Friday Insights-January 10, 2025
Trump sentenced in New York business fraud case
Already, It has been an interesting week, but the best may be yet to come. At 9:30 a.m., Donald J. Trump was sentenced in the New York business fraud case for 34 felony convictions. Judge Merchan gave Trump an “unconditional discharge,” which means there will be no jail time or fine. The president-elect’s only penalty will be that, with this sentence, he will have the honor of being the first president inaugurated with a felony conviction on his rap sheet.
The Supreme Court denied Trump’s request to block the sentencing. Chief Justice Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett voted with the Court’s liberal judges in a 5-4 ruling. This is interesting but does not mean much. The Court’s order explained its decision:
First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal. Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge” after a brief virtual hearing.
Trump surprisingly did not blast the Court in a Truth Social posting.
Trump believes that he will be able to expunge the convictions on appeal. He will continue to challenge the ruling.
Carter funeral.
President Carter’s funeral was held yesterday in Washington. The eulogies were moving, but the interactions between the former presidents were more newsworthy. As expected, Trump was the skunk at the parade. George W. Bush ignored Trump. Inexplicably, Barack Obama and Trump engaged in what appeared to be a friendly conversation. The Clintons pretended Trump wasn’t there.
Kamala Harris and her husband looked disgusted by Trump, who repeatedly stared at Harris. Then there was Michelle Obama's absence. She had a “schedule conflict” involving a vacation in Hawaii. She is a smart woman. I suspect she knew she would be seated next to Trump and excused herself. That was a good decision. I wonder whether that is what Obama and Trump were talking about.
Seated on the other side of Trump was his wife, decked out in a weird outfit that included a coat with a collar that pictured an embracing couple. Strange, but then, Melania Trump is strange. Just read her best-selling autobiography, Melania.
Carter will be remembered as a good man who was president during a challenging period in America’s history. Donald Trump is enhancing his legacy. Carter’s pledge to never tell a lie was memorable when he made it in 1976. It is particularly memorable now that Trump is about to return to the White House and add to the record of more than 30,000 lies he told during his first term.
Inauguration day is approaching.
Trump’s hope for “one big, beautiful bill” (or is it “one powerful bill” or both) is fading. Senate leadership is reportedly pushing back on the idea of passing major parts of the Trump agenda before understanding it. Those parts include an extension (with modifications) of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, “border security,” and energy policy. Nobody knows the details of the proposals, which makes it difficult for responsible legislators to commit to supporting the bill without hearings or an opportunity to read the bill before voting on it.
I believe most Republican Senators will prove themselves to be less than “responsible legislators,” but remain hopeful that a critical mass (three or four) will slow down the Trump train.
The Trump blimp could crash shortly after take-off.
As Inauguration Day approaches, Trump continues to claim a strong national mandate for the MAGA agenda, including extension of tax cuts that won’t benefit most MAGA supporters. Knowledgeable economists believe Trump’s tariff proposals could precipitate a recession, possibly a deep one. If that were to happen—and economists expressing that fear are hesitant to predict a date when inflation might roar back—Trump’s mandate to govern might evaporate quickly.
Evaporating even more quickly will be monolithic support among Republicans in the House and Senate. If Republican legislators start to fear the Trump administration will be a disaster, they will begin distancing themselves from him. Don’t forget that Trump will be a lame duck on Inauguration Day, that Trump established a pattern of losing elections before his 2024 win, and that each day, Trump’s mental decline, on display during his January 7 press briefing, continues.
Stay tuned. Nobody sane wants to see a recession, but as of today, the best hope of the Trump administration being tripped up is one.
Fire.
The top news of the week was the fires in Southern California. As of this writing, they continue to burn. Losses will be in the billions, creating a challenge for the incoming president to address. To date, Trump’s reaction has been to criticize Governor Gavin Newsom.
Billions in federal assistance will be necessary to help Southern California recover, but the fires may finally trigger the public to accept that climate change is real and an existential threat to America’s future.
I hope that happens because there will be more fires, hurricanes, “bomb cyclones” (I still don’t understand precisely what they are), earthquakes, tornados, droughts, and floods because of climate change. Trump’s stupid cries of “Drill, Baby, Drill” may start irritating more people.
Thank you.
That’s it for today. Thank you for reading Friday Insights. I’ll be back with more uplifting commentary on Sunday.
Good lord. All I can do is shake my head every time Trump opens his mouth.