Looking at the way this is going, I’m genuinely starting to wonder if Donald Trump ends up jailed for contempt sooner rather than later. It seems Merchan’s patience has been exhausted.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy has just said that prosecutors are not seeking jail time for Trump’s violations of the gag order.

We are not yet seeking incarceratory penalty. Defendant seems to be angling for that … We are asking the court to impose the maximum $1,000 fine for each violation.”

theguardian.com/…/trump-hush-money-trial-new-york…

“Defendant seems to be angling for that” … so? Why are they taking into consideration what Trump wants? Just treat him like you would a black guy in Texas caught with a little weed.

Because of Trump can get them to act emotionally his lawyers can argue that this is a witch hunt.

They have to go through this painstaking process. If the don’t they embolden his base, and suddenly those definitely-not-calls-to-action are much more threatening.

I disagree. The reason that we have gag orders is to protect the integrity of the process. The integrity of the process doesn’t have anything to do with Donald Trump, it has to do with literally everyone else. And we learned a long time ago that it’s not possible to have a fair trial when a loud defendant can manipulate the press, attack jurors and inflame the public. It’s time for him to shut up and spend some time in jail.

So what happens then? Do you think Trump supporters are just going to allow that to happen?

I understand why you say what you’re saying, you need to think about the people you’re actually dealing with.