Donald Trump, Convicted Felon
Opinion seems to be divided over whether we should applaud or be alarmed by the Supreme Court’s narrow 5-4 ruling on today’s Trump’s sentencing.1
It’s fair to worry that there are four justices who will basically give Trump an absolute Get Out of Any Jail Card. But since I choose to be of cheery disposition on this snowy Friday, I say we take the win. Especially because wins like this may be vanishingly rare over the next few months. Trump was counting on his BFFs on SCOTUS to do him a solid. So, this is a BFD.
MAGA certainly thinks so. Elon Musk’s Xitter buddy Catturd is big sad over the whole thing.
Tiny violins, amirite?
Unlike lesser mortals, of course, Trump will avoid jail time — the judge imposed an “unconditional discharge of Mr. Trump’s sentence, a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation.” That was yet another sign that Trump still remains above the law in some respects. And he has escaped accountability for his more serious crimes. (More about that failure below.)
But as Trump himself knows, the stigma of this felony conviction will linger; and today’s sentencing by Judge Jaun Merchan is an extraordinary inflection point in presidential history:
Amid all the posturing and pomp of the inauguration; amid all of the saber rattling, sycophancy, and knee-bending of the past few weeks; and despite the failure of so many of our constitutional guardrails — one fact is unavoidable. As of today — ten days before the inauguration — Donald Trump is a convicted felon. (I’ll have more to say over at MSNBC Daily and on the Talking Feds podcast.)
And since we’re in a glass half-full mood, nota bene:
“Appeals court says Jack Smith's final report can be released.”….
And…
So Happy Freakin’ Friday.
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All hail, our felon president
Even though this may have been the least of Trump’s crimes, it was not a trivial matter. His attorney, Michael Cohen, went to prison for his role in arranging the payments. And, as Cohen later explained, the payoffs were not designed to cover up a personal scandal but were made “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.” Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, including “two counts of illegal campaign contributions related to payments to women.”
Cohen served more than a year in prison and a year and a half in home confinement. Trump himself faced as many as four years for his own felony convictions. But, unlike, Cohen, Trump will not serve a day.
Even so, Merchan repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of Trump’s crimes. His conduct, wrote Merchan last week, was “premediated and continuous deception by the leader of the free world.”
And the judge pushed back on the reckless rhetoric of Trump’s lawyers (some of whom are about to assume key positions in the Department of Justice).
“Counsel has resorted to language, indeed rhetoric, that has no place in legal pleadings” he wrote. “For example, countless times in their Motion to Dismiss, counsel accuses the prosecution and this Court of engaging in ‘unlawful’ and ‘unconstitutional’ conduct.”
Merchan also noted Trump’s overt contempt for the judicial process. “Indeed, Defendant has gone to great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole.”
But Merchan defied the Trumpian attempts to bully and intimidate the court. “Dangerous rhetoric is not a welcome form of argument and will have no impact on how the Court renders this or any other Decision,” Merchan wrote.
On Friday, Merchan rendered his verdict on the first convicted felon ever elected to the presidency of the United States.
Joe Biden’s Prime Directive
Based on social media reax, a lot of you don’t want to hear this. But it’s important to confront the reality that Joe Biden had one job — one supreme, essential mission. And because he failed… here we are.
In yesterday’s Atlantic Daily newsletter, I acknowledge Biden’s successes, but also his failures. “A charismatic and energetic president might have been able to overcome these failures and win a run for reelection. Some presidents seize the public’s imagination; Biden barely even got its attention.”
He presumed that he could return to a Before Times style of politics, where the president was a backroom bipartisan dealmaker. Whereas Trump dominated the news, Biden seemed to fade into the background almost from the beginning, seldom using his bully pulpit to rally public support or explain his vision for the country. Trump was always in our faces, but it often felt like Biden was … elsewhere.
Biden also misread the trajectory of Trumpism. Like so many others, he thought that the problem of Trump had taken care of itself and that his election meant a return to normalcy. So he chose as his attorney general Merrick Garland, who seems to have seen his role as restoring the Department of Justice rather than pursuing accountability for the man who’d tried to overturn the election. Eventually, Garland turned the cases over to Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought indictments. But it was too late. With time running out and a Supreme Court ruling in favor of broad presidential immunity, Trump emerged unscathed. And then came the sad final chapter of Biden’s presidency, which may well overshadow everything else.
When he ran for president in 2020, Biden described himself as a “transition candidate” and a “bridge” to a new generation of leaders. But instead of stepping aside for those younger leaders, Biden chose to seek another term, despite the growing evidence of his decline. With the future of democracy at stake, Biden’s inner circle appeared to shield the octogenarian president. His team didn’t just insist that voters ignore what was in front of their eyes; it also maintained that the aging president could serve out another four-year term. Some Democrats clung to denial—and shouted down internal critics—until Biden’s disastrous debate performance put an end to the charade.
Even then, Biden stubbornly tried to hang on, before intense pressure from his own party forced him to drop out of the race in July. Now he is shuffling to the end of his presidency, already shunted aside by his successor and still in denial.
As the passing of Jimmy Carter reminds us, presidential legacies are complicated matters, and it is difficult to predict the verdict of history. But as Biden leaves office, he is less a transformational figure than a historical parenthesis. He failed to grasp both the political moment and the essential mission of his presidency.
Other presidents have misunderstood their mandate. But in Biden’s case, the consequences were existential: By his own logic, the Prime Directive of his presidency was to preserve democracy by preventing Donald Trump’s return to power. His failure to do so will likely be the lasting legacy of his four years in office.
Bonus take: If you think this is too harsh, brace yourself for Shikha Dalmia’s brutalist take in the Unpopulist: “ Joe Biden Will Go Down as a Failed President.”
[His] main task was to give his party its best shot at preventing Trump from becoming his successor and, if he did, then erecting as many roadblocks in his way to stop him (or any rogue president tempted to emulate Trump) from abusing his office’s awesome powers.
Biden failed on every count.
Happy Birthday, boys
Gone but not forgotten. We always celebrated Pete and Moses’s birthdays on January 10.
Finally
The cover of next week’s New Yorker.
Via NBC:
The decision on a 5-4 vote with four conservatives dissenting meant the conservative-majority court changed course after having previously handed Trump two big wins last year. Trump is set to return to the presidency on Jan. 20.
The brief unsigned order said the issues Trump wants to raise "can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal." The burden sentencing imposes on Trump is "relatively insubstantial," the court added, because he is not going to receive any prison time.
The three liberal justices were in the majority with Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Charlie--on the Biden thing. I won't fault you for your take (I respect the zeal of a convert). In fact, I said 2 years ago that, if Trump won, Biden would take the blame whether he ran or not. That's what goes with the position.
But I can't bring myself to be mad at him, because the fact is that he did step up 4 years ago when we needed him to. And he won 4 years ago when we needed him to. And he governed pretty well when we needed him to (not perfectly, but who has?).
Meanwhile, there were many other people, including one ex-President, who didn't do squat. There were many "normal Republican" officials who can now only be referred to as Trumpists.
And most important, despite all of what Trump has said, and done, and not said, and not done. In spite of all of the disqualifying and dishonorable behavior he has displayed, he keeps getting more votes.
At some point, we have to recognize that as flawed as Hillary may have been in 16. and Biden in 24, it was the American Electorate that saw all of that and pulled the lever for him again. Which Democratic candidate would you be willing to say would have absolutely done that?
Finally, a day will come in the not too distant future when Joe Biden will pass. Between now and then, consider letting this be the last poison-pen post you make about him.
Excellent piece Mr. Sykes and the SC ruling is a tiny glimmer of good news in an absolutely hellscape beginning to 2025. I will take it!
As someone who historically votes democratic and voted for Biden in 2020, it was also my understanding he would be a one term president. I expected that by 2022 we would start to learn who would be the front runner for the 2024 election for the Dems. I supported many of his policies and actions and thought he did a good job in several areas with what he was handed going in, but again, expected a transition to newer/younger leadership for 2024, and not at the last minute! Now, the Garland fiasco and his acting like all the old ways of doing things will correct things eventually is infuriating and disheartening. History will look at this time as wasted, where something could be done but wasn’t, and we just all marched off the cliff waiting for the guardrails to kick in. I still know and believe that Biden is a good and decent man, but he will just be remembered as someone who let MAGA and Trump steamroll the whole US and rule of law.
Happy heavenly birthday to Pete(!) and Moses and thank you for sharing the pictures. they are so heartwarming and always bring a smile 😊. I never knew it was possible to miss a dog I had never met until “meeting” Pete(!) through social media.