Don’t get me wrong here, I’m with ya. When I first heard the news today that Manhattan District Court Judge Juan Merchan had delayed Trump’s sentencing until November 26th, my first thought also was What a cowardly chickensh*t! But rather than taking my poison pen firmly in hand and taking off on a gut reaction rant, I did what I always try to do at times like this.
I just sat back and shut up. And then I listened, and I thought about it. And I came to the realization that there’s a perfectly good reason why Juan Merchan is a Judge, and I’m just a loud mouth Mick with a laptop.
In his ruling today, Merchan said something that at the time sounded like him covering his ass, but on calmer reflection is a perfectly valid reason for the delay. In his ruling he wrote, This ruling is being made not to interfere in the election process, but to avoid giving the impression of interference in the election process. And when I’m done here, you’ll know why it was the best thing to do.
Let’s look at the two possible scenarios that could play out. In addition to sentencing Traitor tot, Judge Merchan also has a pending motion to confirm that the conviction passed the sniff test for the SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity. Merchan had originally promised to drop that ruling by September 16th, before the sentencing. Now that’s scheduled for November 12th.
If Merchan had ruled on September 16 that the conviction would stand, and sentencing would take place on September 18th, his legal carp would have immediately filed an emergency motion before the Supreme Court to stay that, pending a hearing on the immunity ruling, and citing the pending election as reason for instant relief. And they almost certainly would have gotten it.
And being the Roberts Supreme Court, they would have delayed until after the election to even hold the hearing, then likely would have vacated the conviction in their ruling, forcing the Manhattan DA to start all over from scratch. This would have delayed sentencing by at least a year, if Bragg even went through the trouble all over again.
But now let’s look at the One from Column B. By delaying his ruling and sentencing until after the election, Merchan basically bulletproofs it from SCOTUS premature interference. Trump’s legal beagles have nothing to appeal, since there is no ruling. Which means that Roberts can’t get his sticky fingers all over it. And that was the whole point of this exercise.
If Trump wins, then the sentencing is basically an exercise in futility. Trump’s lawyers will appeal the conviction under the immunity ruling, and Trump would be 82 when they could lay their hands on him again.
But if Trump loses in November, then the Trump defense goon squad are reduced to toothless tigers. Let’s just say that on November 12th Judge Merchan decided that the conviction will stand, and Trump will be sentenced on November 26th. The Trump legal bottom feeders can no longer file an emergency motion for a stay based on the pending election. Nor would the Supreme Court see any reason to dirty their hands with it. The emergency has passed.
Trump will be sentenced on November 26th, hopefully with some form of incarceration. Trump’s lawyers will no longer have any other avenue than the regular New York appellate process, a procedure that could easily take more than a year. And if the conviction is upheld, only then can Trump appeal to the Supreme Court.
And even if he does, why would they bother? Trump has already been more trouble than he could ever be worth, and dumped more sh*t on their heads than they could ever dump on themselves. Trump will be a has been, so totally off of their radar that they may pretend to not even remember his name, Donald Who? With Traitor Tot unable to touch them, why would they want to blow their other foot off by stepping on that immunity landmine again? They’re state charges, I find it highly unlikely that the Court would even take up the case.
There are always two sides to every coin, even if they’re both tails. But to me it seems that Judge Merchan was extremely judicious. He not only pulled his chestnuts from the fire by removing the election from the issue, Merchan also ensured that if Trump loses in November, then he and his case are no longer interesting and relevant to anyone but Trump and his legal team. Don’t touch that dial.
I thank you for the privilege of your time.
I had the same initial reaction as you. And like you (great minds think alike) chose to sit back and chew on the whole thing before taking to my computer for a rant. I’m glad I did because while no one put things as well as you I heard some punditry noting that this takes Trump running to SCOTUS out of the equation. What I hadn’t fully considered until after reading your missive is SCOTUS’ willingness to get involved at all if Trumpy LOSES the election. Roberts in particular really stuck his neck out for Trump and in the process threw away that legacy he’d dreamed of. The more time that passes the more Roberts will regret not riding herd on the three of his fellow Federalist Society Fascists to just delay a ruling upholding the appelleate court and let Trump run out the clock. Of course, judge Chutkan is showing why they might have gone ahead and run some interference but the didn’t have to go as far as they did. I wrote a while back the immunity ruling will likely replace Dredd Scott as the worst SCOTUS decision ever. Pile that on top of Dobbs and Roberts might feel like packing it in some days. Maybe if Harris wins he’ll do exactly that. It’s not like he has much if any control over the other five anymore. Hell, he might have a way to partially salvage his reputation by kneecapping THOMAS at least on the way out. He’d hate leaving two seats for President Harris to fill, especially if Democrats can hold onto the Senate but it will take a generation to undo all the damage the now infamous Roberts Court has done.
The bottom line though is what you’ve said. Judge Merchan has taken the ball out of Trump’s hands. And there’s a bonus you didn’t mention. Trump is losing the fundraising battle “bigly” and was almost certainly counting on Merchan hitting him with a prisons sentence of some sort, ableit probably a suspended one. Or even probation. The point is that the fundraising appeals were already written and cued up. Now they’ll sit there collecting dust until November. And if Trumpy loses it will be interesting to see how much MAGAs will be willing to send him THEN.
Yes it’s all so nicely logical. Isn’t it good to know that some people can think ten moves ahead like this?
And they’re not on Trump’s side.
“Merchan also ensured that if Trump loses in November, then he and his case are no longer interesting and relevant to anyone but Trump and his legal team.” AND to those of us who want to see this slimeball get what he deserves!
merchan knew that the election was in November back in July. left us all with a nail biter and should have ruled the way he did today back in July.
Well I believe that Trump would have got a huge bump from the sentencing. And especially now I believe the judge plans on giving Trump an invitation to the gray bar hotel. People are tired of the whole Trump bullcrap parade. But people would have said it was rigged against him. Granted, if he wins he will probably get some relief but it’s a state crime and they would have to do something to get it thrown out. But since the judge so conveniently put a stay on it. That makes it all good. And if Trump loses and the judge takes this back up he will most likely put him in jail. And at least half of the Maga goons are going to back off. Because with a simple stroke of the pen. The judge just kneecapped the whole Trump cartel. That’s probably one of the top judicial rulings of the century. And it also makes it somewhere between difficult and impossible for Trump to get elected. Between the people signing on to say no like ex president Bush to Cheney and the ongoing saga of Trump being in decline.