People Who Say They Are More Likely to Vote for Trump After Conviction Are LYING: Saturday's GNR

I’ve seen some hand wringing about polls saying that some people are more likely to vote for trump after the conviction.

Honestly, think for just a moment about who would say that.  Anyone who loves trump so much that this makes them love him more was going to vote for his pasty ass anyway.  Not one person who was on the fence about him would be like “well now that he is a felon, I am in!” that just doesn’t make sense — even in MAGA world.  That guy in the American Flag onesie on X saying that this is going to get him to vote for trump is lying.  That man was always voting for trump.

Let me say it again: every person who is saying that this is going to make them more likely to vote for trump is lying because they were already GOING to vote for trump.  When a pollster asks them “does this make you more or less likely to vote for him?” they say more because this makes them angry because they love him and believe his lies but THEY WERE ALREADY GOING TO VOTE FOR HIM. No one was on the fence and is now like “yup,  that’s my guy!”

No one is being convinced to vote for trump because of this.  What this *might* do is move some people in the middle away from him.  we’ll see.

It’ll help if we all do what we can to push against the “this was rigged” narrative whenever we can. 

If this was rigged, it was rigged by crime.  trump did crime and that rigged the system against him.  crime is funny like that.

Anyway, I am here to celebrate as I always do when karma catches up to that awful, awful man.

You take your celebrations where you find them and, in my book, that piece of %^&* getting convicted on Thursday is a reason to celebrate. 

There was other good news this week, but I feel like luxuriating in this.  And so it will be. :-)  

So lets do it!

Here are some of my favorite takes on this (followed by my favorite jokes about it).

How Trump’s Cheapness Over Stormy and Cohen Came to Cost So Much

For all of Donald Trump’s sound and fury and conspiratorial nonsense about his New York criminal trial, in the end his greed was the driving force behind his conviction.

In a historic trial focused on exactly what the real-estate tycoon turned president did to ensure a porn star wouldn’t dish about what she said was their extramarital sexual affair, the irony is that the road to conviction was paved with Trump’s miserly reluctance to pay.

In the reality-bending Trump era, it should come as no surprise that this tale reads like a Charles Dickens novel. In act two, there’s even a Scrooge-like reduction of a man’s Christmas bonus.

Trump refused to pay women with claims about infidelities that could have toppled his 2016 presidential campaign. He refused to repay the watchful media executive who guarded his reputation. He refused to pay a business vendor that would have had nothing to do with this fraud scandal were it not for a peculiar sequence of events. And he repeatedly refused to pay his own lawyer, allowing resentment to build until it blew up in his face.

As prosecutor Joshua Steinglass put it to jurors on Tuesday, it was Trump’s style after 40 years in business “to be involved in everything, even negotiating the price of the lightbulbs.” Steinglass credited Trump’s “frugality” with giving investigators some of the evidence they needed.

But it was his negotiation neurosis that would be his undoing.

his penny-pinching led to a convoluted reimbursement scheme that resulted in 34 felony counts of falsifying business records—all of which resulted in a declaration of “guilty.”

Mussed-Looking Trump Goes on Wild Free Associative Rant at Post-Conviction Press Conference

Donald Trump gave a bizarre press conference Friday on the morning after he became the first former American president to be criminally convicted, variously wheeling out his favorite gripes about his prosecution and bragging about how much money he’s raised in the wake of the verdict.

With his hair mussed, Trump nevertheless strangely claimed to have been “honored” to have been involved in the case and said he’d raised a “record $39 million in about a 10-hour period” following the verdict.

Wile E. Coyote finally catches the Road Runner

You can understand if Democrats started to feel like Wile E. Coyote, and that Trump had some Road Runner-like ability to wiggle off the hook, every time, no matter how dire his situation appeared. Scandals that would destroy other politicians did minimal if any damage to Trump, and he seemed immune from the natural consequences of the political world. Each time he survived, he added to a perception of invulnerability.

Trump was the guy who always seemed to figure out how to get away with it, enjoying more Teflon than John Gotti and Ronald Reagan combined. The phenomenon seemed to surprise even Trump; in January 2016, he offered the uncomfortable joke “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible.”

But based on Thursday’s verdict, Trump shouldn’t head to Fifth Avenue with a firearm. (In fact, as a convicted felon, Trump can no longer possess a firearm.)

Late in the afternoon in a Manhattan courtroom, Trump’s legendary run of good luck and Houdini-like ability to escape the consequences of his actions ended. 

something significant changed this week. All Trump needed was one holdout juror for a hung jury and a mistrial. He needed just one person on that jury to feel that this was indeed a political witch hunt, that the prosecution’s witnesses were unreliable or that the government hadn’t proved that Trump knew all the details. Every single time before, someone has rescued Trump — NBC giving him a prime-time reality show, banks willing to give him loans on generous terms, Senate Republicans refusing to convict him in his impeachment trials, plaintiffs willing to settle out of court, foes imploding or stumbling or losing their nerve. The 45th president has lived one of the most charmed lives in American history.

And yet Trump’s luck, charm, brazen shamelessness, high-priced lawyers and money — it all came up empty, at least for now.

Guilty, guilty, guilty

A small but potentially meaningful number of Trump-leaning voters have told pollsters they would be less likely to stick with him if he were convicted of crimes, as opposed to merely being accused. How many points is “the presumption of innocence” principle worth in the crucial swing states?

Did Trump just lose his Teflon armor?

Donald Trump is now a convicted felon running for president, having been found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial.

This result will not shake his hardcore base. But the words “convicted felon” are now attached to him. His being a convicted felon matters to a share of the electorate, and in a close election, that can make a large difference.

Trump has repeatedly urged his supporters to defend him with violence, but there was none reported. In some cities, there was cheering. Shares in Trump media fell sharply in after-hours trading.

No matter what he says, Trump is a felon

So we are left with the New York conviction — and the stark fact that, absent a reversal on appeal, Trump is a felon. Resoundingly. On every count. This was no split verdict. It was a devastating conclusion, reached swiftly but after evidently serious consideration of the evidence.

It follows on the civil jury that found Trump liable in 2023 for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll and the separate jury that earlier this year ordered him to pay more than $83 million for defaming her. In addition to the New York state judge who ordered Trump to pay more than $355 million for defrauding lenders and insurers about his wealth.

Only 30% of Americans think the verdict was wrong 

A YouGov poll found that 50 percent of respondents agreed with the jury that Trump was guilty, 30 percent said he was not guilty and 19 percent were not sure.

Trump Verdict Is What Accountability Is Supposed to Look Like

“Who knew what was going to happen?” Andy Levy says of the case. “It felt like it could go so many different ways, and you only needed one juror to not be sure beyond a reasonable doubt and then you have a hung jury.”

“We still have to have a sentencing hearing and all of that stuff, but whatever, man, this is just honestly a great day for America… I remember when the charges were first filed and talking about it with legal experts on this show and… being like, this seems like the weakest case,” Levy added. “But then the more I learned about it, it’s like, no, this actually was a big deal because it was election tampering and election fraud.”

Summing the verdict up perfectly, co-host Danielle Moodie added, “In all honesty, this is what accountability is supposed to look like.”

How Trump’s Team Blew It

The criminal trial of Donald Trump didn’t have to end this way.

The prosecution’s case had flaws that couldn’t be wallpapered over even with weeks of testimony, over 200 exhibits and a polished and persuasive presentation by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, and his team. If Mr. Trump’s lawyers had played their cards right, they most likely would have ended up with a hung jury or a misdemeanor conviction.

The defense lost a winnable case by adopting an ill-advised strategy that was right out of Mr. Trump’s playbook. For years, he denied everything and attacked anyone who dared to take him on. It worked — until this case.

I have practiced criminal law for over 20 years, and I have tried and won cases as both a federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. I’ve almost never seen the defense win without a compelling counternarrative. Jurors often want to side with prosecutors, who have the advantage of writing the indictment, marshaling the witnesses and telling the story.

The defense needs its own story, and in my experience, the side that tells the simpler story at trial usually wins.

Instead of telling a simple story, Mr. Trump’s defense was a haphazard cacophony of denials and personal attacks. That may work for a Trump rally or a segment on Fox News, but it doesn’t work in a courtroom. Perhaps Mr. Trump’s team was also pursuing a political or press strategy, but it certainly wasn’t a good legal strategy. The powerful defense available to Mr. Trump’s attorneys was lost amid all the clutter.

Trump’s Defense Was About as Strong as Childhood Name-Calling

Trump’s defense team likely made a mistake by relying on the idea that the jury would adopt the idea of “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” and reject all of Cohen’s testimony.

There is little doubt as to which side in the Trump hush-money trial did a better job in closing arguments. Todd Blanche barely stopped short of chanting the schoolyard taunt “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” in his closing summation. This was a surprising move by former President Trump’s lead defense counsel, who by some accounts invoked “lie” about 60 times in his rambling two-hour long argument. But a mantra of name-calling does not make for a coherent defense strategy.

Donald Trump, Felon

the greatest good to come out of this sordid case is the proof that the rule of law binds everyone, even former presidents. Under extraordinary circumstances, the trial was conducted much as any other criminal trial in the city is. That 12 Americans could sit in judgment of the former and potentially future president is a remarkable display of the democratic principles that Americans prize at work.

Justice Juan Merchan, the jury and the New York State legal system delivered speedy justice, providing Americans with vital information about a presidential candidate before voting begins. Multiple polls have shown that a conviction will affect the decisions of many voters.

Trump verdict keeps this bedrock American ideal alive

We’ve never had a trial of a president before. And yet, the trial was about one of the oldest American ideals: that no one is above the law. We overthrew a British king and put a constitution in his place. And with all of our ups and down as a nation, we have ever kept that idea alive. Having a president subject to the same laws, rules and procedures as any other American is a powerful reaffirmation of that idea.

For today, the enormity of Trump being finally held accountable by a jury of his peers after so many allegations resonates across the nation and around the world.

Trump Media shares tumble after Donald Trump found guilty on 34 felony counts

• Trump Media shares fell in extended trading on Thursday after the company’s largest shareholder, former President Donald Trump, was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in his New York criminal trial.
• The stock slid as much as 15% Thursday evening and remained down Friday morning after the verdict was read in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.

also, MAGA Republicans predicted  that the stock market would crash if the jury found Trump guilty. Instead, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 600 points.

Let’s laugh at him 

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