While many may perfer the optics of house arrest for Trump, I don’t think that punishment matches the crime(s). I can’t see that working anyway. Trump is Trump. He will not obey rules. What consequences will he face for breaking them?? I think that he should receive a sentence in a federal facility that will probably last him the rest of his life. Fines and forfeitures will also be appropriate. As far a pardon goes, well, that only covers his federal crimes. He is being investigated for crimes by at least one state now. If one indictment comes down, more may follow. Again, I feel incarceration in a minimum security facility is the most appropriate punishment, regardless of the optics. Of course, I doubt it will ever come to that. When the walls really close in on Trump, I expect him to implode and die of a stroke, a heart attack, or, like Hitler in the bunker, by his own hand.
If he breaks the agreed upon conditions of his house arrest, then he can be moved to an actual prison.
If the authorities are too craven about appearances to put him in prison, as they would anybody else, then why would they “grow a pair” and make Trump face any consequences for violating the terms of house arrest, as he is certain to do? I think if he is sentenced to house arrest, eyes will be averted when he violates those terms and Trump will do what he has made a career of doing - - flouting laws with impunity. Again, I really believe, given his age, lousy shape, and increasingly evident state of emotional agitation, he will probably die before any sentence can be passed.
The SS might have some say in that. If his plea bargain includes house arrest, the SS is empowered to place him in custody and remand him to the appropriate folks for incarceration. He ain’t going anywhere if that’s the deal.
I would think if any of the lawsuits he is facing, or may face, result in financial settlements, they would first involve his personal “fortune”, whatever that may be. If that gets exhausted and there are still commitments, I would expect any grifting resulting in him gaining any financial traction would be forfeited until those commitments are satisfied. Since he is known to have stiffed a lot of people along the way, perhaps if one lawsuit strips his personal assets, additional lawsuits would tap into any grift he may continue to do. Wont stop the faithful from throwing their money away at him, but at least people he stiffed will be made whole with that money.
The challenge of punishing Trump is mainly that he has millions of faithful minions. He’s a criminal, absolutely, but he is also a popular demagogue. There is nothing that can be attempted against him that won’t energize the fascist mobs, that I can think of. It isn’t him that’s the problem, he’s just a blathering sociopathic child-minded criminal, when all is said and done. Without his mob, he’s nothing, he’s a vapor.
The best punishment, politically speaking, would be disappearance. He could be held incommunicado for his lifetime somewhere. Sure, that would spawn a giant cloud of CT fantasy outrage too – but at least Trump himself wouldn’t be fueling it personally. Many people would turn to other sources of demagoguery (can’t be helped) and he’d drift from memory.
Love it.
More fantasies–I guess I can identify them but there’s no way to restrain them. Of course “disappearance” is legally impossible, and so is anything like it, though “imprisonment” comes pretty close. You put him in a cell, or in very strict home confinement (with prison as a deterrent to attempts to violate home confinement) with no access to internet, rare visiting privileges, etc. and he is effectively cut off from the world.
Seems to me that not being willing to risk punishing Trump like any other criminal for fear of his mob is an open invitation for other would-be despots to seek the Presidency when what we want is the strongest possible discouragement of that outcome. As Trump himself put it, “If we do that, we don’t have a country anymore.”
While I look forward to the indictment(s), I dread the shit storm. And I’m apprehensive about a MAGAt hero getting into the jury, regardless of vetting.
Thinking more about it, I think the only way house arrest would work for Trump is if the conditions were made more like a home prison than a protracted stay-cation. There should be a high fence around the property (better yet, build a wall) and it should be guarded to absolutely control entrance and exit. Moreover, Trumps access to phone communications should be no greater than those of the average prisoner. I’m not sure how much access prisoners have to the internet, but that should be similarly limited. All of his incoming and outgoing communications by any means should be reviewed for approval. Now, how this will work if he is successfully prosecuted by one of the states against which he has committed felonies is a really good question. I guess they could make arrangements with the federal government, but I am not sure.
And make Trump pay for it.
Send him to…Detroit.
Somebody said it on the SDMB. “Mexico would be more than happy to pay for that wall”
We CANNOT be afraid of punishing Trump because his moronic followers may revolt. If we need to build more prisons, fine. I’ll donate. We are sick and tired of their idiocy and complete bullshit.
What I am concerned about is a MAGAt getting on the jury. It would be hard to prevent that. Republicans on the jury that will do their duty as to the finding is fine. I fear a person that will cross their arms and shake their head. We know these people are completely unreachable.
And their a lot of them.
Yeah, I like that.
Home imprisonment doesn’t make too much sense to me since the place is basically a giant country club/hotel. He would still be blathering on and socializing with guests unless he could be confined to one suite or something. Maybe he could be held in a room a trump tower like Rapunzel.
He needs to be in a federal facility if ever convicted on federal charges. I’m sure they could fashion a couple of adjoining cells to accommodate his Sec Serv detail.
He should be sentenced to house arrest at MAL but his tacky-as-shit compound should first be razed, completely paved over, with a cement block 10 x 10 ft structure built in the middle of it. The structure should be all exposed cement inside with a cheap-ass metal bed and a crap and piss bucket inside. There should be no phone or internet and he should not be allowed any possessions other than his issue coveralls.
The hut can be surrounded by a 20 ft high chain link fence with razor wire on top. The fenced in enclosure should encircle a 10 foot wide area around it.
And a moat. Gotta have a moat. Filled with sharks. Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads.
How many people would want to visit his club if he’s actually convicted?
Plus, since the place is effectively a prison at that point, anyone who does visit could potentially be subject to examination, same as anyone visiting a regular prison would be.
The image of a defeated Trump wandering the halls of an abandoned gold club, all alone, while still having to pay the bills to keep the lights on appeals to me.
I would go if there was an opportunity to see him in a jumpsuit in a cell. Especially if the entry fee went to a good cause. I’d pay extra to be able to eat a hamburger in front of him.
Truly a punishment of extraordinary magnitude!