by Nicholas Patti

June 1, 2024, Raleigh, NC—The following classic rock song lyric tells the story of Donald Trump’s hush money trial guilty verdict while running for president as the presumptive Republican party candidate:

…The jig is up, the news is out,

They finally found me.

The renegade

Who had it made

Retrieved for a bounty,

 

Nevermore to go astray,

The judge will have revenge today,

On a wanted man.

—“Renegade,” Styx, 1978

In which song lyric, former President Donald Trump stars as the renegade, Judge Juan M. Merchan stars as the judge, and Trump’s sentencing date of July 11 is the day the judge will have his revenge on Donald Trump, the wanted man.

This narrative is exactly the one coming out of the Trump campaign and Trump himself in his speeches at this time. President Trump is wanted for challenging President Biden for the high office, and all of President Trump’s personal legal problems, including this conviction by a jury in Manhattan on felony charges, are the result of a political witch-hunt personally directed by current President Joe Biden from the White House in Washington.

We should note a very basic, critical reading of the song text, literary critic-style, as it applies to former President Donald Trump, as well. Note that in the song, the “renegade,” aka Donald Trump, is the hero, the protagonist. The judge, representing law-and-order, is the antagonist, the anti-hero, or the villain. President Trump certainly portrays the real-life judge, Judge Juan Merchan, as the villain, or anti-hero, as well. In accusing current President Biden of targeting Trump, politically, with the legal system in this case, as in all others, President Trump casts current President Biden as a starring anti-hero, or villain, as well. In this way, former President Trump flips the script on current President Biden. President Trump, the now-convicted felon, becomes the hero, the good guy, while his opponent, current President Biden, becomes the anti-hero, or villain. Thus, although convicted, himself, of hiding a hush money payment to a porn star actress for political gain in a former presidential election, President Trump accuses President Biden and our country’s legal system of corruption.

Oh well. My only advice to former President Trump at this time is to listen to the old adage: “the road to ruin is paved with good intentions.” In this case, former President Trump’s good intention is to return to the White House via the presidential election this November. The road to ruin for President Trump would be to anger the judge at sentencing that leads former President Trump to see the inside of a jail cell for whatever term, instead of, or in addition to, winning back the White House. Former President Trump may think twice of playing the victim in this case from a vengeful jury and judge to the extent that former President Trump makes a convincing case to the judge, come his sentencing hearing on July 11, for the judge to throw the book at him, landing former President Trump in jail, wholly unnecessarily so.

I, for one, hope President Trump avoids any jail time on these 34 felony counts that he was just convicted of. What, in essence, is Donald Trump convicted of? Essentially, he is convicted of being a wealthy man and celebrity, himself, who allegedly slept with a porn star actress, Stormy Daniels, in 2006, and maybe a Playboy Playmate or two, Karen McDougal, and then paying one of these sex models hush money, in this case Stormy Daniels, and then concealing the payment to make himself look good in the middle of a presidential election, 2016, which he subsequently won (“Guilty,” News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, digital edition, 5/31/2024). I say, big deal. So what?

I agree with President Trump, in one of his courtside chats, as seen live over the past few weeks during the trial, viewed on CNN this May, in which he said, “I did nothing wrong” (approximate quote). Personally, I do not feel that sleeping with a Playboy Playmate, or a young porn star actress, is terribly wrong. The most you should get for that is a starring role on “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (fictional). In fact, President Trump had a day on “Access Hollywood,” years ago, I believe it was said, and more recently, currently, he had a starring role on various 24-hour cable news channels in Stormy Daniels testimony in this trial as to his participation in their mutual sex scene (which President Trump still wholly denies ever happened) (“Guilty,” News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, digital edition, 5/31/2024; CNN; Fox News). This time, the courtroom testimony was not directly televised, either. This, simply, is not criminal.

At another point in one of his courtside chats during this trial, President Trump pondered, “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges” (approximate quote). President Trump is not claiming to be Mother Teresa in this scenario. He is claiming to be a regular American man with a sex drive who was running for president. We do not require our presidents in this country to be Mother Teresa, witness President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, also, and his White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton remained in office. Are these presidents acting in an immoral manner? Grow up! We do not require our Presidents to be Mother Teresa—oh wait, in President Trump’s case, now, in this case in Manhattan, maybe we do. President Trump was convicted of his misconduct, after all.

What else did President Trump do, as charged in this case? He falsified business records to make himself look good to the electorate, thus practicing fraud on the voting population in 2016. Please. I remember that election. The Stormy Daniels case was all over the news at the time. Then, it disappeared. Everyone in America already knew who Donald Trump was. This came as no surprise to anyone. The fact that the story did not explode any worse than it did, that candidate Trump, at the time, did, in fact, contain the damage, is simply not criminal.

“I paid legal fees to a lawyer. Michael Cohen was my lawyer,” President Trump said (approximate quote), in another instance of courtside chat during this trial (viewed on CNN). That is, in fact, true. I think it is garbage that Trump needed to note that it was a hush money repayment to this lawyer. I do not think he is required to go into that level of detail into what the payment to his lawyer was for. The fact is that Michael Cohen fronted the money for the payment, then President Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen. It was, in fact, a payment from Trump to his lawyer. The point of the prosecution is what the payment was for: a re-imbursement of a hush money payment, not a “legal service.” Michael Cohen was Donald Trump’s attorney acting as a fixer, and as such, was paid by Donald Trump for his service, including and specifically, the hush money payment. I do not think President Trump should have been required to specify what Michael Cohen was doing with the money President Trump paid him: the fact is he paid him, his lawyer and fixer, the money, and noted it as such.

This act influenced the election. One, the hush money payment itself is not illegal. The concealment in the business records is the crime Trump is accused and convicted of committing, in concert with Trump’s effort to influence, i.e., “defraud,” the electorate. I am not concerned with the way Trump noted his payment to Michael Cohen in his business record, as I pointed out in the prior paragraph.

Also, I am not concerned that President Trump attempted to look good to the electorate in the middle of a presidential election (2016). I think Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, said as much. It is the job of a candidate to try to look good, to present his best face forward, to the electorate in an election for higher office. You would expect the same of any presidential candidate.

I have addressed all aspects of the crime President Trump was convicted of. President Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsification of records. I do not think President Trump should have been convicted. The Wall Street Journal editorial board points out that the statute of limitations for the misdemeanor charge of falsification of records had already expired before this trial (5/31/2024, p. A14). Only when combining the falsification with the intent to influence the 2016 election do these charges rise to the level of a felony, and can be prosecuted at this time. For this, a jury of twelve good New Yorkers found former President Donald J. Trump guilty on all counts.

Great. What is essentially non-criminal activity is elevated to the level of a felony, on 34 counts. I find this quite ridiculous, actually. Nonetheless, I respect the courts of New York State and New York City. President Trump has the right to appeal. The felony conviction is now a legal fact for President Trump, as any conviction is a fact for any criminal defendant, upon conviction.

The good thing is that both campaigns, President Biden’s and President Trump’s, point to the election this November as the determinant of the winner of the Oval Office for the next term, and not this trial and conviction of President Trump. All media sources say being a convicted felon does not disqualify President Trump from serving a second term as President. The election, therefore, is still on, just as before.

The main difference is with President Trump’s image and reputation, his name. There is simply no way around the fact that President Trump’s newfound status as a convicted felon will tarnish President Trump’s brand, and potentially, hurt his chances with undecided or with law-and-order voters.

That is on the one hand. On the other hand, perhaps Donald Trump’s supporters, his base, will be inspired by this trial and the unfortunate outcome for President Trump. If he inspires his base to work even harder to turn out loyal Republican voters, then this conviction could, in fact, help President Trump in this election. That is unlikely, but his base is inspired, and the future course of this campaign and election is unknown.

The difficulty for President Trump at this time is to campaign vigorously, once again, without angering the judge from this current trial, who has yet to sentence President Trump. Many pundits say that while a jail sentence is possible, up to four years, in fact, usually white collar criminals for this crime and lowest level of a felony do not, in fact, have to serve any jail time (ABC News Special Coverage, ABC World News Tonight, 5/30/2024; National Public Radio (NPR), “Live special coverage,” 5/30/2024). Trump may get off with a sentence of only probation, perhaps, and still, yet never have to see the inside of a jail cell for these crimes. That would certainly benefit President Trump, and leave him yet the time and freedom necessary to campaign for President this year. I think something along these lines would be best for our former President, and for our country. It is inconvenient for our country that President Trump’s personal legal problems hit us as a country in the middle of a presidential election. Our country, I think, would be better served with less chaos during this presidential election, not more chaos.

That said, I do not wish to make any excuses for former President Trump. Whenever someone is convicted of a crime for their behavior, I think it is not the time to blame “the system.” Rather, it is time for someone, anyone, if guilty of the behavior, which has been ruled criminal in a legitimate jury trial anywhere in the United States of America, at the point of conviction it is high time to begin to take responsibility for his or her actions, and not to blame everyone else. President Trump would do well to follow this advice, especially regarding his sentencing. Perhaps, President Trump should move on from playing the victim, and return to normal, negative campaigning about President Biden, once again. Remind the American people that they like President Trump better, that he is more of a regular guy than President Biden may appear to be.

Take all of this as free, non-partisan advice for President Trump. For me, this conviction is just one more reason for me, believe it or not, NOT to vote for President Trump. My mind was not changed by this trial. For purely political and philosophical reasons, I did not plan to vote for President Trump. I had already planned to vote for President Biden. Guess what. After this trial, conviction or not, I still plan to vote for President Biden. I am politically progressive. President Biden is closer to my politics. President Biden is doing a fine job up there in the White House, I believe, and there is no reason to change it up now.

Now that President Trump is a convicted felon, I feel no reason now to vote for him. In my mind, this unfortunate status, even if derived from a questionable criminal conviction, is another reason NOT to vote for him.

I do not suspect that, if handled well by the Trump campaign, I do not think this conviction will turn off many voters. In 2016, no one cared about candidate Trump’s various extravagances. He won that election in a fair campaign and vote. In 2020, by the way, I think President Biden won in a fair election, also. I hope that 2024 will be a free and fair election, as well. Whether this 2024 presidential election will in fact be a free and fair election, I think, remains to be seen. As a country, we are operating under our American system of jurisprudence. Local judges retain authority, in this way, over our national election. It remains to be seen whether, in the end, we can determine that this year’s election was, in fact, free and fair.

In any case, I suspect this criminal conviction may affect the voting decisions of a smaller portion of the electorate. There are polls. They vary. It is not worth delving through the poll numbers here. I think most people already know both presidential candidates, Biden and Trump. This conviction of Trump may make some difference to the electorate, namely, to independents and law-and-order voters, but I suspect, in balance, it will not make that much of a difference, overall.

I happen to support the voting rights of felons, by the way, even though President Trump is now an example of one. How odd it is that he will probably not be allowed to vote in this presidential election in the State of Florida, on this basis, but he can be elected, still, and serve in the highest office of this country, nonetheless.

I hope in all of his criminal convictions and charges, in New York and around this country, that President Trump does not have to go to jail. I do not plan to vote for President Trump, however, and I still hope that President Biden wins the election. RFK, Jr., becomes more of an alternative to both candidates, as well, out of this criminal conviction of President Trump.

My main advice to President Trump is, at this time, before his sentencing for this New York felony conviction, my advice is, stay outta jail.

—Nicholas Patti

Raleigh, NC

USA

Source list:

This blog:  post, 4/1/2023.

News and Observer, Raleigh, NC, 5/31/2024, digital edition:

“Guilty,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “Ex-president, felon and candidate: 5 takeaways from Trump’s conviction,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “Trump conviction: What now?” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “Biden fundraises off Trump’s conviction,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “Trump verdict adds twist to 2024 race: A convicted felon,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “Trump’s other criminal cases: How they compare,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “Trump’s guilty verdict prompts sharp reactions from lawmakers,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; “What NC lawmakers say about Trump’s guilty verdict,” ExtraExtra section, digital edition; Headline, “Triangle Now” section, digital edition, 5/31/2024.

Wall Street Journal, editorial, New York, NY, 5/31/2024, print edition, p. A14.

CNN, 5/29/2024, 5/30/2024, 5/31/2024, throughout trial in 5/2024.

ABC News Special Coverage, ABC World News Tonight, 5/30/2024.

Fox News, during trial, 5/2024.

WRAL News, NBC affiliate, Raleigh, NC, 7 pm local news broadcast, 5/30/2024.

National Public Radio (NPR), “live special coverage,” 5/30/2024, heard over WUNC, 91.5, Chapel Hill, NC; NPR News, during trial, 5/2024.

Image credits:

Google search, 6/1/2024.