By convicting Trump on all 34 felony counts, the jury sent a message to the country and to Donald Trump. Now it will be up to America to decide if it wants a felon president.
Read: Samuel Alito Is The Insurrectionist Threat To Democracy On The Supreme Court
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Rachel #马多 “It’s consistent in all respects. It’s a clear, irreversible verdict. He can appeal. I’m sure he will appeal. But that’s all the prosecution is asking for.” pic.twitter.com/kO2nTPty5f
— Sarah Rhys Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 30, 2024
As Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House”:
Look, this is consistent across the board. This is a definite and irreversible verdict. He can appeal. I’m sure he will appeal. But that’s all the prosecution was asking for, and by all accounts the jury took this very, very seriously. We calculated the deliberations time here.
The test we face as a nation is not what happens on appeal. It has nothing to do with sentencing. The test now for us as Counts is whether the former president and his allies will succeed in trying to undermine the rule of law so that people refuse to see it as a legitimate function of the rule of law in our country. They are trying to delegitimize this judge. They sought to delegitimize the court and delegitimize the law under which he was charged. Those involved in bringing this case have been threatened and intimidated, and every pressure exerted on them in a manner designed to delegitimize the process among the American people. It is now up to the American people to decide whether we accept these efforts.
Trump will continue to try to delegitimize this process and the rule of law, but the message is loud and clear. There is no ambiguity. Donald Trump broke the law dozens of times, but he won the 2016 election doing so. Republicans have now chosen a convicted felon as president, and even if some voters disqualify Trump based on that verdict, the message is devastating.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press corps and a congressional reporter for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a BA in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, particularly social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of Society of Professional Journalists and American Political Science Association
