The Dying Embers of the Rule of Law

A convicted felon now and forever

Despite being a mere two weeks away from retaking power, Donald seems desperate to avoid being sentenced in New York on Friday. Justice Merchan, who presided over the election interference case (commonly and erroneously referred to as the hush money case) in which the defendant was found guilty on all 34 criminal counts, announced last week that the felon will indeed be sentenced on January 10. Merchan also made it clear that the so-called sentence he imposes will amount to very little.

Merchan wrote that he will “not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation.” He added that "a sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options." In other words, there will be no jail time, no probation, and very possibly no fine.

And yet, in the wake of this news, Donald has taken to social media to express his displeasure, lashing out as if he believes he’s about to face the death penalty on Friday:

Every Legal Scholar and Pundit…have unequivocally stated that the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt is a nonexistent case…This illegitimate political attack is nothing but a Rigged Charade. “Acting” Justice Merchan…has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping an illegal gag order on me just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts.

I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department, an attack on their political opponent, ME! …I was hiding nothing…The judge should be disbarred! …A totally out of control, Trump hating judge, presided….I won against Deranged Jack Smith!

It may go without saying, but it’s still worth pointing out, that every word of the above is a lie. Of course, Donald wasn’t done. In addition to mischaracterizing the factual basis of the case, and the reasons it was brought, he complained, again, about the partial gag order Justice Merchan imposed during the trial, which is still in effect:

D.A. Alvin Bragg never wanted to bring this lawless case against me. ..-what the CORRUPT and TOTALLY CONFLICTED POLITICAL HACK Judge (Merchan) did… I have, STILL, an Unconstitutional Gag Order where I am not allowed to speak about the Judge’s highly disqualifying Conflicts of Interest.…The legal system is broken… IT’S ALL RIGGED, against a political opponent, ME!!!

It’s important to remember why the gag order was imposed in the first place: Donald, who then and now has one of the largest platforms on the planet, threatened the Merchan, court staff, jurors, and prosecutors and their families.

In order to avoid Friday’s sentencing, Donald’s lawyers filed a “notice of automatic stay.” Merchan rejected this effort, Donald appealed, and the appellate judge also denied the stay.

Which is why Donald continued to go after Merchan and complain about the gag order today at his meandering, aggrieved, and mendacious “press conference” this morning at Mar-a-Lago.

Robert Mueller, Merrick Garland, Joe Biden, and the corrupt illegitimate super-majority of the Supreme Court all failed or refused to hold Donald to account for his many crimes. But DA Alvin Bragg and Justice Merchan at least saw this through to the end. They pulled punches, no doubt, and that is its own kind of tragedy, but at least they saw it through to the not particularly satisfying ened. Because, despite the fact that the sentencing on Friday will be a joke to those of us who care about, and indeed are desperate for, some accountability for this prolific criminal, it will set one thing in stone—Donald Trump is a convicted criminal. As such, he will be the first convicted criminal to be elected president of the United States.

Michale Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for helping Donald commit his crimes so it is perhaps cold comfort, but nobody can erase the fact that Donald is a felon who was found guilty by a jury of his peers, just as nobody can erase the fact that he is an adjudicated rapist, a business fraud, an insurrectionist, and a traitor. It will take a very long time to sift through all of the reasons that, in the end, none of that mattered to a plurality of the American electorate, but those are the facts about the incoming president.

And nothing Donald does or says can ever change that.