This little tidbit makes today’s victory over Donald Trump even more delicious
In my political analysis I’m often fond of pointing out that real life is not the movies. In the movies, the most unrealistic and improbable outcome is the one that’s most likely to happen. After all, that’s how fictional drama is generated. In real life, the most likely outcome is the one that happens the most often, because that’s how the laws of reality work.
For instance, it was always highly likely that Trump was going to be convicted in this criminal trial. The case was incredibly strong. The witnesses and evidence were overwhelming to the point of being redundant. There was no successful defense strategy to be had in this trial, and even if there were, an addled Trump never would have let his legal team pursue it.
And so when the guilty verdict came down, I wasn’t surprised at all. Delighted, of course. But surprised? No. The most likely outcome was the one that ended up happening. Real life, not the movies.
But while I wasn’t at all surprised by the verdict, I was caught off guard – like everyone else – by the chaotic events that played out just before the verdict. The judge announced that he was going to send the jury home for the day, apparently unaware that the jury had already reached a verdict and was merely finishing up the paperwork. So we all thought we were going to have to come back and do this in the morning, as the jury took its sweet time. It still strongly looked like a conviction, but just how long was this jury going to take to get there? Then suddenly out of nowhere the judge announced that a verdict had been reached.
As it turns out, when Trump and his defense team came back into the courtroom just before 4:30pm, they thought it was so the judge could end the trial for the day – and they were excited. Trump’s only faint hope in this trial was a rogue juror and a deadlocked jury. And so when the judge decided to send the jury home because they still hadn’t reached a verdict by the end of day two, it gave Trump and his lawyers a dash of hope. They were visibly excited by what was playing out. Then suddenly the judge announced there was a verdict, and Trump and his team suddenly went from elated to crushed, because they knew that the verdict had to be against them.
And so as it turns out, we did indeed get out little sliver of movie magic at the end of this trial. Donald Trump, the most monstrous villain of his era, facing his darkest hour, was given a brief sliver of hope only to have it immediately turn into a nightmare for him. Nobody deserved it more. And that little tidbit makes today’s victory over Trump even more delicious.
