Former President Donald Trump was convicted on Thursday on 34 felony counts pertaining to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The former president is the first to be convicted of a crime.
This editorial board was not impressed by the indictment when it was first released last year, describing the case as “remarkably thin.”
Obviously, a jury of 12 New Yorkers disagreed and decided the former president was in fact guilty of violating state laws.
The reactions to the verdict have been predictable, with both Democrats and Republicans declaring victory.
The Trump campaign immediately used the opportunity to fundraise off of the verdict. “Crooked Joe and his comrades think it’s all over now,” one fundraising appeal reads. “They think they’ve stolen this election for good, and that there’s NOTHING we can do about it. But they couldn’t be more WRONG! With you by my side, we will DEMOLISH the Deep State and VANQUISH our enemies.”
Democrats, meanwhile, see the verdict as an opportunity to pounce on Republican candidates for Congress. “In the wake of his conviction, House Republicans continue to support their convicted felon presidential nominee,” declared the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The American people have made it clear they don’t want a criminal as president, yet Republicans continue to be all in on Trump and his MAGA agenda.”
In other words, it’s politics as usual. If there’s any big takeaway, it’s that the American people are indeed as polarized as ever. What would otherwise be a historic, jarring occasion is now just another data point of how divided Americans are in their perceptions of what’s going on in the world around them.
Polling from PBS released on Wednesday found that, for most voters, the outcome of the trial wasn’t likely to impact their vote. Upwards of 74% of independents indicated that even a conviction wouldn’t change their minds on how to vote.
A YouGov poll conducted after the verdict likewise found that 50% of Americans approved of the outcome of the trial, with 30% disapproving of it and the rest undecided.
By the time this editorial is published in print, there will be a flood of commentary making the case for the outcome being reasonable or unreasonable. There will also be plenty of vitriolic “takes” that do nothing to edify.
For instance, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has attempted to scapegoat migrants for the outcome of the trial. “Import the Third World, become the Third World. That’s what we just saw,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This won’t stop Trump. He’ll win the election if he’s not killed first. But it does mark the end of the fairest justice system in the world. Anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you and your family.”
That, unfortunately, is what passes for serious political commentary in the social media age. There’s no reason to jump to hysterical or conspiratorial or xenophobic conclusions in light of the conviction. There are far more plausible explanations for the former president’s conviction, from his actual guilt under the law to overzealous prosecution to unfair judicial rulings to a poor defense to the jurors simply getting things wrong.
American institutions have proven robust in even toughest of times, and this is certainly not among the toughest of times. There is still a system in place to absolve the president if in fact that is warranted. We must not allow the noise to overcome our ability to think.
It’s an election year and the next few months were only going to get louder and more obnoxious. Trump’s conviction will only make for a more annoying election cycle than usual.