In what will go down as one of the biggest days in American history, former US President Donald Trump was made the first President to ever be convicted of felony crimes. And now there is one question on the world’s lips: Will Donald Trump go to jail?
As the 2024 American Presidential Election gets closer by the day, Donald Trump’s chance of reclaiming the title of President has more ups and downs than a rollercoaster.
First, it looked like he was being investigated by the FBI and wouldn’t even make it to the Republican primary election. Then, as his lawsuits stacked on top of each other, it looked like he was going to be stuck in court the entire presidential race.
Yet despite these setbacks, Trump managed to win the Republican primary election and is on the trajectory to face off against President Joe Biden a second time.
Then another spanner was thrown into the works when on May 30, the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, in relation to hush money he paid porn-star Stormy Daniels.
As this is the first time a former President has landed criminal convictions, many feel uncertain about what will happen next. So what’s next for Donald Trump? Will he go to jail, or will he still be allowed to run for president?
Will Donald Trump go to jail?
When the world woke up on May 31 and found out Donald Trump had been found guilty of a crime, there were two major reactions: shock, and curiosity.
Shock at the fact that Trump seemed to finally face his first-ever consequence. As The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon pointed out, Trump fought the law and the law won.
And curiosity came in the form of asking the big question: Does this mean Donald Trump will go to jail?
As exciting as that potential may be for many people, it is also highly unlikely. The most likely punishment for the falsification of business records for a first-time offender is a fine, or some form of probation. He could be subject to house arrest, but what does that stop you from doing when you live in Trump Tower?
The maximum sentence for his offence is four years in prison, but this is not usually given out to first-time convictions.
Additionally, is it almost guaranteed that Trump will appeal the verdict, which he described as “RIGGED”. (He used capitals, I have to as well.)
We will find out what the verdict is on July 11. Until then, Trump is allowed to roam free on bail.
Could Donald Trump be president again?
Finding the answer to this question depends on two highly important factors. First is Trump’s legitimacy to go for president, and second is the need for Trump to win the American Presidential Election.
Let’s unpack both.
Trump’s legitimacy to go for president
As surprising as it sounds, Trump’s new convictions do not have any impact on his legitimacy to become president. Any conviction(s) that Trump — or anyone — receives does not stop them from being elected as the US President.
The US Constitution has only three criteria for someone to be eligible to become the president. A potential president must:
- Be a natural-born citizen of the United States.
- Be at least 35-years-old.
- Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.
At no point did the Founding Fathers include the requirement an individual must have a clean criminal record. Not just for white-collar crime like Trump is guilty of, but literally any crime.
Additionally, even in the unlikely situation that Trump is sent to jail, he would still be allowed to become president. Because even being locked up doesn’t mean you can’t be the leader of the United States.
Frankly, that’s wild — but I guess you don’t write rules against things you would never expect to happen in a million years? Because what kind of country do that? Oh right, America.
This all means there’s only one thing in the way of Trump becoming president again.
Winning the 2024 election
If Trump is going to become president, he needs to win the votes of the American people on November 5, 2024. So will Joe Biden be able to secure a second term, or will the convicted Trump actually win this time?
Experts on US politics say it’s unclear what the result of the upcoming election will be from this far out. Host of ABC’s Planet America Chas Licciardello estimated that the odds are not “more than 50/50” for either Trump or Biden.
“What we know about this election is that neither Trump nor Biden is going to be offering many positive reasons to people to vote for them,” Chas told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
According to Chas, both candidates are likely to continue to amp up their attack campaigns against their opponent as the presidential race gets serious, which will dishearten many voters. But if he had to pick a horse to bet on, Chas suspects that Trump is likely to lose the election.
“The major reason why I favour Biden is that we’ve seen over and over again, an iron law of Trump is that the more people see him the more they dislike him,” explained Chas.
And given how much exposure Trump will receive during his upcoming criminal trials — one of which concerns his involvement in the January 6 riots — Chas suspects it’s going to “make people hate” Trump.
“The January 6 case is going to be the biggest case of the year. Not just the biggest case of the year, the biggest news event of the year,” said Chas.
“Whether it goes for two weeks or a month, it’s gonna be bigger than OJ Simpson. People are going to be watching Trump like he’s the Olympics.”
So maybe America isn’t doomed? Or maybe it is. Guess we’ll find out on November 5 when the American public puts democracy to work, and Trump and Biden give the world the sequel it never asked for.
The post What’s Next For Donald Trump Now He’s Convicted? Will He Be Locked Up, Or Made President? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
