Today's jury finding in the Donald Trump hush money trial was both surprising and somewhat inevitable: on the one hand, he has become the first former president in American history to be found guilty of a felony (actually, its 34 felony counts, to be exact). This is truly a historical moment, and proof that our judicial system can work even against the most powerful of people.
On the other hand, its's not shocking to anyone who's been following the trial; the evidence of Trump's illegal payoffs were numerous, from signed checks to recorded conversations discussing them. Even if the jury were to disregard the testimony of admitted liar and thief Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer turned informer, there was just too much evidence to ignore. As Mitt Romney recently put it, "You don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you"!
Because this will be Trump's first conviction and the crime isn't violent, he probably will be put on probation instead of serving actual jail time when his sentencing arrives in July. Still, this is a very big moment, as the words "convicted felon" can now be put in front of his name instead of "former president". And for news media followers like me, it's very satisfying to see a man who has danced on the edge of criminality for years without consequence finally get what's coming to him. While two other recent financial court decisions against him recently (one for defamation of character, the other for fraud) must have stung, nothing hits harder than a felony conviction.
The big question now is how will this change the presidential race, given that recent polls have Trump beating President Biden in several swing states? I really hope that this conviction will be the final straw for Republicans who will, at long last, turn against his lies and corruption. But I doubt it. Not when the right wing media will scream that the whole trial was rigged. Not when the party has stood by him after the access Hollywood tape in 2016, his 2 impeachments as president and his continued lies about the 2020 election and January 6th. Trump's son is already trying to spin this as good for his campaign, a frightening thought.
But even if he does hold onto the party base, will swing voters, many of whom have not been paying attention to the campaign or this trial, finally wake up? I am cautiously optimistic that the majority of Americans not firmly in the Trump camp, the ones who voted him out last time, will realize that even though Joe Biden is old and on the wrong side of some issues for you, he's no convicted criminal.
No comments:
Post a Comment