#surely surely you have a preference between a felon fascist bigot and a generally decent human being who has done good things

[artielu]

A few people have expressed confusion about my tags saying that Trump is not going to jail despite the fact that he's been convicted of 34 felonies.

The reason he isn't going to jail is not because he's a slippery fucker with a stacked deck.

It's because he's a first time convict and the felonies are only class E nonviolent. While the sentencing guidelines are for up to four years jail per conviction, the guidelines are a *range*. For a first time conviction, it would be extremely rare to get jail time, especially if the convicted felon is not black and poor (hi systemic racism, I see you're still fucking here).

This guy is white, old, has at least some money to pay lawyers to appeal (allegedly - his lawyers keep not getting paid and getting sanctioned and/or disbarred), and it's a first time conviction and for a nonviolent felony.

Note that if he had been convicted previously of other felonies or any violent felonies, this would be a different conversation, fucking looking at you, Republican senators who refused to impeach for Jan 6 or trying to get zelynsky to manufacture dirt on Biden.

So. You still gotta vote. You gotta vote for Biden and straight Democrat for Congress. If you don't, Trump can seriously still win the election and be back in the white house with the nuclear codes and a chance to put several more bigoted, ultra conservative people on the Supreme Court bench. You think our civil rights are fucked now with a 6-3 majority? Watch what happens if it's a 6-3 majority where the conservative justices are all in their 50s and will be on the Court for the next 30 years. That's another generation of Americans under Christofascist rule.

You don't have to love Biden. You just need to hate trump more than you dislike/hate Biden. Surely, surely you prefer Biden to Trump.

And I like Biden. He's done a lot of good things, and some things I don't like. But I like him. And I really hate Trump.

You need to vote blue. Nothing else matters if we lose the white house and congress again.

[artielu]

What happens next?

He's released pending sentencing on July 11. This is normal. He's convicted of nonviolent felonies and he's not a flight risk. He's highly recognizable and doesn't like to be out of the spotlight.

His attorneys will move to set aside the verdict, which is also normal. That will be denied.

He faces 1 and 1/3 - 4 years maximum on each count. The most possible is 10-20 years as an aggregate maximum, running consecutively. Minimum is a conditional discharge. He can get probation (3-5 years). He's not going to jail, y'all. Probation would be fun because he's probably going to commit more crimes in the future, which would violate his probation for these felonies, and that could result in jail time.

Under very strict procedural rules, he only can appeal after he is sentenced, and then he has only thirty days to file his appeal. Given how shitty his attorneys are, they may fuck up the highly technical requirements of the appeal (stuff like, this font, this size, this many copies, these exhibits, this format, etc etc etc, think concert tour riders but way more complicated). Appellate briefs are a lot of work and it will be fun to see if his counsel can manage it on the first try. Probably not. Appeals take many months and often years.

A few people have expressed confusion about my tags saying that Trump is not going to jail despite the fact that he's been convicted of 34 felonies.

The reason he isn't going to jail is not because he's a slippery fucker with a stacked deck.

It's because he's a first time convict and the felonies are only class E nonviolent. While the sentencing guidelines are for up to four years jail per conviction, the guidelines are a *range*. For a first time conviction, it would be extremely rare to get jail time, especially if the convicted felon is not black and poor (hi systemic racism, I see you're still fucking here).

This guy is white, old, has at least some money to pay lawyers to appeal (allegedly - his lawyers keep not getting paid and getting sanctioned and/or disbarred), and it's a first time conviction and for a nonviolent felony.

Note that if he had been convicted previously of other felonies or any violent felonies, this would be a different conversation, fucking looking at you, Republican senators who refused to impeach for Jan 6 or trying to get zelynsky to manufacture dirt on Biden.

So. You still gotta vote. You gotta vote for Biden and straight Democrat for Congress. If you don't, Trump can seriously still win the election and be back in the white house with the nuclear codes and a chance to put several more bigoted, ultra conservative people on the Supreme Court bench. You think our civil rights are fucked now with a 6-3 majority? Watch what happens if it's a 6-3 majority where the conservative justices are all in their 50s and will be on the Court for the next 30 years. That's another generation of Americans under Christofascist rule.

You don't have to love Biden. You just need to hate trump more than you dislike/hate Biden. Surely, surely you prefer Biden to Trump.

And I like Biden. He's done a lot of good things, and some things I don't like. But I like him. And I really hate Trump.

You need to vote blue. Nothing else matters if we lose the white house and congress again.

[artielu]

To explain a point of confusion:

Trump was not convicted of rape in criminal court. He was not charged with rape by the government.

A criminal charge is brought by the government and the standard for guilt is the famous "beyond a reasonable doubt". The police are involved. If he was convicted of rape, which is a felony crime of class a/b/c depending, he would already be a felon. He was charged by the government, the district attorney acting on behalf of the people of the state of New York, for 34 class e felonies and was convicted by a jury using the beyond a reasonable doubt standard. Jail is a possibility for felony convictions, but as I noted above, Trump will not go to jail for these 34 class e felony convictions.

He was found liable for defamation (that he did not sexually assault or rape e jean Carrol, when in fact, according to the jury and also reality, he did) in civil court. No government charges, no police. She, a private person not representing the government or the public, sued him in civil court for defamation for lying about her, saying that he was lying when he said he did not rape her, and him then calling her a liar for her saying he raped her is bullshit because he knows he raped her and he knows he's lying when he claims that she's lying. He has defamed her. To prove defamation, you show that the defendant knows that they're lying when they say The Thing You're Mad About and that The Thing is making you look bad i.e. damaging your reputation. The standard for liability is "preponderance of the evidence" i.e. 50%+1 i.e. more likely than not. It is a much, much lower standard than a criminal conviction. Therefore, the jury awarded her money damages. Jail is not possible from civil liability.

Only the government bringing charges can result in jail, because taking away someone's freedom by putting them in jail is a really big deal under the us constitution. And there are lots and lots of procedural rules to protect a criminal defendant's rights because of "innocent until proven guilty."

Trump has been proven guilty of 34 felonies. He is a convicted felon. And yet he can still run for president and still win the election unless we all show up and vote for Biden.

A few people have expressed confusion about my tags saying that Trump is not going to jail despite the fact that he's been convicted of 34 felonies.

The reason he isn't going to jail is not because he's a slippery fucker with a stacked deck.

It's because he's a first time convict and the felonies are only class E nonviolent. While the sentencing guidelines are for up to four years jail per conviction, the guidelines are a *range*. For a first time conviction, it would be extremely rare to get jail time, especially if the convicted felon is not black and poor (hi systemic racism, I see you're still fucking here).

This guy is white, old, has at least some money to pay lawyers to appeal (allegedly - his lawyers keep not getting paid and getting sanctioned and/or disbarred), and it's a first time conviction and for a nonviolent felony.

Note that if he had been convicted previously of other felonies or any violent felonies, this would be a different conversation, fucking looking at you, Republican senators who refused to impeach for Jan 6 or trying to get zelynsky to manufacture dirt on Biden.

So. You still gotta vote. You gotta vote for Biden and straight Democrat for Congress. If you don't, Trump can seriously still win the election and be back in the white house with the nuclear codes and a chance to put several more bigoted, ultra conservative people on the Supreme Court bench. You think our civil rights are fucked now with a 6-3 majority? Watch what happens if it's a 6-3 majority where the conservative justices are all in their 50s and will be on the Court for the next 30 years. That's another generation of Americans under Christofascist rule.

You don't have to love Biden. You just need to hate trump more than you dislike/hate Biden. Surely, surely you prefer Biden to Trump.

And I like Biden. He's done a lot of good things, and some things I don't like. But I like him. And I really hate Trump.

You need to vote blue. Nothing else matters if we lose the white house and congress again.