Florida might not care, but Trump’s ‘witch hunt’ claim falls flat after guilty verdict | Opinion

Guilty, guilty, guilty.

Former president and Florida resident Donald Trump has been convicted by a New York jury on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a case involving hush payments to a porn star. A conviction would end the career of any other politician but might not affect his — especially in Florida — even though he faces up to four years in prison.

In fact, an angry Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for president in November, lashed out as he left the courtroom, issuing an election threat.

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” a simmering Trump told reporters. “The real verdict will come Nov. 5.”

Suddenly, Nov. 5 is sounding like Jan. 6.

But Trump is now a convicted felon. For years, Trump and his allies have claimed that any effort to hold him legally accountable for his actions equated to a “witch hunt.”

An importance premise of this nation’s justice system is that defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty — and Americans have the constitutional right to an impartial jury and legal defense.

Before their selection, jurors in Trump’s case were asked about their opinions on Trump, their social media history and their backgrounds. Several potential jurors were dismissed because of their impartiality toward the former president. Unless his lawyers can prove misconduct by any jurors or other issues in the trial, Trump had a fair shake.

Twenty-two witnesses were heard over six weeks and his legal team had the opportunity to cross examine them, including star prosecution witness Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who pleaded guilty to charges related to the payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star in question.

And Trump was still found guilty, which makes it harder to maintain the argument that those jurors are also part of a “deep state” ploy orchestrated by democrats and the so-called liberal elites to bring him down.

Where’s the witch hunt now?

Of course, these facts matter little to Trump’s big supporters. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — apparently auditioning to be Trump’s VP pick — called the verdict a “travesty that makes a mockery of our system of justice” on X.

Will the outcome of this case matter to the less committed swing voters who will likely decide the 2024 elections in battleground states?

In Florida — no longer considered one of battleground states — it’s very likely Trump’s conviction won’t change his standing as the favorite to carry the state in the November presidential election.

It’s a shame that Floridians would put a convicted felon back in the White House because of a perception that they will fare better under his administration. Pocket-book issues like inflation and the price of gas matter, but so does the future of our democracy, the decay of America’s moral standing in the world and the likelihood another Trump administration will be, again, filed with chaos and scandal.

At the same time, what does this say about Biden and the Democrats’ ability to convince the American people that their lives are better under his leadership?

On paper, the economy is in good shape but many voters have a hard time believing it when they can no longer afford things they could just years ago.

Florida, and Miami-Dade County, offer a case study on Democratic failures to reach to Hispanic voters who are increasingly more likely to support Trump in November.

A new national poll is the latest to indicate that regardless of whether Trump is was found guilty or acquitted in his criminal trial, the verdict will not have a large impact on voters’ perceptions in his 2024 election rematch with President Biden. Two-thirds of registered voters questioned in a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll released on Thursday said a guilty verdict would make no difference in their vote in the presidential election.

This wasn’t even the most damning case involving the former president. He still faces other indictments related to his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and, most importantly, his efforts to overturn the 2020 elections. It’s likely, however, that those cases won’t go to trial before Nov. 5.

The New York case shows that Trump is not only a morally flawed candidate, but, as many of us long suspected, acts as if he’s above the law. Those are not the qualities of a president.

Click here to send the letter.

This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 5:47 PM.