Incomplete Sentences
Trump scrambles to avoid being labeled a forever felon
In ninety minutes, the president-elect is scheduled to be sentenced by a New York judge for 34 felony convictions handed down by a jury last spring. In May, Donald Trump was found guilty of falsifying records of the hush money payments he made to Stormy Daniels to keep news of their affair from influencing the 2016 election.
The sentencing promises to be both a climax and anti-climax to what at one time stood out as only one of four prosecutions that promised a measure of accountability for a multitude of crimes committed by the once and future president.
There is no need to recount the successful machinations Trump employed to avoid accountability in the other cases, which involved delay tactics that received a huge assist from the Supreme Court and a friendly judge in Florida. Trump rolled the dice that if he could prevent those trials from starting and then win re-election, he could make the charges go away.
He did, and he will.
But that one case in New York slipped through. Sometimes regarded as the least significant of the four because it “only” involved trying to influence the outcome of an election (rather than trying to overturn one), Trump’s best efforts could not prevent a jury from hearing the case. And although the convictions were tied to dry charges of falsifying business records, a jury of Trump’s peers determined that he in fact is guilty of 34 felony counts.
For those of us who feel that crime without punishment is a formula for more crime, the sentencing will be a disappointment. Judge Juan Merchan has signaled his “inclination not to impose any sentence of incarceration” because of the impracticality of sending the president to prison, and suggested he is leaning toward granting Trump an “unconditional discharge.” This means Trump would escape without penalty.
An unconditional discharge may make sense as a functional matter but it still feels like incomplete justice, especially in light of how the electorate rewarded Trump with a second term despite knowing they were electing a felon. It is perilous to the country that Trump’s criminality has only been rewarded.
That said, Trump has worked feverishly to block even a non-sentence.
Originally scheduled for July, Trump managed to delay sentencing for months while the election campaign was taking place and the Supreme Court was considering his immunity petition. Once elected, Trump moved to throw out the convictions or have sentencing paused indefinitely.
On Monday, however, Merchan denied Trump’s last-minute motion to halt the sentencing. Yesterday, New York state’s highest court concurred. Then yesterday evening, the U.S. Supreme Court—in a distressingly narrow 5-4 decision—refused to stop the sentencing as well, leaving Trump out of options. He will be sentenced today.
Why is Donald Trump working so hard to prevent sentencing when the judge essentially assured him that he will face no penalties?
