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Merchan, take note. This borders on threatening to incite violence. It may be relevant when it comes to the assessment of character or willingness to commit crime when weighing sentencing options.
I would think the 34 guilty verdicts are pretty clear indicators of his willingness to commit crime.
It’s unfortunately not. Class E nonviolent felonies could result in prison time, but it’s not likely. Sentencing is determined based on character, severity of crime, and likelihood to commit another crime. Being a former President, even a shitty one, speaks highly of his character in court. Merchan said as much during his gag order hearing. The only way he’ll see prison is if Merchan cites reason to believe he’s likely to commit another crime without “rehabilitation.”
Surely he's fucked then? He commits crimes constantly and character-wise, he's the biggest douchebag in the history of America.
Thinking of his character reminds me of something written by one of my countrymen in 2016:
“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”
"A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?’ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set." - Nate White
This Nate White fellow has a way with words. I wish he'd do Ted Cruz next.
Motherfucker (not you, just general expletive), the dude is a habitual liar, crime lord, and violence instigator.
If Marchan lets him walk away with a slap on the wrist, I'm going to riot. Just because he was president doesn't mean he's "of high moral character." He's dancing all over our legal system with zero consequences.
It’s not just because he was President. The standard sentencing is a fine. Merchan has room to sentence prison, but needs to have a strong justification. Otherwise it’ll just be used as argument for bias in the appeal hearing.
What if he's likely to commit another crime even with rehabilitation?
The court considers prison “rehabilitative incarceration.” I used quotes both times to keep from throwing up in my mouth a little.