Abyss, on 02 June 2024 - 04:38 AM, said:
He's not exactly a flight risk when sticking around means he gets to be president. Again.
But the appeals process almost certainly won't be over until after the inauguration. And if he's president, he'll be a unique flight
-or-fight risk. Particularly since he's made it clear that he's going to try to purge the executive branch and the military leadership in order to stuff them with people who are loyal to Trump over the Constitution.
Maybe some in law enforcement or the military would try to make him go to prison. Others---even in the military---would probably try to either help him escape (could he be president from Russia?) or fight on his behalf. So we could have a civil war over
the cat not wanting to get in the carrier Trump refusing to go to prison.
More likely the Supreme Court would make up some bullshit about how being in prison would impede his ability to be president and rule that he can't be forced to go to prison so long as he's president. And then he'll either die in office, refuse to cede power, or figure out a way to flee to Russia or some other country (or non-country location? "libertarian" authoritarian fortress of doom on the open seas?) that won't extradite him.
Granted, since this is Trump's first criminal conviction, he is technically a "first-time offender", which experts cite as a key part of their justification for assuming he probably won't be
sentenced to prison for this. But calling Trump a "first-time offender" is a bit like calling Al Capone a "first-time offender". And was Michael Cohen a first-time offender? I'd guess he was, yet he was sentenced to prison for carrying out the crimes which Trump was convicted of ordering. Plus the judge has a history of basing sentencing on whether those convicted demonstrate contrition and respect for the court---but I didn't see any examples of him using those as a criteria for whether to sentence someone to prison. Earlier in the trial the judge did say he doesn't want to jail Trump, though that was wrt jailing Trump for repeatedly violating the judge's gag orders.