Moderating:
This could be construed as a rather gross misogynistic comment. Please avoid doing this.
I see Trump benefiting no matter the outcome. If he is acquitted or has a hung jury, it was all a failed witch-hunt. If he is found guilty he becomes a martyr. For some reason I was thinking that if he is found guilty the only options would be jail or a fine and I doubt that the judge would give him jail time and his supporters are immune to massive fines by now. However, someone pointed out that he could receive community service which is what I am now rooting for. I want to see him in a jumpsuit picking up trash by the side of the road. I doubt he has ever done a day of physical labor in his life, let alone anything of service to anyone except himself. Can you imagine if he had to work at a food kitchen serving the homeless, wearing a hairnet?
Deleted.
I love this idea. A certain number of hours a week or it’s off to jail.
He’s already a martyr. He’s told his followers that he’s doing this for them, suffering on their behalf, and promised them he is their vengeance. Donald J. Trump is their messiah, their Orange Jesus, and there’s a reason we refer to MAGA as a cult rather than just another political movement.
I found this poll, but I’m skeptical:
While 67% of registered voters nationally say it makes no difference to their vote if Trump is found guilty in his “hush money” trial, 17% report they would be less likely to vote for him if he is convicted. 15% would be more likely to vote for Trump.
Folks like me might say that we’d be “less likely” to vote for him if he’s convicted, but we’re already gonna vote against him. Conversely, petulant MAGAs might say they’d be likelier to vote for him, but they’re gonna vote for him no matter what.
The question is only interesting if it’s asked of people who are undecided. I know there are a lot of people who hate Biden and Trump and can’t figure out what to do. How would a conviction affect them? I seriously doubt that a significant chunk of them are “more likely” to vote for Trump if he’s convicted.
I don’t get this argument. I get there is a segment of the electorate (The MAGAts) for who this holds. But are you really saying there is a significant portion of the MAGAts that would have voted for Biden if this trial hadn’t happened? That makes no sense. The people who think this is a witchhunt and Trump is a martyr are already voting for him.
The election will be decided by voters who tend GOP but aren’t MAGA. And this trial (regardless the verdict) will effect them. How much remains to be seen but in all likelihood a handful of voters in the swing states will decide the election
Aren’t the clocks counting up?
That’s the key point. The idea that this 17% is a low number is terrible reporting. A 17% swing from Trump would doom him electorally. If only 1-2% of that number are GOP voters who would otherwise vote for him, then that’s enough to lose him the election (especially if they are in swing states)
a few updates:
a tik tok was posted by don with his father in the waiting room. it looked like they had snack food and sandwiches.
trump has asked for a tv in the room. that has been provided.
some people have gone crazy about one of the jury instructions. they are posting that the judge is telling them that they don’t have to be unanimous. death threats are flying on social media about this.
the confusion or just plain don’t want to know, is over the fact that the jury does not have to be unanimous over the 3 crimes that bump it to a felony. just that there was a “bumping” crime.
per cnn:
Former President Donald Trump and his team have been watching news coverage of the trial on a television that was brought into the room they are waiting in, two sources familiar with the setup tell CNN.
Trump has also spent a lot of his time watching clips of allies and surrogates defending him on television. The clips were sent to him and advisers at the courthouse, one source said.
Ugh. I’ve been fending this one off this morning, too.
Truth:
“Prosecutors say the crime Trump committed or hid is a violation of a New York election law making it illegal for two or more conspirators “to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.””
“Merchan gave the jurors three possible “unlawful means” they can apply to Trump’s charges: falsifying other business records, breaking the Federal Election Campaign Act or submitting false information on a tax return.”
“For a conviction, each juror would have to find that at least one of those three things happened, but they don’t have to agree unanimously on which it was.”
Are the 15% people who weren’t going to vote for Trump but would change if he is convicted? Or are some of them people who were planning on voting for Trump and a conviction just makes them more certain of their vote? And similarly for the 17%?
i would be in the 67% because it doesn’t make a difference. i will not vote for trump, ever. i’m sure there are others like me in the 67%.
“Convicted felon martyr Trump” is a deal I will accept.
You may be on to something. I would find this more satisfying as a citizen that justice is being done. A few hundred hours of community service might help teach him the value of service to others our society should hold in high regard. Develop the old work ethic too…say, picking up trash on the side of the highway, or removing animal wastes from a park while wearing an orange jumpsuit as a half dozen reporters follow him around at a given time with cameras in tow. This would inculcate better values in the convicted than any stint in the Big House Up the River ever would.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Good one!
.nvm.
If there are reporters with cameras, no way he works. He’ll stand there and hold court, bloviating away, and finish the day with an empty bag.
Though if he gets a hardass work-crew supervisor who credits him with zero time like that one episode of Better Call Saul, that would be exceptionally satisfying.
That’s exactly my point: the way the poll was structured, we don’t know.
Frankly, I don’t give a crap if a never-Trumper is even less likely to vote for Trump if he’s convicted, nor do I care if a MAGA is going to see a conviction as a badge of honor. Neither one has any effect on the election.
What IS interesting is how it changes someone’s vote. If Jen isn’t sure who she’ll vote for, but a conviction makes her less likely to vote for Trump, or an acquittal makes her likelier to vote for Trump, that’s definitely something I care about.
The way the poll is written, it sounds as if there are people for whom the opposite is true: people who aren’t sure who they’ll vote for, but if Trump is convicted, that’s the news that’ll tip them into voting for him. And I’m just not convinced that such people comprise more than a sideshow.
I think you are precisely right. The lesson of Watergate turned out to be never steal anything small. Steal a crust of bread, and you’re jailed. Steal an election, you’re an elder statesman. And there’s a straight line from Watergate to Trump.