, people satisfied with his sentence, total, on both sides of the political spectrum.
A large fine, large enough that he would have to sell most of his properties, would also be fitting. Can a criminal conviction include a punishment of not running for office? I thought that particular penalty had to come from Congress.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/4 "2022-08-31T21:19:43Z")
How about a death sentence for espionage, which Biden then commutes to life in prison (actual prison, not house arrest)? That way, he’s not a martyr, and the Democrats get to say that we did as much as we could to help him and to try to reconcile America, but he’s still out of the picture.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/5 "2022-08-31T21:21:29Z")
What would house arrest at mara lardo look like? Would he be restricted to a single house or be able to roam the compound, including playing golf? Either way, it would be about a million times more lenient than it should be, but they would all squawk regardless.
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### Author:  [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/6 "2022-08-31T21:22:42Z")
Seditious conspiracy is punishable by up to 20 years. If convicted of that, why should he receive anything but the max – in prison?
Espionage is punishable by death. If it can be proven that any of the classified docs under scrutiny now ended up in foreign hands, to Trump’s benefit, why should he receive anything less than life in prison?
In addition – and apologies if this exceeds the scope of the OP – I’d love to see a felony conviction trigger the financial collapse of his paper empire. Properties sold off, foundations and shell corps liquidated, his name stripped off buildings worldwide. In the US, his name should become synonymous with treason and fraud, and his enablers shunned from public life.
That would be a good start, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/7 "2022-08-31T21:25:21Z")
A lengthy term in a non-Club Fed prison, disqualification from public office, a prohibition from posting on social media while in prison or on parole, and restitution and penalties for any tax-evasion convictions and/or Emoluments Clause violations would be just fine with me.
But I’m afraid it might not last long, as the next Republican President will come under enormous pressure to pardon him.
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### Author:  [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/8 "2022-08-31T21:28:59Z")
Damnatio Memoriae would be a good additional punishment to whatever prison time or exile he gets.
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### Author:  [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/9 "2022-08-31T21:29:42Z")
Apart from whatever actual punishment might be meted out, I wish it were possible to sentence him to simply being ignored. Except maybe to be pointed and laughed at occasionally. I’ve always felt that for people like him, being laughed at is intolerable.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/10 "2022-08-31T21:30:11Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#):
>
> Again, I’ll ask you to reserve your creative fantasies for other threads.
Sorry, but it’s impossible not to think of this.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVX4zGX3iWg)
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/11 "2022-08-31T21:32:28Z")
Whatever sentence would be given to anyone else convicted of the same crimes. From where I sit, he’s looking at 20-30 years. OK. At his age that’s effectively a life sentence. He should go to a federal minimum security (though not Club Fed), he should be allowed the same privileges and basic human rights as any other prisoner, though he should have extra scrutiny on all communications going in or out.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/12 "2022-08-31T21:32:48Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#):
>
> Except maybe to be pointed and laughed at occasionally.
Perhaps “to the pain?”
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_keWS1i3RA)
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/13 "2022-08-31T21:34:40Z")
He’ll never be indicted, let alone convicted.
Oh, I hope I’m wrong.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/14 "2022-08-31T21:36:11Z")
You’re probably right.
There’s overwhelming evidence of his guilt. But I suspect he will be called in for an interview, at the end of which it will be made known that some sort of agreement has been made.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/15 "2022-08-31T21:40:42Z")
I think I finally found what the Guantánamo Bay facility is good for. Damnatio Memoriae is the corollary (very pertinent, **rippingtons\_fan**!). And the thing with the rat in [room 101](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministries_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Room_101) (or whatever rocks his boat) would be appropiate too.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/16 "2022-08-31T21:48:09Z")
House arrest is the only realistic solution. Maybe fence off the rest of Mar a Lago from Trump’s residence.
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### Author:  [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/17 "2022-08-31T21:56:48Z")
Prison. Especially if he was selling secrets, and double especially if those were secrets getting intelligence assets killed. I could see an argument for house arrest or a fine if there were a couple of documents that accidentally were withheld. But this is such a blatant disregard for the law, that is has to be prison.
I’m opposed to the death penalty even for somebody as odious as Trump.
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### Author:  [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/18 "2022-08-31T21:57:32Z")
Well, that is the only punishment that can’t be undone with a pardon.
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### Author:  [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/19 "2022-08-31T21:59:18Z")
True, but I am 100% opposed to the death penalty. I don’t want to turn this into a death penalty thread though so I’ll just leave it at that. 🙂
Trump is scum and if I were not opposed to the DP, then I can see someone making the argument if he was selling secrets.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-punishment-for-trump/970673/20 "2022-08-31T22:01:57Z")
Life imprisonment in solitary with an open window within smelling distance of a McDonalds and fed a vegan diet and given Diet Pepsi to drink.
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