How perfect that the Manhattan DA’s hush-money case against Donald Trump has ended with nothing.
It was among the least suspenseful of all sentencings. Judge Juan Merchan announced in advance — quite pragmatically, actually — that he intended to sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge. To translate that bit of legal jargon: nothing.
Orange-jumpsuit fantasies had long been abandoned by even the most wishful of crusaders. There won’t be any probation either, or fines, or restitution, or community service. It’s gotten so bad for Alvin Bragg’s “dangerous,” “bullshit” prosecution (to quote Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat John Fetterman, respectively, in a refreshing bit of moderate bipartisan consensus) that its few remaining cheerleaders have been reduced to meekly spinning this sentence of nothing as a positive outcome for the DA.
Winners and losers aside, Merchan’s sentencing decision makes good practical sense. The judge recognizes the constitutional reality that he cannot proceed with a criminal case against a sitting president, so it’s sometime in the next ten days or never. (The judge rejected Bragg’s bonkers suggestion that the court put the sentencing on hold until Trump finishes out his second term as president in 2029.) Obviously, Merchan is in no position to imprison a sitting commander-in-chief. Nor could he have imposed lesser, non-incarceratory restrictions; good luck compelling the president to report weekly from the White House to pee in a cup for a New York County probation officer.
By holding the sentencing now, Merchan put a stamp of finality on the trial phase of the case. This will allow folks to label Trump a “convicted felon,” if anyone’s still into that after the entire effort backfired so spectacularly on the political stage.........