Convicted! Now What?

So, now we have the spectacle of a convicted felon running as the potential candidate of one of our two major political parties. A jury of his peers in Manhattan found the former US President guilty as charged on 34 felony counts dealing with falsifying business records to cover up payments to hide an illicit relationship with a porn star. This action was taken to protect the 2016 election campaign already reeling from the Access Holywood tapes. False election reports were filed that did not reflect these payments. The jury agreed with the prosecution’s assertion that the former president knew of and took part in this scheme.

Headlines across the country blared the banner headline:

GUILTY!

A convicted felon runs for president! Ordinarily, such a headline would evoke derision and laughter. The Republican Party is doubling down on this message and hysterically screaming against the entire legal process. The Speaker of the House, Michael Johnson, joined the former president in calling for the
Supreme Court to overturn the conviction before the scheduled July 11^th sentencing date.

But, according to Axios, the nation’s highest court can only get involved if there is a unique constitutional or federal law question, and then after state appeals processes were exhausted. The appeals process also cannot start before the sentencing date. Any appeal through the New York state courts could take several months and extend far past the November election.      

Recently, I noticed this quote from Carl Sagan and thought that it was appropriate for this time in our history:

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: if we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozler. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozler has captured us. It is too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.

Once you’ve given a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

“The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”. On page 241.

A day after the verdict, many pollsters conducted instant polls: the results were harsh and showed that many voters no longer supported his candidacy. As Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC blog reported:

The ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 50% of voters agreed with the jury verdict and 49% said that he should end his candidacy.

Reuters said that 10% of Republicans were less likely to vote for him as were 25% of polled Independents. Support for President Biden was up by 2%.

CBS/You Gov found that 54% of those sampled believed the trial was a fair process with 57% agreeing with the verdict.

The Morning Consult noted that 54% of their sample approved the verdict with 15% of Republicans calling for his campaign to end.

Other polls showed:

The left-leaning Data for Progressives indicated that 56% of all voters approved of the verdict with 57% of Independents and 60% of Swing voters agreeing.

Many voters wanted resolution of the other charged cases before the election. (Of course, DJT has been doing his best to delay every one of these trials.)

Justice delayed is justice denied, for the public, as well as the defendant. The efforts of the MAGA-funded multi-million dollar defense teams demonstrate many of the inequities in our justice system. Ordinary defendants would not have the budget to delay and appeal such things as change of venue, replacement of a judge, document discovery, or other delaying tactics they employed. Money did not buy a verdict of innocence, but it pushed back the trial date in this and the other cases. Just this week, another appeal delayed the Rico case in Georgia by attempting to remove District Attorney Fani Willis.

So, while these voter opinions are fresh decisions, we do not know how well memories and emotions will last until election day.  

The former president appeared on a recent Fox show and made some wild threats and comments, including claiming that he never said “lock her up” when campaigning against Hillary Clinton in 2016, despite video evidence to the contrary. Media comments pointed out the interview was heavily edited and wondered just how many wilder statements were not aired. Several appearances before the public were rambling and incoherent and so much so, that TV networks pulled away from live transmissions.

Since he cannot make his case coherently, his sycophants are stepping up and demanding that Congress hold hearings and go after Democrats. His enablers are calling for Republican Attorney Generals to go after opponents and Democrats, as are Senators Vance, Rubio, and Scott, among others. These wild accusations and irresponsible demands threaten the sanctity we have long held for our judicial and legislative processes. There remain several months until the election, so who knows to what extremes these fanatics will go? I hope more responsible voices will speak up for the benefit of our citizenry.

‘Til next week-Peace!