Summary

Should he win, Trump would become the first convicted criminal to hold the office, granting him access to the nuclear codes, while defeat could lead to more trials and possible imprisonment.

Throughout his life, he has often evaded legal consequences—from discrimination lawsuits in the 1970s to recent fraud cases and the dissolution of his charitable foundation. Accusations of sexual misconduct and a history of falsehoods have marked his personal and political life.

Despite these challenges, Trump portrays himself as a victim of a corrupt system, turning legal battles into rallying cries. This election may bring a reckoning that even he cannot escape.

  • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
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    16 days ago

    Anyone else would already have been sentenced. Lady Justice clearly peaked out from behind the blindfold.

  • Haus@kbin.earth
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    16 days ago

    I mean, if Harris loses, she might be headed to Jail as well, if I understand how enemy lists work.

    • Capt. Wolf@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      Jail? I have more of a feeling Trump will be taking a page from Putin or Lukashenko. We’re gonna find her in a ditch, having committed suicide by shooting herself in the back like 7 times or she’s gonna accidentally fall out of a window.

      Or maybe you’re right, and she’ll just get Epsteined in jail… He’s got enough nazi friends in there.

      • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
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        16 days ago

        I think court proceedings.

        Trump is a narcissist. He would drive great pleasure from a very public and lengthy court proceeding showing everyone what he can do to people who oppose him.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    Election day is judgment day for America and its people.

    Either we carry on, to ever better days, or we throw it all away.

    It’s binary. It’s really that simple.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
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      16 days ago

      This is certainly how I’ve been feeling.

      I’m not even in the US but I just can’t look away from this train wreck.

      It’s like there’s been this simmering undertone of shady conservative feelings in the US for the last decade, and this is where the public either validates it or takes a firm stance against it.

      There’s no coming back for Trump if he loses, but there’s gonna be a global shitstorm if he wins. Autocrats getting their way in Russia and Israel, global tarrif war triggering a global depression, droughts fires and storms from climate change, all supporting a lurch to the right.

      • TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee
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        16 days ago

        It’s the next version of trump these fucking Neanderthals try to put in office with all of the resources and infrastructure and rhetoric they’ve already built that has me worried.

        That or trump will just keep running and running over and over until he dies which would be… satisfying, to watch.

    • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      I don’t know about ever better days when this binary choice is happening every 4 years with the campaigns lasting for two years.

    • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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      16 days ago

      If he gets in, he’ll have the full force of the DOJ to protect him from going to prison. This is a state crime, I understand that, but it flips an agency with enormous resources into his own personal defense firm.

      They’ll file appeals and briefs that claim his position prevents him from being taken into custody and at least delay any imprisonment while he’s president. Courts, like his sentencing court, will not want to be involved in a “political” question and will kick the can on imprisonment. That will also provide a convenient motivation for Trump to not let go of the presidency after four years.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    This is a weird premise because he could be in jail already. Democrats truly made justice for J6 one of their lowest priorities, where they could have chased it relentlessly from every angle, and not stopped or started over until justice was done, taking the case to the American public; pursuing it as violently as they have the defense of a genocide by an American Ally: they didn’t. It didn’t become a priority until election year, and even then they blew it on all fronts from either incompetence or naivety.

    So we can’t really believe an argument that suddenly Democrats are going to have a coming to God moment and prioritize Trump experiencing consequences for J6. It simply wasn’t a priority for the party. It seems Trump is too useful a Boogeyman to not have as an opponent.

    I personally think he should be locked up in a cell deep below Leavenworth, and we should never have had to hear his name again. The man’s acts define the word treason. I just can’t take a government seriously which can’t effect that.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      16 days ago

      When he gets to get away with things that would have put any normal person in jail, especially breaking bail conditions, it really puts in stark relief how fucked up and useless our entire justice system is.

      All keeping Trump around has done for Democrats is disillusion massive portions of their base, who wonder why this stuff keeps being allowed to happen. Years later and no movement in replacing Merrick Garland despite how useless he is. Nope, more important to appease the Republicans I guess.

      Who can even take the “justice” system seriously after all of this?

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        He’s a useful opponent. Democratic fundraising has never been better than with Trump as opponent. Literally billions in a few months. Its more than just the justice system, because the justice system is administered and kept in working order by people; people who have an economic and political benefit from Trump continuing to exist.

        Trump is the Democrats best fundraiser.

    • intelisense@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      My crazy theory: if he wins and then gets sent to jail, the republicans won’t rescue him. Why? Well, he was useful to win the election, but he’s got no idea how to run a country, far less of an idea how to implement Project 2025. Vance, on the other hand, seems competent enough to actually deliver…

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      So we can’t really believe an argument that suddenly Democrats are going to have a coming to God moment

      That’ll only happen when Trump’s thugs come to purge them. But then it’ll be too late, of course.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      I used to think that (even before Jan 6), but I’ve changed my mind. The trouble is that in order to make the decision to flee, he would have to first recognize and genuinely accept that he lost, but he’s so terminally narcissistic that he’s literally incapable of fathoming that concept. He’d still be loudly rationalizing to himself that he’s “the real president” even while standing in a prison cell wearing an orange jumpsuit.

      • Good_morning@lemmynsfw.com
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        16 days ago

        I don’t think it’s that at all, I think all his grandstanding is simply for his followers. He genuinely thinks if he plays the part and enough people believe it, then he can get away with it. Between Jan 6th and how many lawsuits he starts, if he can, he will. Hell, he’d probably attempt to start a civil war to keep himself from serving time, not to mention spreading propaganda of election fraud and numerous lawsuits to delay his losing the election.

    • WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      I’ve been saying this for years. Eventually something is get him to point he’s really cornered.

      Quick trip to Russia or North Korea, and he will live the few years he has left just fine.

  • P_P@lemm.ee
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    16 days ago

    He’s a rich, white guy. The law doesn’t apply to him.

  • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Prison. The word is prison, not jail. He hasn’t committed petty crimes, he’s a motherfucking terrorist, insurrectionist, rapist, and pedophile.

    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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      16 days ago

      He won’t need to. And there’s not enough fried chicken over there anyway. The guy has been absolutely untouchable. He’s not suddenly going to get spooked. It sucks, but if we are lucky enough for a Harris Victory, the world will move on and I don’t think there will be strong efforts to punish him. He will become irrelevant which may be the greatest punishment of all for him.

    • lettruthout@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      Yeah, but what a story that would be: Trump wins/steals the election, gets sentenced to prison time, then leaves the country.

      Talk about chaos.

    • forrgott@lemm.ee
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      16 days ago

      I just hope and pray he immediately finds a window to fall out of!!

    • Granite@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      But he’s not useful to them in Russia, so they might just let him hang and prop him up as a martyr.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Nah, they have a playbook for this. They’ll put him on house arrest and trot him out every couple of years to make a speech about how terrible and corrupt the US is.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      I’ll tell you the same thing I told the other guy in this thread with the same prediction (https://lemmy.world/comment/13226562):

      I used to think that (even before Jan 6), but I’ve changed my mind. The trouble is that in order to make the decision to flee, he would have to first recognize and genuinely accept that he lost, but he’s so terminally narcissistic that he’s literally incapable of fathoming that concept. He’d still be loudly rationalizing to himself that he’s “the real president” even while standing in a prison cell wearing an orange jumpsuit.

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        He really only needs to see that he’s going to jail, and then he’ll flee. He won’t see it as fleeing, but that’s what it is. Flight from prosecution.

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
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    16 days ago
    The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for The Guardian:

    Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
    Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.


    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom


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