Trump will not be punished for ‘hush-money’ case

New York justice Juan Merchan sentenced President-elect Donald Trump this morning for his conviction in the so-called “hush-money” case that saw a jury convict him last year of thirty-four felony counts of falsifying business records. As was predicted, Judge Merchan handed down an “unconditional discharge” sentencing, meaning Trump will not go to jail, be forced to pay fines or be punished in any way. Trump will remain, however, a convicted felon.

The hush-money case, we’ll recall, centered around allegations porn star Stormy Daniels made that Trump paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair between the pair. Trump’s conviction had him facing up to four years in prison and steep fines.

Trump appeared via video at his sentencing, which lasted a little longer than thirty minutes. According to the Hill, which had news cameras in the courtroom, “Trump told the judge he is ‘totally innocent’ and had a ‘very terrible experience’ in Manhattan’s criminal court system.”

“It’s an injustice of justice,” Trump said.

Trump had continually tried to have the case dismissed and successfully persuaded the court to delay his sentencing until after the November presidential election. Trump also made a last-ditch plea days ago to an appeals court judge to have his sentencing delayed indefinitely, which was unsuccessful.

In his sentencing this morning, Merchan said:

This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction without encroachment on the highest office of the land is a sentence of unconditional discharge.

“Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office,” Merchan added. 

The consensus seems to be, as a Newsmax reporter said this morning, that this sentencing amounts to little more than “a blemish” on Trump’s record. When he takes office after his inauguration on January 20, Trump will be the first person ever to be both a convicted felon and president.

Far from being a bad thing, Trump’s bad-boy status is something I personally think his supporters (especially the January 6 crowd) are proud of; at numerous Trump rallies and events I’ve attended, I’ve seen tons of people proudly sporting, “I’m voting for the convicted felon” merch.

-Teresa Mull

On our radar

CLOCK TICKING ON TIKTOK The US Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today about whether social media platform TikTok, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, should be banned in the United States.

MEL GIBSON RESURRECTS Embattled actor/director Mel Gibson is back in the headlines, having just appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Gibson also revealed his $14.5 million Malibu mansion was destroyed in the devastating California fires currently raging. But don’t worry: Gibson is working on The Resurrection, which he hopes will be out next year. 

JOE GOES ROGUE And speaking of Joe Rogan, the popular podcaster said he thinks Donald Trump’s plan to make Canada the fifty-first state is an excellent one, and while we’re at it, we should bring Mexico in as number fifty-two. 

All eyes on Venezuela

Today is the day Venezuela’s president will start a new six-year term. The issue is that there are two men who are expected to take the oath. One is Nicolás Maduro, the successor of socialist sweetheart Hugo Chávez, who has been in power since 2013. The other is Edmundo González Urrutia, a little-known diplomat who emerged to replace Maria Corina Machado, the so-called Venezuelan Iron Lady.

Speculation is that González Urrutia, who has been living in exile in Spain and spent his week meeting with presidents ranging from Joe Biden to Javier Milei, will enter Venezuela — and that he will do so accompanied by other world leaders. The Maduro regime, however, has closed off the country.

Salvadorean president Nayib Bukele posted a screenshot of his Apple Weather app on his X account showing changing weather in Caracas. “Change in political weather, I can translate it this way,” he cryptically shared.

I phone Andrés Silva, a political consultant in Caracas, to ask him what’s going on. “Since they attempted to kidnap Maria Corina, nothing much.” Is that a bad thing? “No, the problem the opposition has always faced is predictability. The less we know the better.”

Silva tells me that some of his politically connected friends speculate that González Urrutia, and maybe other leaders, are already in Caracas. At close to 11 a.m., “something very symbolic happened,” Silva explained. “Maduro took oath in a room of the National Assembly, but not in the hemicycle.” The event was intimate — unlike tradition. This may indicate safety concerns, or as Silva suggested, likely the fact that Maduro is as isolated as ever, with his few guests including the presidents of Congo and Cuba.

The situation is rapidly developing, but with Machado reappearing in public after more than a hundred days in hiding, accompanied by an also-hiding Justice First leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, there is momentum. If González Urrutia does return, or if he’s already there, things might get chaotic.

–Juan P. Villasmil

California fires bring out the worst in media and elected officials

Natural disasters can bring out the best in Americans, with thousands lining up to donate food, blood and clothing to complete strangers. They can also bring out the most crass and craven among us, as well.

Look no further than the performative antics in the wake of the Los Angeles fires. ABC News sent David Muir, one of its best-known and most-trusted anchors in America (Morning Consult polling found that 64 percent of respondents trust Muir), and he showed up looking like an extra from Zoolander with a clothespin pulling his jacket back to make it look as tight as possible. 

“David Muir, the supposed moderator of my father‘s presidential debate, who instead chose to be a participant, is so vain that as people in Los Angeles are losing everything, he used clothes pins to make his fake fireman’s jacket more form fitting,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X. “Sick!”

Muir isn’t alone with the showmanship, either. California’s embattled governor, Gavin Newsom, was confronted by a woman and responded by telling her that he was trying to get cell service to call President Joe Biden. Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass (who was on Joe Biden’s VP shortlist!), appeared to malfunction when pressed for answers by a reporter about the fire, and California’s Democratic-dominated legislature is convening an emergency session…to fight Donald Trump.

California should probably focus on being fireproof before worrying about becoming Trump proof, if you ask Cockburn

–Cockburn