May 31, 2024

"[T]he conviction of a former president is novel only in the American context."

"Many global heads of state of democratic countries (France, Japan, Israel, etc.) have gone to prison.... The incongruity of the Manhattan case as the venue for Trump’s legal humiliation is that it did not represent his worst crimes, or close to it. The case was always marginal, the kind of charge you would never bring against a regular first-time offender. It was the sort of charge you’d concoct if the target is a bad guy and you want to nail him for something. This, too, is not without precedent. Al Capone’s conviction for tax evasion is the paradigmatic example.... The legal ramifications of this weakness will play out in some indeterminate, possibly terrible fashion.... Life isn’t fair, nor is the legal system...."


Possibly terrible.... It's obviously terrible. It's only a question of which form of terribleness lies ahead.

So Chait is openly saying the the legal system isn't fair and Trump was convicted for being "a bad guy." You want us non-haters to just accept that, as if it's a form of world-weary sophistication? No, you will have to bear the weight of the consequences of persecuting a political opponent. You should not get off easy. 

131 comments:

Joe said...

"worst crimes" ?

imTay said...

Yeah, like Imran Kahn, who was removed from office and imprisoned in Pakistan, despite being the most popular politician in the country, for revealing that there existed a diplomatic cable from the United States ordering the parliament to remove and imprison him or there would be dire consequences for Pakistan, and for them personally.

Remember that it was the US that ran those banana republics through our intelligence agency, so it's not like this kind of stuff is novel to us.

Derve Swanson said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
RideSpaceMountain said...

"You should not get off easy."

There will be no easy anymore, not for any of us. This will be the new normal. Our system was never frictionless, but now it will be all friction all the time.

Chait is right though about one thing, all friction all the time is pretty much how the rest of the world operates. Americans are so unprepared for the new normal. I've seen it personally in most of the world and it will suck bigly.

Gospace said...

The incongruity of the Manhattan case as the venue for Trump’s legal humiliation is that it did not represent his worst crimes, or close to it.

Ah, yes, his worst crimes. Yep, those terrible terrible crimes Trump has committed.

No one, including Chait, can tell you what they are, but Trump has committed them!

I have heard thousands of times since Trump came down the escalator to announce he's running how he's a crook. And after a decade of turning over every possible rock and leaf, they've managed to convict him on imaginary crimes, not any real ones. The man, in the eyes of his enemies, is simultaneously a dunce, not an amiable one, but just duce, and- a genius criminal mastermind who can conceal all his criminality! A head that can hold those thoughts is incomprehensible to me.

imTay said...

Remember when they wrote this:

"End the GOP
In order to save our democracy, we must not merely defeat the Republican Party." - The New Republic

https://newrepublic.com/article/156411/end-gop

"The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons." - Emerson

Mind your own business said...

Pyrrhic victory, I suspect. What better way to express your disgust with TPTB/Deep State/System than to vote for Trump and give the rest of them the middle finger?

Iman said...

The Democrat Party shouldn’t be rewarded for doing this and they won’t be.

Yancey Ward said...

"The case was always marginal, the kind of charge you would never bring against a regular first-time offender."

It is the kind of charge that wouldn't have been brought against anyone other than Donald Trump. Capone was actually guilty of tax evasion and tax evasion was a crime in the 1930s that did and still does get investigated and tried (unless your last name is Biden), even against first time offenders.

Chait, I think, understands the Democrats have made a huge political mistake, and this is the best he can make of it.

Tina Trent said...

Conrad Black. Mark Steyn. Donald Trump.

Achilles said...

Ann said…

No, you will have to bear the weight of the consequences of persecuting a political opponent. You should not get off easy.

This couldn’t be going any better. They even managed to get to Ann Althouse.

Please make Trump give his convention speech from jail.

Please.

planetgeo said...

This will not end with any election. The Democrats have become like Hamas. Correction. They have become Hamas. This wasn't just a raid. It was a declaration of all-out war all the time regardless of what we say or what we do. Or who we nominate. So we better do something Israeli-like. Soon.

Dave Begley said...

"Trump’s legal humiliation is that it did not represent his worst crimes, or close to it."

And what exactly are Trump's other crimes? Taking bribes from foreign powers? Conducting official US government business on an unsecure server? Raping Juanita Brodrick? Sexually assaulting Tara Reade? Getting bribed by Tyson via Red Bone with arranged commodity trades? Having sex with underage women on Epstein's Island?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Doesn't this say everything?

Achilles said...

Yancey Ward said...

Chait, I think, understands the Democrats have made a huge political mistake, and this is the best he can make of it.

It is time for the tables to turn.

Rejoice. And pray that Merchan is stupid enough to try to put Trump in jail for a significant amount of time.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

As seen on the interwebz:

"Trump’s connection to the electorate has never been about logic or reason. It is about passion and frustration, frustration with a system many people believe is corrupt and rigged against them."

Wince said...

It was the sort of charge you’d concoct if the target is a bad guy and you want to nail him for something.

Did you see the coffee mugs Hillary is selling?

"Turns out she was right about everything."

Actually, that all-encompassing declaration of infallibility pretty much sums up what this whole prosecution really was about.

https://www.tmz.com/2024/05/31/hillary-clinton-sell-she-was-right-mugs-donald-trump-guilty-verdict/

tim maguire said...

Chait represents the lazy thinking of the worst kind of partisan--the refusal to make obvious distinctions (even while he insists on vague ones).

It's not a big deal that Trump was convicted because other world leaders have been convicted. As though that were the objection.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Did you see the coffee mugs Hillary is selling?"

No one would expect America's bitter and vindictive ex-wife to do anything else.

Amadeus 48 said...

I want to see Gloria Godsworth interview Jonathan Chait.

wendybar said...

Joe Concha
@JoeConchaTV

Meanwhile back in the real world and things people actually care about...


InteractivePolls
@IAPolls2022
GALLUP POLL: Right now, do you think that economic conditions in the country are getting better or getting worse?

May 2024
Getting better: 26% [-7]
Getting worse: 70% [+7]

October 2020
Getting better: 42%
Getting worse: 53%

[+/- change vs March]

% who described the economic conditions as excellent/good

March: 30%
April: 24%
May: 22%

#35 (2.5/3.0) | 1,024 A | 5/1-23 | ±4%
https://news.gallup.com/poll/645515/economic-confidence-dips-second-month-row.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication

Weyland E. Yutani, Super Genius said...

Mr. Chait stands in more danger of falling afoul of a triumphant, energized, and hyper-censorious left than he realizes. When they come for him, will he find it to be a trivial, understandable matter?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

As seen on the interwebz: X

"Through two primaries and two general elections I have never voted for Trump. I would crawl over broken glass to vote for him now."


Our only hope now is that enough level headed folks who are terrified and disgusted with the corrupt left - will vote for Trump, even if they did not plan to or even want to. AND - there will NEED to be enough of those votes to overcome the left's corrupt vote-scams and election cheating.

Illegals will be voting, ballot boxes will be stuffed. Voter ID is mostly gone.

Achilles said...

Wince said...

Did you see the coffee mugs Hillary is selling?

"Turns out she was right about everything."


And every democrat needs to buy one.

So we know who you are and know we can never trust or respect you again.

Chuck said...

I compare the case of Richard Nixon. He was pardoned by Ford; and by all accounts of which I am aware, there was no preordained deal for that pardon. (A very un-Trumplike arrangement.) Ford agonized over the decision, and knew it would be a political liability. But good for the country.

I agreed with Ford then, and I still do, although I have more recently seen some good arguments against it.

The important thing was the informal condition-precedent for Ford's pardon. Nixon resigned, and withdrew from all public/electoral politics. Nixon didn't run for office again; and he didn't go around endorsing candidates in nearly every congressional primary, and promoting his underlings in every state GOP organization. Nixon, much later, tried to defend himself but that was completely removed from politics.

If Nixon had remained a political threat to the American body politic, my position would change dramatically. And so it is with Trump. As long as Trump remains a political force, he should be treated with legal force and not forgiveness.

By the way, Althouse, I am now searching for my old comments around the time of Michael Cohen's being charged, where Trump was "Individual 1," and predicting that there is no reason why, after his Presidency concluded, Trump should not be charged with the same crime. I've always found it difficult to search for my old comments; often I have had to search through all posts from certain date ranges. I hope my comments were not deleted by a blog administrator.

ron winkleheimer said...

Just made my first ever donation to a political campaign.

gspencer said...

Circumstances have become such that each of us is being put to a choice: With whom do you want to stand?

"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."

Kevin said...

You should not get off easy.

"How Trump gained me."

Narayanan said...

It's not a big deal that Trump was convicted because other world leaders have been convicted.
=================
are we comparing banana to plantain?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Babylon Bee as always understood it the best. “ Trump was convicted of being Trump”.

His supporters are truly happy that our rulers have not removed him the way JFK was slaughtered in 63. What’s a Russian Collusion Hoax , or the absurd Impeachments, or an FBI ordered pretend insurrection and or multiple sham Lawfare torture? DJT got off easy. He can afford the 100 million in lawyer fees.

It’s the American middle class so despised by Soros and the Globalists that are going bankrupt just to pay for food.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Like mob rule? Vote democrat
Like high taxes - with little to show for it? Vote Democrat
Like your taxes spent on illegal entrants? Vote Democrat
Like a corrupt NY Judge? Vote democrat
Like controlled by Arabella Husk Puppet and his moron side-kick - mini husk-puppet? - Vote democrat
Like inflation? Vote democrat
Like war? Vote democrat
Like lies? Vote democrat
Like old white leftists like Pelosi and DeNiro? Vote Democrat
Like unsustainable public debt? Vote Democrat
Like MSNBC bullshit and The View bullshit? Vote Democrat
Like an open Southern Border? Vote democrat

***(oh look - right before the election - Biden is going to issue an executive order a slower the pace of illegal entrants, entering our nation illegally and abusing our asylum system. Perfect timing by the crook liar money grubbing husk puppet and his corrupt Arabella masters)

Sebastian said...

"The case was always marginal, the kind of charge you would never bring against a regular first-time offender."

But, but the New York Times just told us this was the rule of law in action! Dems are saying it shows no one is above THE LAW!

"Possibly terrible.... It's obviously terrible."

I appreciate Althouse's reaction. But I'm not confident most moderately liberal women will respond the same way, so the terribleness can easily turn more terrible.

"So Chait is openly saying the the legal system isn't fair and Trump was convicted for being "a bad guy.""

Right. Give him props for honesty. And what difference, at this point, does it make? They are in our faces. They mean to alienate us. And whaddaya gonna do about it, you basket of deplorables, huh?

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

The reference to France caught my eye. A king from centuries ago, Nazi collaborators in 1945, then Chirac in 2011, an ex-President, "given two-year suspended sentence for embezzling public funds while he was mayor of Paris [years earlier]." Not just a bad guy, and not running for office at the time. Status as former head of state was one reason for reducing the sentence. Never a whisper of anything like this associated with Trump.

Then in 2020, former PM Francois Fillon sentenced to five years, misappropriation of public funds, including payments to his family. Again, Fillon presumably guilty, Trump innocent.

Then in 2021 Sarkozy, the brilliant technocrat, convicted of bribery for something he did in 2014, after he left office--offering a job in return for information.

I remember in my poli sci days reading that the French make no attempt to make "everyone" pay taxes, but they go after the occasional scapegoat for non-payment and make a big spectacle of it. Perhaps like Leona Helmsley or Martha Stewart (not a tax issue) in NYC. Jean Carroll was able to collect (or may some day) because of two bullshit laws in New York State.

In all the court action, the question of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution is of genuine interest. The courts have said a sitting pres cannot be sued for official acts--presumably once he leaves office he is once again a private citizen, but still can't be sued for earlier "official acts." What about crimes?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

We've joined Columbia and Chile and Pakistan and China as countries that imprison their former presidents to keep them from running again. Great company we're keeping there Jonathan.

Sally327 said...

They convicted Christ and crucified him so yeah, there's clearly precedent here.

Achilles said...

Kevin said...

You should not get off easy.

"How Trump gained me."

Garnered.

rehajm said...

Novel only in the American context…

…one of the many positive ways we were once EXCEPTIONAL…

BobJustBob said...

You know what other first timers didn't have this done to them? Hillary and Black Jesus. All they had to do for their real election violations? Pay a fine...

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I appreciate Althouse's reaction. But I'm not confident most moderately liberal women will respond the same way...

She held her opinion on the trial(s) back for a long time, but the stench is such that it overwhelmed her reticence apparently. Don't sell this short as a harbinger of the silent population of people who prefer to be apolitical (Althouse has said so many times, she's more attracted to discussing language and communication) but are shocked into comment or a change in behavior by the overwhelming unfairness of these kangarooish processes.

The blood-simple idiots in Obama-Biden's circle don't realize how far they have overstepped the boundaries of decency and norms. Funny how their story has always been "Trump represents a break in norms." Yet here they go again, breaking aplenty.

wendybar said...

It pays good to be a soldier of George Soros to GET TRUMP!!!


Marc
@MarcMantone

I don't want to hear about flags flying until you look in this. @JohnJHarwood @joenbc

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

BREAKING: FEC vendor records reveal Judge Merchan's daughter raked in $9.7 mil from Biden+Kamala during their 2020 campaigns for prez, raising fresh conflict issues. They paid Loren Merchan's Dem consulting firm Authentic Campaigns to sway swing-state undecideds thru social media
2:26 PM · May 30, 2024

Rocco said...

Nelson Trumpdela

wendybar said...


Creel Committee: 1776
@The_Real_Creel

The damage being done to America from this trial is greater by several orders of magnitude than January 6th

Wa St Blogger said...

The Democrat Party shouldn’t be rewarded for doing this...

It's not enough to not reward, the democratic party needs to have complete repudiation, to learn that this activity is actually detrimental to their existence as a viable party. You can't just not vote for them, you have to actively work against each and every one of them at all levels. They pain has to be palpable so that every member of the party tells their leadership, "no mas". Anything less and you will have tacitly allowed this kind of activity, and it will continue as long as they feel there is a benefit to them.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"We've joined Columbia and Chile and Pakistan and China as countries that imprison their former presidents"

Add Brazil, Nigeria, Argentina, Egypt, and Myanmar. What great and illustrious company we keep. A shining beacon for republics and objective justice, that's what we are!

Mrs. X said...

“You should not get off easy.”

Should not but probably will. I said to friends and family that Trump would definitely be convicted, but when it happened, I was instantly, physically nauseated as well as surprised in a way that made me know I didn’t fully believe what I’d been saying I believed. This is a dark day.

Breezy said...

Ironic that they do this to Trump because they’re convinced he’s going to humiliate, fire and/or prosecute them while they’re strengthening the case to humiliate, fire and prosecute them.

RCOCEAN II said...

Yeah, having a kangeroo court full of liberal democrat activists put the current Republican nominee and former POTUS in jail in an election year, is no big whoop - happens all the time. Actually, this breaks every norm and tradition in USA politics for the last 120 years.

I hope People will start demanding action from the R Politicans and getting mad about this. But they wont. They'll sit on their ass hoping "Them thar smart people" will take care of it, or the Liberal/left will be "reasonable". However, the Democrats have signaled all along, including the Democrat media and lawyers, that they are NOT going to be reasonable.

Nor do they care that "They'll be sorry they ever did this". The want power, they want to win, and they'll do anything to accomplish that. Its up to the R's to stop them. And if the R's dont, well accept non-stop D Rule.

Achilles said...

Never-Biden Never-Putin said...

As seen on the interwebz:

"Trump’s connection to the electorate has never been about logic or reason. It is about passion and frustration, frustration with a system many people believe is corrupt and rigged against them."

It has always been about logic and reason. Nevertrumps just can't figure out what it is because they are wrong about everything.

Working and middle class voters had someone represent them and markedly improve their lives for the first time in decades. We had peace and prosperity and control over our borders.

Real Wages went up under Trump relative to inflation. This never happened under the Bushes or other republicans.

Republicans didn't do this until Trump did it. They served their CoC masters and even did their bidding to undermine Trump after he was elected.

Heartless Aztec said...

Concur

PrimoStL said...

Althouse said, "Possibly terrible.... It's obviously terrible. It's only a question of which form of terribleness lies ahead."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The repercussions of this will reverberate throughout our politics and legal system forever. The media and democrats and Trump haters are very ho-hum and nonchalant about this, pretending this is business as usual. Nope. Business as usual just changed.

You've said previously that you're "for boring". The candidates and the politics will never be boring again, sorry to disappoint.

Joe Smith said...

How did you democrats not see the morphing of their party into a communist enterprise?

From destroying the courts to DEI to open borders to mutilating kids...it's all driven by a radical left-wing ideology that would have been crazy to imagine even ten years ago.

Democrats used to be boring blue collar folks who worked hard and believed in unions.

Now they work with massive corporations (look up 'Fascism'), have taken over media and education, and work to destroy their opponents by any means necessary regardless of the constitution.

I'm done.

gilbar said...

Blame O'Bama and the Chicagos
i grew in the Northwest suburbs, and we always said that:
Illinois Governors always serve TWO TERMS.. the 1st in Springfield, the 2nd in Joliet (Prison)

O'Bama PROMISED that he (they) would fundamentally transform America.. BOY! did they!

wendybar said...

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

Indeed, great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system.

If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate.


Geiger Capital
@Geiger_Capital
The first felony conviction of a former US President wasn’t for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, illegal CIA coups, drone striking weddings, or spying on Americans…

It was because Trump misclassified a $130,000 payment for a porn star’s NDA.

Tells you everything you need to know.
3:16 AM · May 31, 2024

BUMBLE BEE said...

From a white Crown Vic...
“Start killing the Jews,
I want to be a part of it…New York, Ney York:….”
catchy new verse there….
H/T Lehalinsurrection

BUMBLE BEE said...

Joe McCarthy was right... discuss

Joe Smith said...

I've written Trump's inauguration speech in 2025:

"I'm back, bitches. Buckle up. God bless America."

Original Mike said...

"Possibly terrible.... It's obviously terrible."

Maybe you should have voted when you had the opportunity.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Achilles -

You just cannot fathom that not everyone is in love with your super hero.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

You should not get off easy.

Aw, c'mon, Althouse! Have a heart! They had to do it otherwise they'd lose the support of the AWFLs (and the honorary AWFLs like AOC, Fani Willis, Ilhan Omar, etc.), the radical Israel-haters and Deep State denizens. Heck, the whole B. Hussein Obama Coalition of the Fringe might come apart on them!

Original Mike said...

The thing is, we knew this was who the democrats are before the 2020 election. Russiagate taught us that. This needed to be opposed by the electorate.

robother said...

Even Rich Lowry gets it:
"One possible reaction to Trump from his adversaries would have been to emphasize their commitment to rules and norms and to do everything they could to buttress them and make the case for them. Instead, they threw out the rule book beginning in 2016 and have pursued Trump according to the ethic that the ends justify the means, and that consistency, reason and fairness are for suckers."

Chait's cynical take is in line with this approach.

NKP said...



How about we commemorate June 6, this year by taking OUR county back?

How about we land a MILLION Americans in Central Park?

And on the Mall in DC and every every bridge crossing the Potomac and surround EVERY government building (Outside ONLY)?

And on every access road to LAX, JFK, ORD and any large city airport near you?

And at Landmark locations in every single state?

Every Dem Pol might as well cover his/her/whatever face with a checkered rag and shout "Death to America"!

I'm pissed.

Big Mike said...

It's not enough to not reward, the democratic party needs to have complete repudiation, to learn that this activity is actually detrimental to their existence as a viable party. You can't just not vote for them, you have to actively work against each and every one of them at all levels. The pain has to be palpable so that every member of the party tells their leadership, "no mas". Anything less and you will have tacitly allowed this kind of activity, and it will continue as long as they feel there is a benefit to them.

@Wa St Blogger, + 1

doctrev said...

"Later, in the twentieth century, there were the totalitarians, as they were called. The Russians persecuted heresy more cruelly than the Inquisition had done. And they imagined that they had learned from the mistakes of the past; they knew, at any rate, that one must not make martyrs. Before they exposed their victims to public trial, they deliberately set themselves to destroy their dignity. They wore them down by torture and solitude until they were despicable, cringing wretches, confessing whatever was put into their mouths, covering themselves with abuse, accusing and sheltering behind one another, whimpering for mercy. And yet after only a few years the same thing had happened over again. The dead men had become martyrs and their degradation was forgotten. Once again, why was it? In the first place, because the confessions that they had made were obviously extorted and untrue."

Not only did they fail to even wear Trump down, his campaign has a flood of money and his supporters are quite ready to shoot people. Orwell's 1984 isn't something total imbeciles should try to imitate, it always ends badly.

imTay said...

I don’t know if I changed or Achilles changed, but that guy nails it post after post. I didn’t used to think that.

wendybar said...

He jumped ship before it sinks....


Senator Joe Manchin
@Sen_JoeManchin
·
Follow
My commitment to do everything I can to bring our country together has led me to register as an independent with no party affiliation.

wendybar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Frivolous or fetal? What do the Democrazis have Planned for their "burden"... uh, burden? Capitol punishment, pethaps.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Joe McCarthy was right... discuss"

Joe McCarthy's methodology was correct, effective, and thorough? Obviously not.

That global Marxists have been on a long march through American institutions long before he started the hearings? You betcha.

rwnutjob said...

I'm not voting for Trump
I'm voting against the marxist takeover by Obama & his billionaire flunkies

Big Mike said...

(PrimoStL addressing Althouse)

You've said previously that you're "for boring". The candidates and the politics will never be boring again, sorry to disappoint.

That’s not so clear to me. If the Democrats are taught a sufficiently harsh lesson in November they might bifurcate into an extremist faction that is about as effective as the Greens and Libertarians in a national election, plus a party that pays attention to the working class and middle class, and competes for them in the realm of policies and ideas. Althouse (and others of us) might find that to be “boring,” but it would be a step in the right direction.

But! As Wa St Blogger points out upthread, the pain has to extend far down the ballot. Not just Trump over Biden, but the Republican over the Democrat in the senate race, in the Congressional race, in the governor and state legislature races, heck, all the way down to dog catcher. Even if one of those Democrat candidates you are voting against is a personal friend who is godparent to your favorite child, you have to tell him (or her) that there’s nothing personal, but you must send a message to the Democrat Party. And then send that message.

Grandpa Publius said...

The lesson they claim: no one is above the law.

The actual lesson: no one is safe from the law when the law is administered by Democrats.

G-Pub

Michael Fitzgerald said...

What happened to Charlie Hedbo should happen at the NYT and WAPO, for starters.

Big Mike said...

From Instapundit;

"Today, the Trump campaign announced a record-shattering small-dollar fundraising haul following the sham Biden Trial verdict totaling $34.8 million – nearly double the biggest day ever recorded for the Trump campaign on the WinRed platform," Trump campaign advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

Bob Boyd said...

Driver, leaving the scene, tells himself: Okay, I just ran over the kid who beat out my kid for class President. He walked out in the road. I could have braked, but instead I stomped on the gas. Sounds bad, I know, but look, he was jaywalking. That's not even legal. You're supposed to go up to the crosswalk and wait for the light.

And it's not like he's the first kid to get run over by a car. Maybe it hasn't happened in this neighborhood, but it happens in other neighborhoods. It happens all the time. If you zoom out and take the 30,000 foot view, it's just another kid getting hit by a car. It's unfortunate, but that's life.

Besides, he was a terrible class president. The worst class president ever. My kid would have been a such great class president.

That kid was a bad kid, a jaywalker...a very bad kid probably. If he'd jaywalk so casually, who knows what else he'd done? Lots of bad things, I think it's safe to assume. So he pretty much deserved it. No, he totally deserved what happened and worse. I can't believe somebody didn't do it sooner. I really didn't like that kid. Nobody liked him. Those kids are so stupid that elected him. This is their fault really, when you think about it.

And on the bright side, now my kid might get another chance to be class President. That would be so awesome. And the students deserve a good class president even if they don't know a good class president when they see one. Kids are so dumb.

wishfulthinking said...

Forgive my ignorance but, weren't the founding fathers considered felons (or the equivalent at the time) by our English rulers?

Mandela?
Gandhi?
Christ?

DanTheMan said...

I assume Trump is going to get some jail time. After all, he's been convicted of 34 felonies.

My question: How do you jail somebody who has lifetime Secret Service protection? Do they lock his Secret Service agents in the cell with him?


John henry said...

Achilles,

By "significant amount of time" I would think 15 minutes or so would be enough.

Long enough to get him in an orange jump suit and a picture of him in a cell.

15 min, 15 days or 15 years. I don't think it matters too much

John Henry

tcrosse said...

The very thought of Hillary gloating over the verdict made me loosen up the old purse strings and send a few bucks off to Trump. I will take the risk that this will doxx me as a deplorable, subject to re-education camp or worse.

Drago said...

Never-Biden Never-Putin: "Achilles -
You just cannot fathom that not everyone is in love with your super hero."

You have demonstrated zero political analytical capability.

Particularly in the area of what drives support for Trump amongst very diverse, rapidly growing, working poor/working class/middle class/rural/low propensity voter groups.

Those groups watched Trump fight for them, helped improve their lives, and bought in because of that. Which is the opposite of what you stupidly believe.

You, like all GOPe suckups, just think those groups are icky and you want them out of the party...probably so you'll feel better around your lefty neighbors in Boulder.

You have made it quite clear the only "independent" voter group you believe worth talking to and trying to win over are the "educated"(reality: credentialed, not educated), already dem-adjacent pro-abortion suburban single women.

A shrinking demographic that is already basically on Team Blue and supports just about every lunatic dem policy.

But you just go right ahead and carry on with your moronic, shallow, MSNBC-sounding, ignorance driven slanders against Trump supporters.

It worked like a charm in the primary!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

You just cannot fathom that not everyone is in love with your super hero.

Pretty weird how you're stuck in the ideas and language of the Left. I've never "loved" a politician, but I really liked Paul Ryan right up until he said he had to take a "wait and see attitude towards Trump" which he followed up by actively working against Trump's agenda. Nobody has ever, to my knowledge, said Trump is a "super hero." Or expressed love for him.

What we admire is he fights. He doesn't give up. He doesn't give in or accept their terms or their twisting of the English language. Those traits set him apart from most Republicans and ALL of the old GOPe Uniparty supporters. I didn't turn on Bush (I still wear my "Bush Country" T-shirt from 2000 showing all the red counties on the map). He turned on us. I didn't turn on Romney or McCain until they turned on us.

So maybe you see Trump as a super hero and just can't admit it, because all your choice candidates have feet of clay and feats of weakness. Go show Desantis some love. We're here to talk about Trump's press conference.

Jupiter said...

Jonathon Chait's neck is too short.

doctrev said...

wishfulthinking said...
Forgive my ignorance but, weren't the founding fathers considered felons (or the equivalent at the time) by our English rulers?

Mandela?
Gandhi?
Christ?

5/31/24, 10:49 AM

Benjamin Franklin might have skated die to personal charm and diplomatic status, but all of the others were going to hang if the British won. And most non-Americans forget that the war dragged on until 1781. If the British had chosen to raze cities like they would have in Asia, the war could have had a very different ending.

Nonetheless, the mob wanted Barrabas, and claimed of Jesus that "his blood be on us and our children." Well, some things never change.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Trump's speech was longer than Biden's planned "update" on Israel's war will be later on. The difference is that Joe's speech is the ONLY THING on his official schedule for today, while Trump took time out from actually traveling and campaigning. If you look really hard maybe you can find a day on Biden's calendar that consists of more than 40 minutes total time "acting" as president (not including time wandering to and from the microphone).

Today is not that day, though.

Leland said...

Just think, Haberman thought it would be bad if Trump was fully exonerated.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Drago - Not sure why you insist on going on and on... about me... or anyone.
You must have an obsessive personalty disorder.
This is not about me - you Trump humping fool. DO F OFF.

Sean Gleeson said...

Besides what everyone else already said, I just wanted to say I believe Chait makes a false assertion that Japan's head of state (i.e., the emperor) has ever been put in prison.

tcrosse said...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, how has this improved Biden's miserable poll numbers? Has it improved his cognitive ability? Has it made Kamala Harris able to speak coherently?

Joe Smith said...

For all of you NPC dems mindlessly spewing 'No one is above the law,' I give you the Obamas, Clintons, Bidens, and even Bushes.

They are clearly above the law because they are all globalists.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

right wing nut job said...

"I'm not voting for Trump
I'm voting against the marxist takeover by Obama & his billionaire flunkies."

Indeed!

Not good enough for the Trump-Humper duo. You must worship Trump top to bottom, smear the GOP from top to bottom - even the few good ones... and worship at Trump's golden altar lest you be called a "never-Trumper".. byt the Duo. Sort of how the left treat anyone who might wander off the leftist plantation.

wishfulthinking said...

I guess the 35mil in 16 hours doesn't include the 100mil from Miriam Adelman?

Sigh...

I just donated to Trump again. Alas, not 100mil. I wish I could.

wildswan said...

This was Schrodinger's Verdict. America continues to be exceptional. Other heads of state have been convicted of crimes but only in America have we "convicted" a former head of state without convicting of him a crime. He was "convicted" of any one of three possibilities, according to the judge's instructions. Meaning that there may not have been a unanimous vote convicting him of "a" crime but a unanimous vote was required. The judge's instructions show that this question of different thoughts on what the crime was had been raised by the jurors, so we are entitled to consider it. You see, suppose some jurors voted that he was guilty of Crime A, but not therefore of Crimes B and C; some that he was guilty of Crime B but not therefore of Crimes A and C; and some that he was guilty of Crime C but not therefore of Crimes A and B. Well, then there was not a unanimous verdict on "the crime" for some said he was not guilty of A, some that he was not guilty of B, some that he was not guilty of C. Now the judge claimed that the Three were One and a vote for any One of the Three counted toward a unanimous vote for the One verdict but this Trinitarianism is a very new kind of math. Under the old Unitarian math the truth is that a vote for anyone of the three crimes was a vote against the other two. The vote as to what crime had been committed was not unanimous hence the conviction was not unanimous. Or was it? How did they vote? Schrodinger's verdict

Aught Severn said...

Step 1: Biden issues EO removing SS protection from convicted felons.

Step 2:...

Step 3: Donald Trump didn't kill himself.

And so a conspiracy theory will be captured by the way back machine for evermore

Václav Patrik Šulik said...

I'm looking forward to a lot more stories like this:

[Trump] wouldn't even be the first candidate to run for that office while imprisoned. That piece of history belongs to Eugene V. Debs, who ran on the Socialist Party ticket in 1920 — and garnered almost a million votes, or about 3 percent.

Drago said...

Never-Biden Never-Putin: "Drago - Not sure why you insist on going on and on... about me... or anyone.
You must have an obsessive personalty disorder.
This is not about me - you Trump humping fool. DO F OFF."

I can understand why you dont like your non-stop moronic drivel being interrupted by those who notice how dumb you are.

You'll just have to continue to get used to it.

Keep posting idiotic fantasy-based "analysis" of others and you'll keep hearing about it.

Welcome to the public square dolt.

Note Mike (MJB Wolf)'s comment above regarding your MSNBC-like missives: "Pretty weird how you're stuck in the ideas and language of the Left. I've never "loved" a politician, but I really liked Paul Ryan right up until he said he had to take a "wait and see attitude towards Trump" which he followed up by actively working against Trump's agenda. Nobody has ever, to my knowledge, said Trump is a "super hero." Or expressed love for him."

Boulder Idiot has one lens thru which she's sees the world and cannot begin to recognize, let alone adapt, to new information.

Every side has these dolts.

wendybar said...

Not good enough for the Trump-Humper duo. You must worship Trump top to bottom, smear the GOP from top to bottom - even the few good ones... and worship at Trump's golden altar lest you be called a "never-Trumper".. byt the Duo. Sort of how the left treat anyone who might wander off the leftist plantation.

5/31/24, 11:29 AM

And what do you call what YOU are doing in this paragraph??

Joe Smith said...

I've known the new rules for years but other conservatives haven't.

Now that you know, plan accordingly.

The next few years will be interesting and actually fun should Trump get elected.

I foresee at least 3 ex-presidents in jail.

Good times...

Joe Smith said...

I sent money to a politician for the first time ever with Romney.

What a fucking waste. He hadn't yet been exposed for being the cuck liberal he is known as today.

But the alternative was worse.

Obama is the source of all of this, and was the result of decades of communist infiltration.

McCarthy was right.

Trump now gets 1,000 of my dollars.

Joe Smith said...

Will the names of the jurors be kept secret?

They should be publicized, or else we will essentially have secret trials being run in America.

They need to live with the consequences.

Joe Smith said...

No one should EVER be convicted by an anonymous jury.

Static Ping said...

Convicting Capone of tax evasion is not the example Chait was looking for. Criminals are required, by law, to report all income, including income from illegal activities, for tax purposes. If they do report the income, they are admitting to a crime. If they do not report the income, then it is tax evasion. That's the whole point of why the law is as it is. It is quirky that Capone was convicted of tax evasion as opposed to any of the myriad of more interesting crimes, including multiple murders, but it wasn't a legal theory that was invented to get Capone. There are examples of criminals actually reporting the illegally gained income on their taxes. The reason this set of charges is not seen more often is generally they do not prosecute tax evasion charges on someone spending multiple life sentences for murder.

The cases against Trump are novel inventions. A fraud case with no victims where the so-called "wronged" parties are actually worse off. A bizarre bookkeeping charge that requires a predicate crime that was never charged or even specified until closing arguments when it was impossible to actually provide a defense. There are Capones involved here, but Trump is not one of them.

Yancey Ward said...

"Drago - Not sure why you insist on going on and on... about me... or anyone.
You must have an obsessive personality disorder.
This is not about me - you Trump humping fool. DO F OFF."


Part of it is that some of you seem to think there were other better choices going forward than Trump, seemingly not understanding the demographic change of the country has the Democrats with a lock on enough electoral votes to win every election. I mean, you live in Colorado that has moved from being reliably red to deep blue in the last 20 years. The same has happened in Virginia, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Florida. Had Ted Cruz (who I supported in the primaries) or Jeb Bush been the candidate in 2016, I think both would have done better in the popular vote than Trump did, but both would have lost MI, WI, and PA, and probably have lost IA, too, and it would have been a nail-biter in Ohio and Florida. Hillary Clinton would be passing the office over to Tim Kaine this year without Donald Trump. Trump appeals to a class of voter that is a normal Democrat voter or non-voter, and there are a lot of such voters in the midwest and mid-Atlantic. It costs him some support in south and southwest, but those voters in the south and southwest weren't enough since 2004.

Even if Trump wins in November, I don't know who we turn to in 2028, but this I know- I feel like a guy with fingers in the dike and people like you are telling me to plug the holes with stick pins. I don't support Drago's constant attacks on you- I know your leanings are completely authentic and come from a good place.

Yancey Ward said...

The 35 million is just from small donors through the website- people like us- I imagine Trump pacs and the RNC affiliated organs raised a few multiples of that since yesterday. It is encouraging- it means Republican voters are not dispirited.

Clyde said...

I liked growing up in a country where I believed that elections were honest and the judicial system was fair.

I miss those days.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

So she flings her worn out "Trump humper" epithet. Sad. Again WE don't LOVE politicians, or HUMP them, or WORSHIP them -- that's the domain of the Left. Remember all the Obama hymns the little kiddies were signing, the halo photographs, the photoshopping him into FDR's limo? That's THEM.

Or maybe it's you. You can't help talking like them, projecting like them, whipping up unsupported accusations* like them. Maybe you are one of them.

*Just once I'd like to see you post an example of the humping/worshipping/etc you accuse people of. Where is it? I only "trash the GOP" in respect to the many traitors who expressed their hatred for the base, the donors (which I stopped being after Bush) and the actual voters. We keep nominating Trump and they keep thinking it's a mistake or something.

Readering said...

Is this about Trump or John Edwards or Hunter Biden or Spiro Agnew or ....

walter said...

"Convicted Felon" vs demented, traitorous "Pedo Pete".

mccullough said...

Robespierre always gets the guillotine. Always

Saint Croix said...

"The case was always marginal, the kind of charge you would never bring against a regular first-time offender."

"Marginal" does not describe this dog's breakfast of a case.

Who the hell takes 34 misdemeanors that are illegal to charge -- that's what a statute of limitations is -- and constructs a made-up felony out of them?

Who charges a man with a crime without naming the crime?

Who runs for office on a promise that you will charge the president with a crime?

I wonder if anybody anywhere will run for D.A. on a platform that Joe Biden belongs in jail?

Michael K said...

But! As Wa St Blogger points out upthread, the pain has to extend far down the ballot. Not just Trump over Biden, but the Republican over the Democrat in the senate race, in the Congressional race, in the governor and state legislature races, heck, all the way down to dog catcher. Even if one of those Democrat candidates you are voting against is a personal friend who is godparent to your favorite child, you have to tell him (or her) that there’s nothing personal, but you must send a message to the Democrat Party. And then send that message.

One can only hope but I agree.

Michael K said...

But! As Wa St Blogger points out upthread, the pain has to extend far down the ballot. Not just Trump over Biden, but the Republican over the Democrat in the senate race, in the Congressional race, in the governor and state legislature races, heck, all the way down to dog catcher. Even if one of those Democrat candidates you are voting against is a personal friend who is godparent to your favorite child, you have to tell him (or her) that there’s nothing personal, but you must send a message to the Democrat Party. And then send that message.

One can only hope but I agree.

Saint Croix said...

Trump wouldn't even be the first candidate to run for that office while imprisoned. That piece of history belongs to Eugene V. Debs, who ran on the Socialist Party ticket in 1920

The other day I was asking myself if Joe Biden is the worst president in American history.

Biden's pretty bad. But I think Woodrow Wilson was the worst.

hombre said...

Donald Trump was prosecuted because he is Donald Trump and because he is running for President. The day of his conviction was the day a New York jury confirmed that the American legal system is officially a political tool of the left.

Chait and the other leftmedia jackasses will go to extreme lengths to obscure the moral rot that is the modern Democrat Party, but they know and they know we know they know.

Oligonicella said...

Original Mike:
"Possibly terrible.... It's obviously terrible."

Maybe you should have voted when you had the opportunity.


Plausible deniability.

Saint Croix said...

So Chait is openly saying the the legal system isn't fair

He's making this commentary about a specific case.

So what he's openly saying is that this trial wasn't fair.

And he's okay with that.

Dave Begley said...

The most astonishing thing of this whole debacle is how in the world did Marchan (I refuse to call him Judge) think he could give a jury instruction that allowed for a non-unanimous verdict on the follow-on crime; pick one of three and all 12 don't have to agree on one. What arrogance!

Rusty said...

Just a shoutout publice service missive to our usual suspects and their left leaning friends. Might want to scrape those Biden-Harris stickers off your cars.
Bad shit is coming down.
I'm not resposible for other peoples behavior.

One Fine Day said...

You know what else they do in other countries? Murder judges.

Now that we've gone down the road of jailing political candidates via a show trial maybe we should just continue along the well-trod path.

We could also go with the honored American (and French!) deplorable tradition of tarring and feathering the representatives of the Royal power, including any loyalist citizens who happen to be handy.

Hassayamper said...

I believe Chait makes a false assertion that Japan's head of state (i.e., the emperor) has ever been put in prison.

Pretty sure Hirohito was under well guarded house arrest in the Imperial Palace during the early part of the occupation, and in at least some peril of being hanged as a war criminal. MacArthur and Truman figured he was more use as a living figurehead than a dead martyr, and he turned out to be a pretty decent fellow. Like a lot of national leaders from antiquity to present times, he was manipulated by an entrenched and unaccountable Praetorian Guard/court eunuch/Deep State conspiracy (the Imperial High Command and Imperial Household Agency.)

Achilles said...

Never-Biden Never-Putin said...

Achilles -

You just cannot fathom that not everyone is in love with your super hero.

You said this asshole.

Never-Biden Never-Putin said...

As seen on the interwebz:

"Trump’s connection to the electorate has never been about logic or reason. It is about passion and frustration, frustration with a system many people believe is corrupt and rigged against them."


I don't care if you like him or not.

But don't even pretend we are the not logical people. We have good reasons to support Trump.

You Nevertrumps support the same betrayers every time. Desantis rode this Lawfare and planned to be the nominee after it took out Trump. Most Desantis supporters were slagging Trump when this all started.

You GOPe pukes just can't handle the fact you are wrong about Trump and have been wrong about everything since Perot ran.

John Marzan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
donald said...

Gaping vagina boy sez whut?

walter said...

"how in the world did Marchan (I refuse to call him Judge) think he could give a jury instruction that allowed for a non-unanimous verdict on the follow-on crime; pick one of three and all 12 don't have to agree on one. "
--
It's a mix N match world now. Remember recommendations for taking any of the Covid jabs in combination? Just get 'er done!

Mason G said...

"We keep nominating Trump and they keep thinking it's a mistake or something."

Lucy (the DC GOPe), holding the ball (policies that benefit regular people, not swamp creatures and attached remoras) for Charlie Brown (conservative deplorables in flyover country) for years and snatching it away at the last second while snarking (in a most condescending fashion) "It's time to come together (vote for the GOPe candidates we have selected for you). What other choice do you have? Vote for a Democrat? Just shut up and let us handle things."

Now there's a choice. And the GOPe (and their hangers-on) don't like it.

Drago said...

Yancey Ward: "I don't support Drago's constant attacks on you-"

I attack the moronic leftist-terminology "analysis" that Boulder Idiot offers daily where she pretends Trump supporters are on board only because they "worship Trump" and how she bends over backwards to cover for tge GOPe stooges.

And I have every intention to keep calling this shallow nonsense, (oh, nobody could support Trump out of logic or reason!) out everytime I see it.

But only every single time.

Without exception.

The Vault Dweller said...

If Chait is writing an article with this kind of tone, trying to defend or at least deflect from the recent decision then he must be sensing a lot of people worried about this case.

BUMBLE BEE said...

They're just itching to declare martial law. Pandemic lockdown got good to them.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Rusty said...
scrape those Biden-Harris stickers off your cars.

I actually saw a brand new "Hillary" sticker on the back of a Honda last week!
Woman got away before I could get a Photo.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Was "they can indict a ham sandwich" coined in New Yawk?

Mikey NTH said...

Donald Trump was convicted for blocking Hillary Clinton from being president.

Prove me wrong.