In our warped, hyper-polarized political landscape it can often feel like good news is hard to come by. Every so often though, a development comes along that feels like a ray of light piercing through the darkness. Such a story emerged today as — after seemingly endless desperate attempts to obstruct and delay — a concrete trial day was set for Donald Trump’s first criminal case.
This pathological criminal has spent his entire life evading responsibility for his actions but on March 25th he will be forced to finally face the music. A judge has decided that on that day jury selection will begin for the New York criminal trial in which Trump faces 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up his hush money payments to pornstar Stormy Daniels. The judge estimated that the trial will last roughly six weeks.
Judge Juan Merchan confirmed the trial start date while rejecting Trump’s pathetic Hail Mary request to dismiss the case, dispelling concerns that the disgraced former president would be treated as if he is above the law. With this decision, we can be sure that Trump will soon add another ignominious distinction to his long list of shameful superlatives: he will become the first former president in American history to stand criminal trial.
The best part? Unlike the Florida and DC cases, there’s nothing that Trump can do at this point to delay the trial. He has exhausted all of his real legal options and come up woefully short. His hope all along was that he would be able to punt all of his trials until after November, win the election, and then exploit the vast powers of the Oval Office to make the prosecutions disappear, likely by attempting to pardon himself. With today’s unambiguous ruling, Judge Merchan dispelled that fantasy for good.
Upholding justice and punishing a man who habitually flaunts the law isn’t the only consideration at play here either. Even if Trump is found not guilty — a far from guaranteed outcome — the trial will inflict irreparable damage on his political career. Sure, Republicans will stick by their MAGA cult leader till the bitter end but for moderates and independents this trial could be the final tipping point that gets them to vote for Biden. It’s hard to pull the lever for a guy once you’ve seen him in court and vividly pictured him slipping on an orange jumpsuit.
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