Donald Trump’s lawyers just admitted they know he’s going to be convicted
The maddening thing about the major political news outlets is that they have the resources to obtain inside information about what’s going on, but they also have the total lack of journalistic integrity to spin that information as ludicrously as possible while chasing ratings and page views. We’re now seeing the perfect example of this playing out.
Politico just ran a lengthy article titled “The Surprising Strategy Trump Could Use to Win His Manhattan Trial.” I’ll save you the trouble of having to read the whole thing, and skip straight to the punchline: Trump’s attorneys are considering asking the judge to give the jury the option of convicting Trump on 34 misdemeanors instead of 34 felonies.
Let’s be clear about some things here. The judge in this trial would never go for it. A grand jury of the people indicted Trump on felonies, not misdemeanors, and this judge isn’t going overturn the will of the people by rewriting the charges. So this isn’t anything other than a fantasy on Team Trump’s part. For Politico to use this as the basis for a headline about how Trump will “win” his trial is laugh out loud ludicrous. But “Trump is going to get away with it all” stories are what get the nervous ratings and panic clicks, so that’s what we’ve sadly come to expect from the media these days.
In spite of Politico’s attempt at packaging this as a “Trump will get away with it all” story, the real upshot is actually something very different. If Trump’s lawyers are considering asking the judge to also give the jury the option of convicting on misdemeanor charges, it means Trump’s lawyers think he’s definitely getting convicted in this trial. They’re just hoping to find a way to get him convicted on misdemeanors instead of felonies – though again, their plan is a pipe dream that won’t happen.
This also gives away that, in spite of all the media hype about how Trump will avoid prison even if he’s convicted in this trial, Trump’s attorneys very much fear he’ll end up with a prison sentence. Their pipe dream strategy is no doubt based on the idea that misdemeanor convictions wouldn’t put him in prison, but felony convictions would.
In any case, it is funny how the mainstream political media sometimes unwittingly tips us off to what’s really going on, even when they’re publishing clickbait aimed at convincing us that the precise opposite is going on. Trump’s own attorneys know he’s going to be convicted and they’re afraid he’s going to prison. That’s the only takeaway you need.
