# Trump, potential incarceration, and Secret Service protection **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [April 19, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506 "2024-04-19T16:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/41 "2024-04-20T23:31:24Z")
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS, Chair of 1/6 Committee) is slowly coming around to my way of thinking: > **[Former Jan. 6 panel chair seeks to strip Secret Service protection from felons](https://news.yahoo.com/former-jan-6-panel-chair-185716575.html)** > > The former chair of the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee introduced a bill Friday that would strip Secret Service protection of any former executive convicted of a felony — an effort to avoid the complications of incarcerating former President Trump... > [@](#): > > The former chair of the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee introduced a bill Friday that would strip Secret Service protection of any former executive convicted of a felony — an effort to avoid the complications of incarcerating former President Trump should he be ordered to serve jail time. > > Dubbed the “Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act,” the legislation from Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) would nix the lifelong protection given to former presidents if they are convicted and sentenced for a felony that carries a year or more in prison time. Nice. Fiscally conservative, too! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/42 "2024-04-20T23:35:53Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS, Chair of 1/6 Committee) is slowly coming around to my way of thinking: Something tells me Bennie Thompson has been thinking about this for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/43 "2024-04-20T23:38:23Z")
You haven’t? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/44 "2024-04-20T23:39:34Z")
🤭 🤭 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/45 "2024-04-21T02:19:50Z")
My only problem with naming an act “DISGRACED” when applying it to Trump is that he was never “graced” in the first place. I think it’s a sensible law though, even ignoring current events. One that once upon a time might seem unnecessary. How times have changed. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/46 "2024-04-21T06:37:11Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I think it’s a sensible law though, There is another aspect about jailing a president: not just the need for armed guards to protect him from bad people, but also the need (with armed guards) to PREVENT him from contacting bad people.(i.e Russian spies). Trump will openly want revenge. Once he has nothing to lose, he will give away every state secret he knows. Keeping a ring of surveillience around him is a matter of national security. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/47 "2024-04-21T06:49:01Z")
if he went to prison he’d be like the one don in Godfather 2 who turned on the Cololeone family but didn’t actually testify He’d be in a special cell/yard with agents guarding around him But since it is not violent crime Id think some sort of house arrest would be negotiated ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/48 "2024-04-21T08:48:54Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > There is another aspect about jailing a president: > not just the need for armed guards to protect him from bad people, but also the need (with armed guards) to PREVENT him from contacting bad people.(i.e Russian spies). Note that the bill would remove **protection** , it doesn’t mean he can’t be monitored if necessary. > [@chappachula](#): > > Once he has nothing to lose, he will give away every state secret he knows. I’m also not worried about that. This is a guy that never paid attention in security briefings and only cared about neat-looking pictures (this was actually reported). His biggest security threat was sharing sensitive documents he stole (which I know is the subject of a different thread, not this one). I doubt there is much actually in his head that’s a danger to the country. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/49 "2024-04-21T11:28:40Z")
I’ll go out on a limb and predict that – if incarcerated, or even confined – he’d decline at a _much_ faster rate than Joe Biden. At some point, nobody would be _taking_ this guy’s calls. Fred Trump, father to Donald (et al), ended up with dementia, having been formally diagnosed in his 80’s. Donald … is nearly 78, lest we forget. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/50 "2024-04-21T12:57:07Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS, Chair of 1/6 Committee) is slowly coming around to my way of thinking: After release, the Secret Service protection would again be needed. I would vote against this because of the principle that ex-convicts should be restored to their normal place in society to the greatest degree practical. The reason for the Secret Service to stay out of prisons is that they would interfere with normal lockup operations. It should not be seen as a penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/51 "2024-04-21T17:20:53Z")
I don’t actually want Trump’s Secret Service protection to be taken away. The Republicans might have the lion’s share of the crazies, but not all of them, and without protection, Trump likely would be assassinated. Which would turn him into a martyr, and then we’d never be rid of his particular brand of fascism. Plus, of course, the whole not wishing death on anyone thing. Just let them protect his prison cell. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/52 "2024-04-21T19:34:01Z")
I don’t think an incarcerated Trump will ever be in physical danger. He will be well-protected, whatever the source of that security. No one would want that problem on their watch. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/53 "2024-04-21T19:43:25Z")
I’ve wondered if that was the ultimate goal of the Republican Party-Support him publicly, do nothing to actually keep him out of jail, then use the image of a jailed Trump to rally the troops…and more the better if something happens to him while he is incarcerated. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/54 "2024-04-23T14:31:03Z")
@Aeschines [**posted a Salon article yesterday**](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-be-the-republican-party-nominee-in-2024/996834/690) in which a former federal prosecutor opined at length about why Judge Merchan would be reluctant to jail Trump for contempt: > **(_Chauncey DeVega, Salon senior writer_) Donald Trump is continuing to violate the gag order(s) placed on him by threatening and trying to intimidate the judges, prosecutors, district attorney, prospective jurors and other people involved in his trials. If he was a regular private citizen, he would likely be in prison by now. But could Trump’s behavior actually be part of a bigger strategy, where he actually wants to go to prison? Trump is very devious and was a student of master dirty trickster Roy Cohn. We can’t overlook that.** > > (_former federal prosecutor Kenneth McCallion_) I think that Donald Trump is probably trying to get himself thrown into prison or in a soundproof plexiglass box in the courtroom. This would enhance the narrative of martyrdom he is promoting, which resonates with his base. Neither Trump nor most of his die-hard base want to confront the stark reality that the problems they face are largely of their own making, and the result of a series of terrible choices made along with way. In fact, he had an exchange during the civil trial in New York before Judge Engoron where he was basically daring the judge to put him in jail. The judge said, basically, “I know you want me to hold you in contempt and put you in jail, and at some point, I’m going to have to do that, but not now.” In the current hush money criminal trial, there is a gag order. Ultimately, if Trump keeps violating it, there will be severe consequences, financial if not otherwise. But it’s difficult because you can’t really try somebody on criminal charges in absentia from jail. The optics do not look particularly good for the country if we have a Nuremberg-type trial with a glass or plexiglass cage for Donald Trump. It would look too much like one of those political show trials for opposition leaders in the former Soviet Union that led to pre-ordained executions. > > It’s starting to dawn on Trump that this is all not going to end well for him. Trump may well just break out into a carefully calculated “unhinged” rant before the case goes to the jury. It reminds me of a basketball coach who gets himself thrown out of the game to inspire the players. If Trump was put in prison for contempt that would make his followers even more enthusiastic and loyal. It’s a real tough call for a judge to make because you really need the defendant in the courtroom. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/55 "2024-04-23T16:22:24Z")
I’m following the Yahoo News live feed and they link to a NYT report (Yahoo version [here](https://www.yahoo.com/news/could-trump-prison-does-secret-122213421.html)) about ongoing talks for how to handle jailing Trump. The live blog (which does not seem to allow linking to specific posts, hence the cut-and-paste) lists Trump-specific things the Secret Service would need to do: ``` He would need to be kept separate from other inmates. Food and other personal items would be screened daily. Armed Secret Service agents would rotate in and out of the facility 24/7. Secret Service agents may need to be housed near the facility as well, possibly on the grounds. ``` This doesn’t seem like it would be a logistical challenge beyond their capabilities. The article mentions that New York has no shortage of closed or nearly closed prisons that could re-purpose an appropriate area. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/56 "2024-04-23T17:26:12Z")
does ny have family visit trailers? that would keep him separate and away from others. or just put a fema trailer/ tiny house on the grounds of the chosen facility. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/57 "2024-04-24T12:41:33Z")
Yup. Should be easy. Stick him in a trailer, and have a guard or two outside. And forget about the asshole. It would be better than most inmates get. I’d let him have unlimited access to TV and books. That will probably be punishment enough. History will not be kind to him. I actually feel sorry for the Secret Service people. I doubt they are all MAGAs. But it’s probably a pretty good paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/58 "2024-04-24T13:00:54Z")
I’d be fine with finding a small house out in the boonies to jail him in. We could even let him have all the coke and McDonalds he wants. But no ice cream, he’s been a very bad boy. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/59 "2024-04-24T21:14:51Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I’d let him have unlimited access to TV and books What’s he going to do with books? And TV is a quandary. I’d love him to stew without it, but on the other hand, it would be fun to him to see he’s being ignored for forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506/60 "2024-04-24T21:17:47Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > What’s he going to do with books? Sign them. One _does_ tend to wax nostalgic in stir. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-potential-incarceration-and-secret-service-protection/1000506.md?page=4)