Message #47719

[mccoy]

Steve, yes, there has been some linguistic confusion on my side, since I believed that convicted was synonymous of 'sent to prison'.

The definition of convicted seems to be the following.

a formal declaration by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law that someone is guilty of a criminal offence.

And so, yes he was undoubtedly convicted, subject to appeal.

But again, this is not very impressive, I mean, would you criticize Hitler for some irregularities with 11 checks, 11 invoices and 12 vouchers? Wouldn't you rather criticize him for 6 million Jews atrociously killed?

So, I see Trump's detractors as desperately clinging to this conviction, which in their eyes made him a criminal similar to Hitler. Seems so absurd, yet it's true. Desperation.

Am I missing something? The case is pretty controversial, and counting each check, invoice, and voucher as a crime seems a tiny bit of an exaggeration. And wanting to construe the case as criminal rather than administrative, wanting at all costs to see the intent to commit fraud.

In my considerate opinion, there is one simple explanation. The conviction has been a political one, not a judicial one. The judge guided the jurors to the conviction, and the judge wanted Mr. Trump to be out of the political Arena.

I saw it happening in Italy. To date, judges try to compromise political enemies. Ditto for government bills, non actuated by judges.

Bottom line, yes, it was a real conviction, but there are many reasons why Mr. Trump cannot be called a criminal, first of all, until all the judicial stages are completed, that is until the appeal is not concluded, the conviction is suspended.

Second, because the conviction had clearly a political cause more rather than a judicial one.

Third, a real criminal is something like a recognized rapist, robber, homicide, and so on. Not someone who commits irregularities on checks, invoices, and vouchers.

The media have been good at insisting on such conviction. Mr. Trump has been even better at withstanding all this abuse.