# Will Trump go to jail once he leaves office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 17, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548 "2020-01-17T04:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/21 "2020-01-18T03:09:58Z")
I was thinking about this and I think I’d be happier with lots and lots of hours of community service. Jail’s too good for him. I want to see him in an orange jumpsuit picking up trash by the side of the highway. (This presumes that he doesn’t actually shoot someone on Fifth Avenue.) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/22 "2020-01-18T03:38:17Z")
Other countries have sent former leaders to prison. List here and it’s not a short list: [List of heads of government who were later imprisoned - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_government_who_were_later_imprisoned) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/23 "2020-01-18T04:25:19Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I was thinking about this and I think I’d be happier with lots and lots of hours of community service. Jail’s too good for him. I want to see him in an orange jumpsuit picking up trash by the side of the highway. (This presumes that he doesn’t actually shoot someone on Fifth Avenue.) John Edwards (who was the democratic VP candidate in 2004) was facing 30 years in prison for using campaign funds to pay off a mistress. Thats just one of the many crimes Trump is accused of (he used campaign funds to pay off porn stars he slept with, his attorney Michael Cohen is currently in prison for doing this with him). He deserves much worse than community service. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/24 "2020-01-18T17:23:39Z")
I would be happy just to see him do a perp walk in handcuffs. That’s not likely though, he would probably turn himself in with a lawyer and post bond and go home. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/25 "2020-01-19T09:37:53Z")
What I wrote yesterday in the GQ thread about politicians going to jail seems to fit in this thread too: > [@Highest ranking judges and politicians who have been indicted or imprisoned](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-ranking-judges-and-politicians-who-have-been-indicted-or-imprisoned/846624/7): > > In the United States, we seem to have a strong ethic of not throwing prior or opposing political leaders in jail because in the United States, we just don’t do things that way. > > OTOH, that also implies that we don’t imprison or even prosecute prior or opposing political leaders no matter how much it might appear warranted, because we don’t want to create even the appearance of throwing prior or opposing political leaders in jail just because of politics. > > Big precedent from fairly recent history was Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon (which was widely considered to have cost Ford the following election). > > It seems quite plausible that Trump will be treated likewise. That was Post #7 there. Several other posters posted responses, if you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/26 "2020-01-19T10:28:46Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > After Trump leaves office we need to find a way to come back together as a nation, and unless Trump commits acts that are so egregious that even the majority of the Republican party wants him gone, then prosecuting him once he leaves office is just going to make things even worse. Better to do our best to ignore him and leave it up to historians to judge him. If I could have my way I would ideally like to have a [truth and reconciliation committee](https://newrepublic.com/article/148270/nothing-creation-hidden) set up to fully expose everything that went down in the Trump campaign and presidency. At this point I don’t really want justice or revenge, I just want the Truth laid out bare for everyone to see. > Even if he was convicted of a jailable offense, given the security considerations, and overall optics of the situation, I think he would probably be allowed to stay in Mar Largo or one of his other properties under house arrest. The Secret Service protection alone would be a nightmare to coordinate. He’d still be eligible for the bodyguards, right? No chance he goes to anything more than a federal country club, and that’s a stretch. Home incarceration. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/27 "2020-01-20T23:23:20Z")
All that said, however, I’ve seen it predicted that Trump will, at the very least, spend the rest of his natural life fighting legal battles. Apparently, though, he thoroughly enjoys doing just that. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/28 "2020-01-20T23:27:21Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > All that said, however, I’ve seen it predicted that Trump will, at the very least, spend the rest of his natural life fighting legal battles. > > Apparently, though, he thoroughly enjoys doing just that. It’s the old “wrestling with a pig” scenario. “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” - GB Shaw ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548/29 "2020-01-21T14:34:16Z")
If he wasn’t rich and connected, he’d spend the rest of his life in prison. As it is, though, his lawyers will run out the clock. He’ll die before having to pay any consequences- he is \*not \*a healthy man. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-go-to-jail-once-he-leaves-office/846548.md?page=1)