Trump must be sentenced to prison—and ordered to serve it now!

This is only way to deter more Trump crimes in 2024 election

Donald Trump must be sentenced to prison after being convicted by a jury of 34 felonies for cheating in the 2016 election.  Let’s be very clear: This case was never about “hush money” --as the corporate media kept claiming. Rather from Day One, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg rightfully declared that this criminal case was about Trump “conspiring to corrupt a presidential election and then lying in New York business records to cover it up.”

In fact, that was the very theme in the closing arguments by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as he told the 12 people in the jury box, Trump’s goal with his illegal scheme was “to manipulate and defraud the voters” and “to hoodwink voters.”   Steinglass reiterated, Trump’s plan was designed “to pull the wool over their eyes in a coordinated fashion.”

Trump committed crimes to win the 2016 election. As a result, he’s a convicted felon. The question that Judge Merchan now faces is what type of punishment he should deliver on July 11 when Trump returns to court to be sentenced. Each count of the 34 felonies Trump was convicted of carries with it up to four years in prison. 

Simply put, Trump should be sentenced to prison for years. Plus his expected application to avoid serving jail time until his appeals are considered should be denied by the judge. Rather, Trump should be ordered to report to jail as soon as practically possible for the prison system to accommodate a person with Secret Service protection.

From solely a legal point of view, a prison sentence for Trump is merited.  As lawyer Norm Eisen has documented after analyzing past New York convictions, in approximately one in 10 cases where the most serious charge was falsifying business records in the first degree—the crime Trump was convicted of 34 times—the result was a prison sentence.  

While it’s true that in the cases Eisen found jail time was imposed, the defendant was also convicted or pled guilty to additional charges, Trump is far more dangerous than any of those criminals.  First, there is the sheer number of felonies Trump was convicted of.  I challenge people to find a person convicted by a jury of 34 felonies who did not receive some amount of jail time.

There are also three other factors unique to Trump that demand a prison sentence. First is Trump’s utter lack of remorse.  In fact, Trump has shown nothing but contempt for the jury verdict, the judge and the trial.  

For example, shortly after being convicted, Trump declared, “This was a disgrace, this was a rigged trial." The next day Trump held a press conference where he again not only refused to show contrition for his crimes, he attacked the entire judicial system. For starters, he repeated, “This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.” He again lied that the prosecution was all orchestrated by Biden. He once again attacked the judge. And then worse, he made it clear the jury verdict was meaningless, proclaiming that, “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.”

Legal experts without exception tell us that a lack of remorse by a convicted felon is a key factor in deciding the punishment the court will dish out.  As Jerry Goldfeder, the Director of Fordham Law School’s Voting Rights and Democracy Project explained to one media outlet about Trump, “To understate it, he’s certainly not remorseful,” adding, “You really take that into account when you’re sentencing someone.” And Pace Law School professor Bennett Gershman told CNBC that, “Trump’s violation of the gag orders, his vilification of the court process, of the judge, or of the prosecution — all that is fair game” for the judge to consider when sentencing Trump.

Trump’s lack of remorse is telling us point blank that he believes that despite his convictions for falsifying business records to cheat in the 2016 election, he did nothing wrong. Given that, why won’t Trump engage in the exact same conduct in 2024, by that I mean once again committing crimes to win as he did in 2016?!  Trump will and the judge knows it as well.

A second reason Trump needs to be sentenced to prison is that his desperation—together with the aforementioned lack of remorse--has made him more dangerous than ever to our Republic. As I wrote on Sunday, Trump understands that after his conviction that he’s no longer the “Teflon Don.” Trump now fully grasps that in his two pending federal criminal matters--the Jan 6 and his Espionage cases—he’s facing serious felonies that will lead to him being sentenced to (in essence) life in prison.  And Trump knows the only way to avoid that fate is winning in 2024. Consequently, Trump will do any and everything to win this election—including commit more felonies. 

Then there’s a third unique factor that the judge may not consider this, but he should. MAGA GOP leaders like Rep Jim Jordan and others will do anything for Trump —as we saw with their efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020 election.  No other defendant has had one major political party help them commit crimes and then cover up for his crimes—such as with Jim Jordan’s demand Monday to “defund” any prosecutor or law enforcement agency seeking to hold Trump accountable.   This blind support by MAGA emboldens Trump to commit even more crimes in an effort to win in 2024.

Judge Merchan should sentence Trump to prison for at least one year—if not more. And when Trump’s lawyers ask—as is expected-- the judge to stay the execution of the sentence pending appeal, the judge should deny that. Let Trump’s lawyers appeal that decision, but Merchan should not make this easy for Trump given his lack of remorse, the threat he poses and his utter contempt for our entire justice system.  This is the only way to deter Trump from engaging in more criminal conduct this election cycle.

If not, I can 100% guarantee that Trump—along with some key MAGA supporters—will once again commit crimes in the lead up to the 2024 election to help Trump win. And if Trump does win—even if by way of corruption—once he takes office on January 20, 2025, our democratic Republic will end as we know it.  

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