Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...-ju-rcna154678

False reports about the jury instructions in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial have been spreading across right-wing media, leading to threats against the judge overseeing the case.

Several conservative news personalities, including some affiliated with Fox News, falsely claimed that Judge Juan Merchan, as one Fox News anchor put it in a viral post on X, "told the jury that they do not need unanimity to convict" Trump.

That's not true. Merchan instructed the jury on Wednesday that they "must conclude unanimously that a defendant conspired to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means," adding that they "need not be unanimous as to what those unlawful means were."

That means that jurors have to agree unanimously that Trump committed a crime by engaging in a criminal conspiracy to falsify records with the intent to commit one or more other crimes in order to convict him. But jurors can choose from three options about what those other crimes were: violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act; the falsification of other business records; or the violation of tax laws. Those "unlawful means" aren't charges themselves and would not result in separate convictions, so jurors do not have to unanimously agree on them.

The jury instruction was complex and nuanced and some right-wing accounts ran with false reports.

Shocking stuff, right wing outlets including Fox are spreading baseless misinformation about the jury instructions and driving the rabid, violent, extremist MAGA base to issue even more death threats.

In response to inaccurate reporting that Trump could be convicted without unanimous agreement that he committed a crime, one user on Gab, a site popular with far-right extremists, said Wednesday it was "time to find out where that judge lives and protest as the left calls it." Another user posted: "I hear bad stuff happens to judges in their driveways." On Telegram, one user called for "a military tribunal" for Merchan and on the official Telegram channel of Steve Bannon’s WarRoom, a user said Merchan “and all involved” should be hanged.

Over on another pro-Trump forum, one user said "Merchan wants to be the merchant of death to sell more rope, except he could easily be selling the rope that hangs him.” Another user added: "Treason. With the full penalty."

I do hope every one of these folks is arrested for their death threats.

On X, after a right-wing influencer asked followers who among them wanted to see Merchan locked up for treason. Another user who identified himself as a Marine replied: "Let me handle the Justice System & be judge & Prosecutor, Immediate trial & Justifiable Punishments handed out, Funeral Directors get ready for a lot of Democratic Socialist Elites coming your way.”

Very reasonable and not unhinged and not violently extremist rhetoric in any way!

Time and time again, legal proceedings in the four cases against Trump have resulted in violent threats and, in at least one case, actual violence. In August, Trump supporters posted the names and addresses of the Fulton County grand jurors who indicted Trump and 18 of his co-defendants. In August 2022, a Jan. 6 participant named Rickey Walter Shiffer posted calls for violence after the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and then fired a nail gun into an FBI field office in Cincinnati before he was killed by law enforcement.

MAGA is a terrorist group, change my mind.

[Benggaul]

MAGA is a terrorist group, change my mind.

Why would they? They wear it as a badge of honor.

[Doctor Amadeus]

There is no way Trump is capable of bringing Law and Order when he can't Obey the law nor any Order. Honestly there is no clearer case in my opinion of fraud and malfeasants to cover up a pretty immoral act. The fact there is ANY ambiguity about this matter not by typical randoms, but people WHO KNOW BETTER, yeah it's proof to me out Justice system and expectation for ANYONE to ever obey the law ever again is in serious trouble. If Trump gets found NOT GUILTY it will be proof Law and Order doesn't matter and our Justice system is completely broken. If Trump actually could become President again, it means our Country is completely broken and doesn't really exist IMO.

[Edge-]

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opin...e/73895187007/

Reminder that if your name isn't Donald Trump, MAGA World gives no fucks about you -

The Arizona Republican Party and the MAGA Nation stand four-square behind Donald Trump’s fake electors … until it’s time to put their money where their mouths are, it seems.

It’s now been eight days since former state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her fellow fake elector, husband Michael, put out their tin cup, hoping to rake in donations to pay for a lawyer to defend them against felony charges of fraud, forgery and conspiracy.

Eight days since they started begging for money, hoping to raise $100,000.

I don’t know if the rubes are just tapped out, what with snapping up golden “Never Surrender” shoes ($399), God Bless the USA Bibles ($59.99, not including shipping) and a “very limited edition” Trump loyalty card being hawked by RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump (cost unknown but, truly, priceless).

Heck, even Rudy Giuliani has gotten into the act, selling Rudy Coffee ($29.99 for a two-pound bag), though he’s going to have to sell a lot of beans to pay off his $148 million tab for defamation.

Wards have raised a fraction of that $100K

Or it could be that the America First faithful think that a couple that sails their catamaran around the Bahamas doesn’t need to be reaching into MAGA pockets for nickels and dimes.

Especially as they just put their five-bedroom, four-bath Lake Havasu City home — with an extra bath in the guest house — on the market for just over $2 million.

Whatever the reason, after a week of rattling their tin cup on GiveSendGo, the Wards have raised just $6,106 toward their goal of $100,000.

Just 108 people have ponied up, offering donations ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred.

But what’s most interesting is the names that aren’t listed there among the donors.

Where are the contributions from Sens. Shawnna Bolick and Wendy Rogers and Sonny Borrelli and all the other Republicans in the Arizona Legislature who signed a “resolution” calling on Vice President Mike Pence and Congress to accept Arizona’s “alternate” electoral votes?

In all, 29 incoming and outgoing GOP legislators signed that request, calling it “A Joint Resolution of the 54th Legislature” and attaching the state seal so it would look official.

Though I suppose two of those who signed the resolution — Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern — can be excused for not digging deep given that they, too, have been indicted in the fake elector scheme.

Couldn't happen to worse people. Love to see it.

[DarkAmbient]

Verdict reached. Place your bets.

[Canpinter]

Verdict withing the next hour by the look of it.

[Gorsameth]

the fact they reached it within 2 days tells me in guilty on all (most) counts.
a not-guilty verdict would have taken a lot more deliberation.

[Endus]

Why would they? They wear it as a badge of honor.

To be clear, that is not a doctored or created image. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cp...ic-terrorists/

[DarkAmbient]

the fact they reached it within 2 days tells me in guilty on all (most) counts.

A jury took less than 4 hours to find OJ not guilty. I'm not getting my hopes up here.

[Benggaul]

the fact they reached it within 2 days tells me in guilty on all (most) counts.
a not-guilty verdict would have taken a lot more deliberation.

The (relatively) speedy deliberation had me coming to this conclusion as well, but I'm still not holding my breath. Even if found guilty on all charges I'm betting the penalty would still be ludicrously miniscule because "omg he's a former prez, we can't bear the optics!"

- - - Updated - - -

To be clear, that is not a doctored or created image. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cp...ic-terrorists/

Yes, that's partially why I said as much. They've pretty much repeated that sentiment the past 8 years.

[Shadowferal]

the fact they reached it within 2 days tells me in guilty on all (most) counts. a not-guilty verdict would have taken a lot more deliberation.

Seems a safe bet. Another 15-20mins...

[Zemini7]

fuck me i am so anxious. I can't work right now.

[Shadowferal]

A jury took less than 4 hours to find OJ not guilty. I'm not getting my hopes up here.

Different in this case. 34 counts on Trump. It isn't all or nothing. Hmm I may be wrong. I'm looking at the steps that need to be followed.

[Santti]

Yeah, sure. Guilty verdict with little-to-no actual penalty is the best we can hope for. It's not going to change anything.

[Belize]

Guilty on all counts

https://www.reuters.com/legal/jurors...al-2024-05-30/

[Shadowferal]

Trump found guilty on first count Donald Trump was found guilty on the first count of falsifying business records, making him the first former president to be convicted of a felony. The other 33 counts are still being read.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay...all 34 counts. Guilty.
Not a single not-guilty..

[DarkAmbient]

Ok. Now let's see the consequences. He will suffer some, right?

[Teriz]

He's always been a criminal. It's simply official now.

[Edge-]

Cue the endless appeals!

[Gorsameth]

nothing will come of it, but good he was found guilty