Trump won't spend a day in jail

[Cyrano]

I didn't say "shouldn't." I said "won't."

Hopefully, I'm wrong, but I believe there are two reasons:

(1) Precedence: No American president has ever been put in jail. (Not even Nixon, a confirmed felon who was pardoned before he could be brought to trial.) I suppose that putting a president, or ex-president, in jail would be just "too much" for "too many."

(2) Fear of reprisal: Were an ex-president to be jailed, say someone like Donald Trump, Democrats would forever live in fear of "Republican revenge." They know that the next time the Republicans gained power under a Democratic president, they would try to impeach him, (for any reason), find him guilty, bring him to trial, and try to jail him. And if that sounds a bit extreme, let me use these four words: Bill Clinton. Blow Job. (Note the word "try." It didn't get that far, but that's sure as hell what many Republicans were aiming at.)

Therefore, my conclusion is that some ex-president, say someone like Donald Trump, will walk free, and continue doing what he's been doing his entire life, to as many people he can do it to.

Disagree? Let's hear it.

[scheming daemons]

1. Personally, I'll be satisfied with his removal/resignation from office

The Trump "brand" is already destroyed, and he will be in debt again soon.

Let him be a pariah.

If he agrees to resign in exchange for not going to prison, I might accept that deal.

[SWBTATTReg]

8. It doesn't end w/ rump...it ends w/ the republicans in Congress who are allowing this ...

piece of garbage to represent our Country (badly) to remain in office. Each and every one of them needs to be voted out of office and those who aided and abetted rump should face consequences (Nunes).

[ADX]

2. He may not spend a day in jail...

...but that doesn't mean he won't spend any time in prison.

There's a difference, ya know...

[honest.abe]

3. Yeah maybe if there is some sort of plea deal if he resigns.

However we are in uncharted territory here. Who knows how this will end.

[hlthe2b]

4. I honestly don't see the point in these suppressive, demoralizing posts.

No one here would have predicted Trump would succeed Obama in office 10 years ago... No one. If we've learned anything in the past two years, that is that the entire political climate can change on a dime.

We shall see... In the meantime, focus on the what we can DO on a daily basis, as we move toward the mid-terms. Positive change may be incremental, but it IS in our hands.

[H2O Man]

5. Neither the House nor Senate

has any say about criminal sentencing. They are not involved.

[jayschool2013]

6. How about

Jared? DT2? Eric? Ivanka?

Please!?!??!?!??!

[RockRaven]

7. I think he's more likely to spend a day in a New York prison than a federal one.

His financial crimes are massive and of long duration, preceding his being POTUS. NY has jurisdiction over most of them. Cohen will need to cooperate with NY AG to avoid spending the rest of his life in a NY prison (when he's not in a federal one). And NY's governor isn't going to pardon Trump.

Just my $0.02

[BSdetect]

9. He deserves life in prison and that ought to happen.

Too much reverence for the office should not stop giving him life behind bars.

And no country club facility either.

Fear of reprisal? When they act civilly they are acting. They do not convince me that they are decent people.

Let them try reprisal if they can muster the numbers.

[C_U_L8R]

10. Can we exile him back to Russia?

[saidsimplesimon]

11. In a perfect world,

the con would be still be serving the first of multiple life sentences for high crimes and treason. He should have been indicted and convicted decades ago.

That said, it pains me to admit the odds are with your conclusion.

[Eliot Rosewater]

12. I know this comes from frustration, I feel it too.

A normal person with a conscience and morals going through this would get sick, real sick...physically and emotionally.

But a deeply disturbed, narcissistic, malignant lying piece of shit wont have any of that.

I want two things when this is done:

1. rump cant leave his hotel without thousands screaming TRAITOR in his face

2. those who helped enable this by NOT supporting AGGRESSIVELY the D party, learn from their mistake

[Va Lefty]

13. Sadly I agree. Rich, powerful, white men are rarely jailed in our Country

[standingtall]

14. Just to be safe Trump should resign and go ahead

and get his pardon from Pence. Remember it wasn't a Democratic President that pardoned Nixon. Every Democratic Presidential candidate should pledge not to pardon Trump.

[AlexSFCA]

15. that's the problem with dems, always scared of rethugs

reubs would not even think twice about it and try to jail a criminal dem prez at any cost.

[GoCubsGo]

16. He'll high-tail his ass to Russia before he sees prison time.

As for precedence, there's always a first time. No other president has committed treason, or the sorts of crimes this asshole has committed.

As for "fear of reprisal", there should also be fear of repetition. If Trump gets away with all of this, what's to stop a Democrat from doing the same, and getting away with it at a time when they also control both houses of Congress?

[HipChick]

17. #2 is invalid - they would try to do that regardless...

If Hilary were President right now...we would be up to our ears with impeachment proceedings

[YessirAtsaFact]

18. I'm okay with no jail time if they hang him

[Hortensis]

19. Republicans ALREADY will jail a Democratic president

if they can. I agree with your first point, but not the second. It's not fear of their removing one of ours if they can that will stop us, but a need to heal the pathological division that's been developed by those who would destroy us. United we stand,...

Democrats have a long history of putting the welfare of our nation, very much including the political stability and the working relationships between parties that democracy must have, ahead of even justice when it would incite further anger and dissension among the people. It's who we are.

BTW, on the subject of Republicans, let's remember that many conservatives left the Republican Party since the 1990s when many of those same people opposed the attempted removal of President Clinton from office out of partisan malice and power grabbing.

Republicans are only about 24-26% of registered voters now, a concentration of the nation's hard-core social conservatives and authoritarians -- the people who support putting brown-skinned children in cages and would support arresting and extraditing former U.S. officials to Russian prisons if their leader chose to do that.

Our nation's future depends on a good portion of the rest of our conservatives refusing to vote the choices those are making. And so I agree: It's unlikely that even a president they now regret voting for will go to prison, even for a long list of serious crimes. We need to help them be able to hug their SCOTUS "victories" to themselves as justification and see themselves as responsible citizens.

[LBM20]

20. Removed from office in disgrace or not re-elected works. Then he CAN be prosecuted after he's out.

He'll go down in history as the WORST president EVER.

[Atticus]

21. With respect, I do disagree.

Could not your same reasoning "rule out' impeachment?

1.) No president has ever been removed from office by impeachment.

2.) Fear of reprisal? What was Clinton's impeachment if not a reprisal for daring to file for Nixon's impeachment and forcing his resignation? And, besides: Republicans have never needed an excuse to act in a spiteful and irresponsible manner.

Presidents are either above the law or they are not. If anyone else convicted of the same offenses would go to prison, Trump should go to prison. To let him walk because a mob of mouth- breathers might get pissed would be immoral and cowardly and would,in fact, place him "above" the laws every other citizen is expected to obey.

[Laelth]

22. Agreed. Here's why:

Prison, for Trump, is out of the question.

-Laelth