May 30Liked by Jay Kuo, The Big Picture, George Takei
Lock. Him. Up. Judge Merchant should throw the book at him not only for these crimes, but for his threats yesterday against the jury and his repeated violations of the gag order!
Christine and L H: The Borowitz Report is satire. Andy was not quoting trump. He made up those statements to mock him. Please tell me you didn't believe it was an actual news report.
Please don't insinuate that I'm stupid or naive. When Trump says that the prosecutor, in his closing argument, was filibustering and complained that he was not allowed to "rebut or correct the many lies told" therein, it is very clear that he seems to have no idea how a trial works. He is so beyond left field that I could believe him saying almost anything.
I feel like an idiot myself now. Did not realize it was satire, mostly because TraitorTrump is entirely capable of saying idiotic things exactly like that! My apologies!
Thanks Jay. You mention the appeal of a guilty finding and that Trump would be out on bond. I never heard what the outcome was in the bond dispute re: the E. Jean Carroll suit. The last I heard, it was clear that the bond did not meet the state's surety requirements. Then the story seemed to just die. Anyone know the status?
I believe the bond issue was with the fraudulent business records case, brought by AG Letitia James for the People of New York State. Great question, though, and I also await Jay's response. 💙
Michael Cohen got three years for his part in these crimes. First offense, class E felony, yada, yada, yada. Trump should get at least that much. Of course I’d like to see more, as a presidential candidate at the time, and the fact that he deceived to the entire country to get elected, he should be held to a higher standard. The punishment should reflect that.
I hope there is a way to control Trump's mouth while he is appealing. If he goes off threatening the judge or his family or anyone associated with the appeals process, will someone in authority finally have the courage to jail him?
I think we are taking our eyes off the real subject which won’t matter what the verdict is.
A short time after Melania gave birth Donald crudely had sex with a porn star.
That is what he wanted to hide because of how it would impact the women voters. That is still what may have the biggest impact. Let’s keep telling that story.
Thank you once again. We all need the patience of a Mother Teresa just now.
I am going to shift to comment upon the election part of the Big Picture report.
There is some evidence that the GOP strategy now is to try to deny Biden 270 electoral votes by any possible means. If they can do that, it then is left up to the states and Trump wins. Gerrymandering does matter.
Short of an exact electoral college tie, this won't be up to the House to decide. There's no chance a third party candidate gets even a single electoral college vote.
The only way to realistically deny Biden 270 votes is for Trump to get 271
You are presuming that all of the electoral votes will go to either Trump or to Biden, which of course might be what happens. If the GOP can hold Biden to an electoral tie, Trump wins. If a third party candidate bleeds off enough electoral votes that nobody gets 270, Trump wins.
And who do you think would keep Biden from 270? RFK Jr.? I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that he can win ANY of the 48 states and DC that are winner-take-all, so how’s this going to happen?
If he is found guilty in THIS trial, would that guilty verdict, making him a convicted felon, have any effect on any potential future trial sentence or would the fact that the crimes happened before the guilty verdict in THIS trial not be considered for sentencing of future trials? For example, if he is tried in Georgia and found guilty, would the fact that he would, by that time, be a convicted felon, for the current trial have any weight in sentencing for the Georgia trial? Or because the crimes in Georgia occurred PRIOR to his conviction in New York, his being a convicted felon wouldn't be considered in the sentencing? I hope I'm explaining my question clearly 😳
There’s a lot of discretion for judges in sentencing. I don’t think they would take into account any charges that hadn’t been adjudicated yet, but it’s perfectly within bounds to take into account other verdicts from other jurisdictions when assessing history and character.
I am really looking forward to future Big Picture posts. Jay is an incredible writer that can summerize all the information and make it easy to understand. You are amazing.
I’m curious as to where the alternate jurors are during deliberations. Are they hanging out or excused until needed, or able to listen in but not comment.
I believe but am not sure that they need to still be on call in case one the jurors cannot continue the deliberations, but I do not believe they are in or participate in the deliberations themselves.
Lock. Him. Up. Judge Merchant should throw the book at him not only for these crimes, but for his threats yesterday against the jury and his repeated violations of the gag order!
👏👏👏
Merchan. Damn autocorrect!
And another violation as he was leaving — or is the order null now that the trial is over?
What threats against the jury? I must have missed them. Please let us know. Thanks!
Andy Borowitz writes satire. This wasn’t an actual news report.
https://open.substack.com/pub/borowitzreport/p/trump-says-it-is-totally-unfair-that?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2xvzv
Christine and L H: The Borowitz Report is satire. Andy was not quoting trump. He made up those statements to mock him. Please tell me you didn't believe it was an actual news report.
https://open.substack.com/pub/borowitzreport/p/trump-says-it-is-totally-unfair-that?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2xvzv
Please don't insinuate that I'm stupid or naive. When Trump says that the prosecutor, in his closing argument, was filibustering and complained that he was not allowed to "rebut or correct the many lies told" therein, it is very clear that he seems to have no idea how a trial works. He is so beyond left field that I could believe him saying almost anything.
I feel like an idiot myself now. Did not realize it was satire, mostly because TraitorTrump is entirely capable of saying idiotic things exactly like that! My apologies!
The Borowitz Report is satire. Andy was not quoting trump, just mocking him.
Thank you very much, Christine. I had not seen that.
Thanks Jay. You mention the appeal of a guilty finding and that Trump would be out on bond. I never heard what the outcome was in the bond dispute re: the E. Jean Carroll suit. The last I heard, it was clear that the bond did not meet the state's surety requirements. Then the story seemed to just die. Anyone know the status?
I believe the bond issue was with the fraudulent business records case, brought by AG Letitia James for the People of New York State. Great question, though, and I also await Jay's response. 💙
The bond was reduced to $175M, and the defense did whatever they needed to do to satisfy the NY State DA of its validity.
Yes, I believe that is the state of things now.
Thanks. I had forgotten about the appeal of the $$ amount. Like drinking from a firehose with this guy.
Michael Cohen got three years for his part in these crimes. First offense, class E felony, yada, yada, yada. Trump should get at least that much. Of course I’d like to see more, as a presidential candidate at the time, and the fact that he deceived to the entire country to get elected, he should be held to a higher standard. The punishment should reflect that.
Let’s see what Merchan does, if a verdict does come down with guilty. Against the Trump Organization, he assessed the maximum amount.
Excellent write up Jay! Everyone should read this
The headline from the Borowitz Report this morning:
"Trump Says It's Totally Unfair That He Is Not Allowed To Be A Juror"
lol
Mother Teresa would be fine. 😂
I hope there is a way to control Trump's mouth while he is appealing. If he goes off threatening the judge or his family or anyone associated with the appeals process, will someone in authority finally have the courage to jail him?
The more I read along, the more I became convinced that this shit deserves the full 136 years.
I think we are taking our eyes off the real subject which won’t matter what the verdict is.
A short time after Melania gave birth Donald crudely had sex with a porn star.
That is what he wanted to hide because of how it would impact the women voters. That is still what may have the biggest impact. Let’s keep telling that story.
Thank you once again. We all need the patience of a Mother Teresa just now.
I am going to shift to comment upon the election part of the Big Picture report.
There is some evidence that the GOP strategy now is to try to deny Biden 270 electoral votes by any possible means. If they can do that, it then is left up to the states and Trump wins. Gerrymandering does matter.
The only conceivable way I see for them to deny the 270 is to get to a 269/269 tie, which is possible given the make-up of the swing states.
Short of an exact electoral college tie, this won't be up to the House to decide. There's no chance a third party candidate gets even a single electoral college vote.
The only way to realistically deny Biden 270 votes is for Trump to get 271
You are presuming that all of the electoral votes will go to either Trump or to Biden, which of course might be what happens. If the GOP can hold Biden to an electoral tie, Trump wins. If a third party candidate bleeds off enough electoral votes that nobody gets 270, Trump wins.
And who do you think would keep Biden from 270? RFK Jr.? I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that he can win ANY of the 48 states and DC that are winner-take-all, so how’s this going to happen?
If he is found guilty in THIS trial, would that guilty verdict, making him a convicted felon, have any effect on any potential future trial sentence or would the fact that the crimes happened before the guilty verdict in THIS trial not be considered for sentencing of future trials? For example, if he is tried in Georgia and found guilty, would the fact that he would, by that time, be a convicted felon, for the current trial have any weight in sentencing for the Georgia trial? Or because the crimes in Georgia occurred PRIOR to his conviction in New York, his being a convicted felon wouldn't be considered in the sentencing? I hope I'm explaining my question clearly 😳
There’s a lot of discretion for judges in sentencing. I don’t think they would take into account any charges that hadn’t been adjudicated yet, but it’s perfectly within bounds to take into account other verdicts from other jurisdictions when assessing history and character.
I really hope they don’t take jail off the table or delay the sentence or anything like that. No more special treatment, enough is enough
I love that Trump is stuck in the courthouse during deliberations🤣
4%? 9%? The polls showing such a low percentage of Republicans either somewhat unwilling or unwilling to vote for him or he’s a convicted says it all!
It sure does say a lot about where we are as a nation. And not in a good way.
I am really looking forward to future Big Picture posts. Jay is an incredible writer that can summerize all the information and make it easy to understand. You are amazing.
I’m curious as to where the alternate jurors are during deliberations. Are they hanging out or excused until needed, or able to listen in but not comment.
I believe but am not sure that they need to still be on call in case one the jurors cannot continue the deliberations, but I do not believe they are in or participate in the deliberations themselves.