I am curious what mecanism would save him from prison at this point. Power should have shielded him from investigations, the DOJ, the FBI, from the indictments going through, from the grand jury indicting him, but here we are. At this point, people usually end up in prison. What if the jury and judge give prison time, what law or mecanism is gonna prevent it? I mean, we know that he could get a pardon, but that is about it.
At this point, Trump has about 4 ways to avoid prison, not all of them likely:
First, he could beat all the charges outright. While Judge Cannon might throw the case in Florida, I don’t think he could beat every charge and avoid all punishments. One of the problems he’s facing with the multiple indictments is that it only takes one sticking to land him in prison for years, if not decades.
Secondly, he could plea out. Like the last option, this is unlikely. Maybe he could reach a deal in one case (though I doubt it without an admission of guilt and prison time), but all 4 (including Georgia)? Highly unlikely.
Third, he could get reelected and pardon himself. This might work for the federal cases, but won’t work in the upcoming Georgia case.
Finally, the most realistic option, Trump could be convicted and sentenced, but the reality of security concerns over a former President being in prison keeps him out of an actual cell. Instead, he’s stuck in a “cell” on some military base or in Mar-A-Lago which gets taken over and converted into a “prison for one.”
For the latter, it would involve nobody else allowed on property who isn’t part of security or supporting the “prison.” Trump’s room would be stripped to the bare walls and a prison cot tossed in the room. He’d spend most of his time in the bare room without TV, a phone, or anything else - only allowed out for meals (prison food, not his usual Mar-A-Lago fare) and maybe an hour of “outside time.” So while he technically wouldn’t be in prison, he’d be effectively locked up.
It’s probably less about the benefits, and more about what he knows as a former president. Though I doubt he actually read any of those stolen documents enough to comprehend them or paid attention in any of his security meetings, they would probably need to treat him as if he did and create a high-security special containment protocol for representing not only a physical threat to the nation, but a knowledge-threat as well.
Another real-albeit-unlikely possibility: Imagine him getting thrown into a normal high security prison, getting all the other criminals to rally behind him, overthrowing the prison guards, escaping, and rallying his MAGA troops on the outside for coup-attempt No. 2. Regardless of likelihood, facist leaders should be removed from their main weapon: an audience.
Which, if that happened, means all those who are on his side need to lose their jobs and protections.
No hyperbole: this is a coup, it’s ongoing, and we need to cut out the toxicity.
It’s like the “this is fine” meme, but some people are actively trying to continue burning down the house. If they can’t be stopped from continuing the burn the place down, they need to be escorted out and remove any and all arsonist-related abilities / materials. If they continue even after that, they need to be jailed.
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Biden pardoned him, not because it would make any sense at all, but because we live in bizarro-world now and that makes sense there.
IMO the best case scenario is trump goes to jail and Biden announces he’s not running for re-election. Biden not running being symbolic to show it wasn’t about winning the election, it was about upholding the rule of law. I know that won’t happen because Biden is too proud of himself to do that, but that simple gesture would do a lot to heal this country.
While I’d like that too, considered in and of itself, the lack of an obvious Democratic front-runner in Biden’s absence means I’d worry that would just be ceding the presidency to DeSantis.
I think the happy middle ground would be Biden rerunning with AOC as his vp. Kamala Harris isn’t popular, and that combined wihh Biden not being too popular is a recipe for trouble, that might be somewhat mitigated by having AOC drum up some support. However, I doubt DeSantis has a chance in hell of even getting a modicum of republican support, so I’m not that worried about him.
I think what will protect him is when this goes to the supreme court. However they manage to get it there, we’ll be at the mercy of the morally corrupt judges there. Whether they decide to pull some 6th century deer shit farming traditions out of their ass to justify their decision or not is what will determine the outcome.
I don’t think this court has ever been sympathetic towards Trump, or even the GOP, in the sense that what they want usually align but they don’t really care about Trump. They already rejected the state legislature theory and previous Trump claims. Don’t get me wrong, they suck, but their allegiance is not with Trump. They care about OG conservatives values and Christianity values. They’re anti liberal, not pro-Trump, if that somehow make sense.
Legally, I don’t think anything short of the plea deal of the century could keep him out of prison. Realistically? A mob of his supporters could try and break him out, which based on recent history might not be too far-fetched.
I am curious what mecanism would save him from prison at this point. Power should have shielded him from investigations, the DOJ, the FBI, from the indictments going through, from the grand jury indicting him, but here we are. At this point, people usually end up in prison. What if the jury and judge give prison time, what law or mecanism is gonna prevent it? I mean, we know that he could get a pardon, but that is about it.
At this point, Trump has about 4 ways to avoid prison, not all of them likely:
First, he could beat all the charges outright. While Judge Cannon might throw the case in Florida, I don’t think he could beat every charge and avoid all punishments. One of the problems he’s facing with the multiple indictments is that it only takes one sticking to land him in prison for years, if not decades.
Secondly, he could plea out. Like the last option, this is unlikely. Maybe he could reach a deal in one case (though I doubt it without an admission of guilt and prison time), but all 4 (including Georgia)? Highly unlikely.
Third, he could get reelected and pardon himself. This might work for the federal cases, but won’t work in the upcoming Georgia case.
Finally, the most realistic option, Trump could be convicted and sentenced, but the reality of security concerns over a former President being in prison keeps him out of an actual cell. Instead, he’s stuck in a “cell” on some military base or in Mar-A-Lago which gets taken over and converted into a “prison for one.”
For the latter, it would involve nobody else allowed on property who isn’t part of security or supporting the “prison.” Trump’s room would be stripped to the bare walls and a prison cot tossed in the room. He’d spend most of his time in the bare room without TV, a phone, or anything else - only allowed out for meals (prison food, not his usual Mar-A-Lago fare) and maybe an hour of “outside time.” So while he technically wouldn’t be in prison, he’d be effectively locked up.
If he’s convicted and sentenced, he deserves to lose ALL former presidential benefits.
He doesn’t respect the position, and thus, all benefits should be stripped from him.
It’s probably less about the benefits, and more about what he knows as a former president. Though I doubt he actually read any of those stolen documents enough to comprehend them or paid attention in any of his security meetings, they would probably need to treat him as if he did and create a high-security special containment protocol for representing not only a physical threat to the nation, but a knowledge-threat as well.
Another real-albeit-unlikely possibility: Imagine him getting thrown into a normal high security prison, getting all the other criminals to rally behind him, overthrowing the prison guards, escaping, and rallying his MAGA troops on the outside for coup-attempt No. 2. Regardless of likelihood, facist leaders should be removed from their main weapon: an audience.
Getting paid by the taxpayers, as well as his own lifetime security, are benefits that he needs to stop receiving.
I agree with everything else you said.
I suppose this would need to go through congress to happen. Very unlikely to succeed.
Which, if that happened, means all those who are on his side need to lose their jobs and protections.
No hyperbole: this is a coup, it’s ongoing, and we need to cut out the toxicity.
It’s like the “this is fine” meme, but some people are actively trying to continue burning down the house. If they can’t be stopped from continuing the burn the place down, they need to be escorted out and remove any and all arsonist-related abilities / materials. If they continue even after that, they need to be jailed.
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Biden pardoned him, not because it would make any sense at all, but because we live in bizarro-world now and that makes sense there.
IMO the best case scenario is trump goes to jail and Biden announces he’s not running for re-election. Biden not running being symbolic to show it wasn’t about winning the election, it was about upholding the rule of law. I know that won’t happen because Biden is too proud of himself to do that, but that simple gesture would do a lot to heal this country.
While I’d like that too, considered in and of itself, the lack of an obvious Democratic front-runner in Biden’s absence means I’d worry that would just be ceding the presidency to DeSantis.
I think the happy middle ground would be Biden rerunning with AOC as his vp. Kamala Harris isn’t popular, and that combined wihh Biden not being too popular is a recipe for trouble, that might be somewhat mitigated by having AOC drum up some support. However, I doubt DeSantis has a chance in hell of even getting a modicum of republican support, so I’m not that worried about him.
trump also hates Desantis, and so do much trumpets. If trump does not run Biden is sure to get reelected.
I think what will protect him is when this goes to the supreme court. However they manage to get it there, we’ll be at the mercy of the morally corrupt judges there. Whether they decide to pull some 6th century deer shit farming traditions out of their ass to justify their decision or not is what will determine the outcome.
I don’t think this court has ever been sympathetic towards Trump, or even the GOP, in the sense that what they want usually align but they don’t really care about Trump. They already rejected the state legislature theory and previous Trump claims. Don’t get me wrong, they suck, but their allegiance is not with Trump. They care about OG conservatives values and Christianity values. They’re anti liberal, not pro-Trump, if that somehow make sense.
They’re more like Mitch McConnell, and he obviously hates Trump.
Legally, I don’t think anything short of the plea deal of the century could keep him out of prison. Realistically? A mob of his supporters could try and break him out, which based on recent history might not be too far-fetched.
The same mechanism that kept OJ out of prison: money.