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Trump is losing it over January 10th sentencing [1]
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Date: 2025-01-06
The way that Judge Juan Merchan has decided to conclude the case against Donald Trump, saying ahead of time that he's not going to impose jail time, fines, or probation, has left Trump's lawyers with no avenue to appeal.
You may have thought that the judge was giving up by not actually giving Trump a stiff sentence, but it turns out he's craftier than we thought.
Laurence Tribe says that, "With all the talk about Judge Merchan's plan to to impose a sentence without jail time or a fine and with unconditional discharge on January 10th, I'd urge him instead to condition Trump's discharge on obeying the presidential oath he will take on January 20th. That's a promise we know he won't keep."
In the order he issued Friday afternoon, Judge Merchan wrote, "The significance of the fact that the verdict was handed down by a unanimous jury of 12 of the defendant's peers, after trial, cannot possibly be overstated. Indeed, the sanctity of a jury verdict and the deference that must be accorded to it, is a bedrock principle in our nation's jurisprudence."
Joyce Vance' opinion is that, "By announcing his intent of an unconditional discharge, Judge Merchan takes the wind out of Trump's legal arguments for delaying sentencing. He deprives the appellate courts of solid reasons to put off sentencing."
"...it would be difficult to articulate any unique harm from sentencing. Trump has, after all, been convicted and re-elected despite that fact."
Trump will try one last stab at the appeals court to stop sentencing, but there are no avenues to justify "harm" when the result of the sentence is an unconditional discharge. Trump can appear remotely, so there is no way to claim that it interferes with the presidential transition.
"... once Trump has been sentenced, the clock is ticking on his appeal... once the appellate process is complete, that's it. Trump can rail all he wants, but it's over. He will forever be a convicted felon."
Trump has said he's going to appeal the verdict, but he can't do that until he is sentenced.
Trump seems to have gotten a clue about the situation. He's getting desperate. His lawyers have probably told him it's the end of the road. Sure he can appeal, even take it to the Supreme Court, but that will not change the fact of the conviction and the sentencing. So, here's the latest Trump had to say.
Gee, Donald, if Alvin Bragg never wanted to bring the case against you, how come it happened? He's even going on the attack at Mark Pomerantz, who wrote a book about his work on the case before leaving, saying that he was upset that Bragg wasn't following through on an immediate prosecution.
He's even accusing Biden and Harris, using the Department of Justice, of impossibly forcing a Manhattan district attorney to proceed with a case he didn't want to. And he goes off the third person cliff calling himself the persecuted "TRUMP."
Then we get to his greatest hits of adjectives all in caps, with corrupt, and totally conflicted political hack. It's a sham trial. Oh, poor Donnie.
Conflicts of interest. He still wants to go after the judge's daughter and the $50 donation Judge Merchan made. He still thinks he can invalidate the verdict by invalidating the judge. Two days ago Trump called for the judge to be disbarred. Not happening. The last time Trump got smacked down for trying to replace the judge was in August, when the original sentencing date was September 10th. It was also the third time the judge had to tell Trump that there were no grounds for recusal.
At least he qualified it this time saying that "virtually" no legal scholar or pundit could see a case against him. Before it was always "all." But he forgot to put a "y" at the end of "ever." "...ever legal scholar." He's so far gone he no longer knows "the best words."
I don't think the judge is going to take kindly to being accused of making up facts and the law. That's contempt of court right in print. Bragg will let the judge know, if the judge doesn't already.
Judicial and prosecutorial witch hunts. He finally got in "witch hunts."
Businesses leaving New York in droves and losing, in all caps, billions of dollars in taxes. Cite one example. Millions of jobs leaving. Is that New York City, or the state of New York? If it's Manhattan, that would leave a negative population. Who do you know who is leaving? Oh, it's you. You're going to be going to Washington, D.C. soon. The only taxes you've ever paid in recent memory was that one year for $750, and that was federal, not state, so I don't think anybody needs to worry about the loss of tax revenue.
Because Judge Merchan figured out a way to actually do something to Trump, the legal system must be broken.
He at least got a little creative talking about businesses getting caught in quicksand. That's a new one.
"IT'S ALL RIGGED in this case against a political opponent, ME!" Elections are rigged. Trials are rigged. He forgot juries. Hmm, that might have violated the gag order. Better to say it's "all" rigged.
We're still waiting for the first blood vessel to burst. Me, me, me again.
The biggest telltale sign that he's out to lunch? He didn't end it with MAGA or Make America Great Again, with lots of exclamation points.
3 hours later he did another missive about how tariffs are going to make us all rich, no taxes on tips, and a lot of other garbage, but he ended it with make America great again, all in caps.
This morning, at 4:24 a.m., he had to quote the most ridiculous statement of all time:
"Had this election not been won by Donald Trump, civilization would be lost." - Elon Musk.
This coming Friday, 9:30 a.m., Donald Trump is going to meet his doom. In years to come, we might celebrate January 10th as a new holiday. It's not going to be a good day for Donald John Trump.
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