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The Protection Racket Media really will squeeze every bit of juice out of this ridiculous prosecution, won’t they? 

Donald Trump will appear either in person or virtually in Judge Juan Merchan’s court for what has been promised to be a brief sentencing hearing. Trump got convicted on a set of felony charges over a legal NDA payment that has never been prosecuted in this manner in the past. Having been convicted by a jury of 12 in Manhattan — and acquitted by a jury of 77.3 million in November — Trump will face no real punishment at all, or so Merchan has promised.

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So where’s the drama? Only in the breathless newsrooms who still want a frog-march moment. For instance, here’s a live feed from the street that Reuters is streaming over Twitter/X, even though Trump is likely to appear over video conferencing:

Even if Trump does show up, why bother with a live feed of the street? Has no one seen Trump walking before? What news value does that have?

As for the frogmarch, that’s off the table:

Merchan wrote in a filing earlier this month that “unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality” and allow Trump to pursue his appellate options.

  • A court may impose a sentence of unconditional discharge when it believes “no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant’s release,” under New York law.
  • Merchan noted that prosecutors no longer viewed jail time “as a practicable recommendation” given Trump’s election victory.

Could Merchan change his mind? Yes, but the Supreme Court actually did have something to say about that in their pusillanimous order last night declining to intervene in this case — for now, anyway. The court predicated that rejection on the premise that Merchan would impose no real penalty at all today, emphasis mine:

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The application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons. First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal. Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge” after a brief virtual hearing. 

If Merchan had any inclinations towards a perfidious reversal this morning, this little nota bene from the Supremes would have him thinking twice. If Merchan even orders Trump to appear, that order could get reversed toute suite, and the top court could then decide to take up the whole case rather than just the constitutional issues of immunity. Not that they won’t have to take it up at some point anyway; the court didn’t reject the appeal as much as they simply postponed it for the normal appeal process. 

In other words, today will be a big nothingburger except for the Protection Racket Media that has fueled the momentum for this season of Lawfare & Disorder. The live feed from Reuters will be a testament to the emptiness of the media crusade — wanly trying to sell this as High Drama when nothing at all is going on except a show being canceled. 

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Update: I hadn’t seen this until Amy Jacobsen and John Anthony told me about it this morning on WIND’s 560 The Answer morning show. One might have expected Donald Trump to excoriate the Supreme Court for failing to intervene, but Trump offered a gracious thank you instead:

I appreciate the time and effort of the United States Supreme Court in trying to remedy the great injustice done to me by the highly conflicted “Acting Justice,” who should not have been allowed to try this case. Every Legal Scholar stated, unequivocally, that this is a case that should never have been brought. There was no case against me. In other words, I am innocent of all of the Judge’s made up, fake charges. This was nothing other than Weaponization of our Justice System against a Political Opponent. It’s called Lawfare, and nothing like this has ever happened in the United States of America, and it should never be allowed to happen again. To this day, this highly political and corrupt Judge has put a gag order on me, which takes away my First Amendment right to speak about very important aspects of the case. For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL. The pathetic, dying remnants of the Witch Hunts against me will not distract us as we unite and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

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The Supreme Court did make sure that Merchan stuck to his word, which I am certain Trump recognizes.