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The absolute zero remorse, but rather the opposite in attacking everybody else should be an aggravating circumstance.
Michael Cohen showed remorse, and cooperated, and he still got jail time.
I'd say Trump deserves to serve time more than Cohen did.
1 Trump did not cooperate
2 Trump gave the orders
3 Trump shows no remorse
Is it really true that: "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
To add to this :
4 Trumps gain from the crime was to become the most powerful man in the world
5 Trump would do it again, and is in a position to do it again right now
Given these, how can he not go to jail. A money fine is nothing compared to what he gained and could gain again.
I know what I'm about to say is not going to get a ton of love here buuuut....
I'd argue that if you're a former president, you SHOULD get deferential sentencing. Too much potential for abuse otherwise. Imagine if Trump won in 2024 and suddenly Biden's document retention case got re-opened and he got the harshest possible sentence.
Similarly but separately, major party nominees should get deferential sentencing. It's an influence on the political process, and you should err on the side of having less influence. If you lock up a nominee so they can't campaign, it's not really a fair election. ESPECIALLY when it's a crime from 8 years ago.
Like, still get sentenced within the guidelines of the crime, but just towards the more lenient edge. If someone is guilty of murder you can't NOT put them in prison. But if the penalty for the crime doesn't require prison, it's quite a leap to get to prison on a former president, current nominee.
Counterpoint is that with great power, comes great responsibility, and those at the top should have even MORE oversight and even harsher penalties when they step out of line. For some reason (well, it's not much of a mystery - it's about power and money), it's completely backwards - those in power are almost never accountable for anything they do.
Counterpoint:
FUCK THAT!
no one is above the law or we are not a free fucking country.
It's not "above the law" when the penalty is still within the range of punishments listed in the law broken. The former president and/or nominee would still be punished according to the law, just at the lower bound allowed by judicial discretion.
34 Felonies, interfering with the election that got him to be president.... Yeah, lock his ass up. He's gotten away with enough bullshit his entire life that if it were anyone else that didn't have a rich daddy, they'd been in jail decades ago for decades to come.
I get that you are trying to explain a method to prevent the system from being abused against political rivals. But Trump was unanimously found guilty of 34 counts by a jury. He attacked the judge, the court and the jury during the trial, and continues to disregard the law. It will send a clear message that he is above the law if he gets a lesser sentence than Cohen.
Presidents are above the law while they're in office. This case is unique because it happened before he was in office. The message that will really be sent is "wait until you're actually president to do would-be illegal shit".
Still worth handing him a harsh sentence, just to put the orange fascist fuck behind bars, but there shouldn't be any misconceptions about some true notion of justice here. Trump is just a moron, and didn't know how to play the game correctly.
Presidents are above the law while they’re in office.
Every time I learn a new thing about our government it looks even more fucked up and unworkable. I know those guys were on laudenum and cocaine and drunk off their asses when they wrote the Constitution but goddamn were they fucked up.
Add to this, he blew off doing his probation report. Some people say it was because of the drug test. That's also a negative factor in sentencing.
That’s also a negative factor in sentencing.
If it were anyone but Trump, I'd agree with you.
But this is Trump. Even Merchan has allowed Trump to play by a completely different set of rules (violating the gag order 10 times and still not being thrown in jail, as an example). He has also been openly hesitant about the idea of throwing Trump in jail.
Trump not participating was predicted from day one, and I doubt even Merchan expected otherwise. With that said, I still think the chances of him seeing any jail time are all but nonexistent. He will either get a non-incarceration sentence, house arrest, or probation (most likely). And even if he does get probation, there is no chance that he is going to be forced to report to some NY probation officer. Most likely, he'll end up somehow striking some deal where one of his lackey lawyers shows up on his behalf and pinky swears that he is being a good boy, and after about the 14th or 15th probation violation, he'll receive his first warning that further violations may someday make them consider the possibility of having a meeting about it.
I don't think the rules change magicaly because it's Trump
They certainly appear to.
IMO the judge was fair and did not give too much deference to the defendant.
How many times do you think you could violate a gag order before you get thrown in jail?
Your interpretation may not be the same as the judge. It's always judgement call on their part, and it turned out to be a min9r issue after ruling.
I wouldn't call stochastic terrorism "minor."
Let's review what happened. The gag order was placed on Trump. Per procedure, the prosecution informed the judge that Trump had broken it. The judge held a special hearing on this and asked the prosecutor for curative measures suggested. The judge agreed to this cure and fined Trump. The Trump tonned it down for a time allowing the end of the trail. That's how a gag order is supposed to work.
How many times do you think you could violate a gag order before you get thrown in jail?
I just explained how the process works. You can sit in armchair judgement, but the real judge is the one who met his duty.
Answer the question dude....
You don't have a question, you only have a fantasy of being mighter than you are.