It's hard to imagine the verdict standing as is. Trump's appealing it was a foregone conclusion. And he has considerable grounds for appeal. In this venue, with this DA and this judge, a fair trial might have been impossible.
For 8-9 years now, the time when it started to seem likely that he would be a nominee for President, liberal politics has been all about being against one guy. For a number of people, the law is now just a pretext for going after that same guy, and in at least some cases they can make it stick. That reduces the law to an extension of politics, in a way it's not meant to be. Both sides might wind up embracing that vision of the law, though. A dangerous situation for people who get caught in the middle.
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The scary thing about the many trials of Donald Trump, and this one in particular, is that legally it was a case for which there are no legal grounds for bringing it. The idea that one misdemeanor turned into 34 felony counts is bizarre to say the least.. Lehman Brothers weren't charged with 34 felonies and AIG was completely bailed out by the Feds in 2008 in a no fault judgement. The DOJ and the Federal Election Commission found no basis for prosecuting Donald Trump. In other words the entirety of the seriously mishandled case was simply to have the man declared guilty of something/anything by the mainstream media.
Of course, an appeal will be made and very probably won but this sets a very serious precedent. Meantime it seems to me that even the people who don't like Trump know they shouldn't be celebrating this conviction.
Still, it's nice to have friends. This evening I read the Trump campaign has collected morethan $200mil since the verdict was announced.
Well yes, it's blatant lawfare. And further, while lawfare usually at least has a semblance of legitimacy, this is just targeting an individual for prosecution, and the question of "for what" seems to be irrelevant. No, a misdemeanor doesn't become 34 felonies because of the way the paperwork is filed. The idea is absurd. Of course the media aren't going to say much about the emptiness of the case. And there's another factor at work. The citizens of this country are seeing both their political power and the material conditions of their life decline. It's handy in a bread-and-circuses sense to have a show trial in an election year.
The precedent that you can convict someone of a felony without the jury agreeing on the underlying crime is a frightening one. You never know when the government will want to pull that one out again, but I can make a few guesses.
If nothing else, Trump's fundraising success is a sign that the trial is failing as propaganda. That gives one a little more faith in the electorate.
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