MAGA Meltdown Over Trump Verdict

It didn’t take all that long for a New York jury to find former president Donald J. Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to unlawfully influence the 2016 election. 

After slightly less than ten hours reviewing evidence and testimony, at approximately 4:20pm the jurors notified Judge Merchan that they’d concluded their deliberations. 

Prosecutors brought forth facts, witnesses were under oath, and jurors who did not need him to keep them in positions of power, The defense was mostly an offense with in-court and in-public attacks on the facts, the judge, those testifying and the jury panel.

Even juror #2, who’d told the court that she relies on Truth Social for news, voted guilty 34 times. 

This occasion was the first time in his life Trump has been called to account for his actions. He’s no longer “Teflon Don,” just a politician with anger issues and a weak sphincter.

The verdict, I think, won’t have a direct effect on the election results in November. We’re one-fourth of the way through the traditional time period for a general election campaign. Polls of registered voters don’t mean squat. People’s feelings about a candidate are a huge factor in voting decisions and right now many people haven’t decided how they’re feeling.

None-the-less, the importance of the general election is just about the only thing partisans agreed upon. 

Quip of the day: “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” Trump said in a stormy appearance after court.

Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg had a different take: "The only voice that matters is the voice of the jury and the jury has spoken."

Local commentary: It's not easy to be convicted of so many felonies that people can't even survive doing a shot for each one (h/t Lucas)

During the hours after the verdict, the right wing media universe raged on, spitting out accusations parroting those made by the defendant and his minions. All the noise amounted to a tribute to one man’s assault on American institutions in his quest for power. Untold millions will refuse to accept the fairness of the trial, overlooking the host of ironies at play.

The commentary from Trump supporters was rife with threats, implied or otherwise. A Newsmax host said the jurors in Trump's hush money trial “can never go anywhere without worry about being harassed.”

Megyn Kelly, who dared to ask hard questions during a 2016 debate, has learned her lesson after being personally and obscenely trashed by Trump.(“she’s got blood coming out of her wherever!”). Her observations included “They will rue the day they unleashed this lawfare to corrupt a presidential election.”

As reported by Reuters:

• Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.

• “Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” wrote one commentator on Patriots.Win. “Hopefully he gets met with illegals with a machete,” the post said in reference to illegal immigrants.

• On Gateway Pundit, one poster suggested shooting liberals after the verdict. “Time to start capping some leftys, [sic]” said the post. “This cannot be fixed by voting."

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Here’s a list of Republicans who defended the former president by saying his is innocent:

End of list.

President Biden himself did not formally address the verdict on Thursday, but he posted a fundraising appeal on X shortly after Trump was found guilty.

“There’s only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box,” he wrote. “Donate to our campaign today.”

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The Deep State’s decision to set sentencing on July 11, four days before the GOP convention, actually derived from a motion made by Trump’s lawyers.

Claims of political persecution directed by the Biden administration should remind the media about multiple stories dating to October 2020, detailing the Trump administration’s failure to get the federal bureaucracy to indict political opponents.

From Politico: 

• Donald Trump mounted an overnight Twitter blitz demanding to jail his political enemies and call out allies he says are failing to arrest his rivals swiftly enough.

• Trump twice amplified supporters’ criticisms of Attorney General William Barr, including one featuring a meme calling on him to “arrest somebody!” He wondered aloud why his rivals, like President Barack Obama, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hadn’t been imprisoned for launching a “coup” against his administration.

•  “Where are all of the arrests?” Trump said, after several dozen tweets on the subject over the past 24 hours. “Can you imagine if the roles were reversed? Long term sentences would have started two years ago. Shameful!”

The words “banana republic” and “third world nation” were common in many post trial diatribes, a tip of the MAGA hat to the foundation of racism used to scare voters.

I’m sure these fact-challenged talking heads would be shocked to learn about all the heads of state in democracies around the world who’ve been charged with crimes.

From Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

• As much as Trump supporters try to spin his conviction as unheard of and anti-democratic, it is neither of these things. Indeed, Mark de la Iglesia, writing over at Freedom House, examined how common cases against former heads of state really are. The answer? Far more common than you’d think, and definitely not the unprecedented banana republic situation Trump has always complained about. 

• De la Iglesia found that “43 percent of the world’s freest countries have seen their presidents or prime ministers charged with crimes since 2000.” That includes France, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Argentina, Israel, South Korea, and South Africa. 

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Aside from the lies about who chose Trump’s sentencing date, there has been too much speculation over what will result from this conviction. A few facts are in order.

In New York state a conviction isn’t official until sentencing has been made. Seeing the former president behind bars is fantasizing about something with slim-to-nothing odds. As Eric Trump stated several days ago outside the courthouse, his father is “white.”

After a conviction, Trump has 30 days to state in writing that he will appeal. He would have months more to file his actual appeal, 

Any sentence imposed by the judge will not begin until those appeals are exhausted. There is some bad news about the probable first round of those appeals, namely that Trump's oral argument appeal may be in front of the first all-Black women Appellate bench. Oh, and cases argued before that court are shown on YouTube.

FYI–Trump's complete lack of remorse for his crimes can now be a factor considered in his sentencing.

There has also been some back and forth about whether the former president will be able to vote in the November election. These discussions are spurious, since –again– he won’t be a convicted felon until his appeals have been resolved.

Moreover, Trump wasn’t convicted in Florida. He was convicted in New York, and Florida law says someone is only ineligible to vote in Florida if they would be ineligible in the state where the conviction occurred. In New York, people on parole or probation can vote, as can people who were not sentenced to prison or who finished their prison sentence.

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In case you haven’t noticed, following the verdict there was a demand for Republican elected officials to denounce the case and the verdict.

Maryland Republican and Senate candidate Larry Hogan told voters to "respect the verdict’,." and promptly heard back from Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump advisor that his “campaign in the state was over.”’

NBC News reported that GOP National Committee director James Blair led a call with all 50 Republican state party chairs in the wake of the verdict.

San Diego politicians heard and obeyed. With Carl DeMaio saying a first year law student could see through the case and Rep. Darrell Issa sending his take on social media:

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Weekend Writings Worth Your Time

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The Monopoly Case Against Ticketmaster, Explained via 404Media:

• Explaining this corporate structure and business “flywheel,” and its harms, makes up the bulk of the DOJ’s lawsuit against Live Nation. 

• “Live Nation directly manages more than 400 musical artists and, in total, controls around 60% of concert promotions at major concert venues across the country. Live Nation also owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America, including more than 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters in the United States. For comparison, its closest rival owns no more than a handful of top amphitheaters,” the lawsuit states. “And, of course, through Ticketmaster, Live Nation controls roughly 80% or more of major concert venues’ primary ticketing for concerts and a growing share of ticket resales in the secondary market,” the lawsuit states. “Because of the interrelated nature of contracts in the industry, money often flows in multiple directions to and from various intermediaries, sometimes in both directions for a single show.”

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Why are California workers waiting so long on wage theft claims? A new audit has answers Via CalMatters

• The result, according to the audit of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office, is a backlog of 47,000 claims that take six times longer to resolve than the four months set in state law. 

• Workers are left waiting years for money they claim they are owed when their employers fail to pay the minimum wage, overtime premiums or legally required break times. Then, those who need the office’s help to collect on their back pay only get all their money back 12% of the time.

• The audit confirms the findings of several recent news reports on the problem, including a 2022 CalMatters series detailing long waits and low payouts for workers making claims. 

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Majority of US voters support climate litigation against big oil, poll shows via The Guardian

• As US communities take big oil to court for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis, polling shared with the Guardian shows that a majority of voters support the litigation, while almost half would back an even more aggressive legal strategy of filing criminal charges.

• The poll, which comes as the world’s first-ever criminal climate lawsuit was brought in France last week, could shed light on how, if filed, similar US cases might be viewed by a jury.

• The 40 existing US lawsuits against major oil companies, filed by cities and states, are based on civil charges such as tort law and racketeering protections. But last year, the consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen proposed also filing criminal charges – most notably, homicide – against the companies.