Politics

[Brent in Az]

The jury was bought and paid for, and the guilty verdict was decided before Trump ever stepped foot into that Kangaroo court.

 

[John Wasmuth]

After the verdict came in Trumps contributions hit a record $53 Million dollars in less than 24 hrs,,,,, yea that sure signifies that he’s loosing support………

 

[Alistair]

After the verdict came in Trumps contributions hit a record $53 Million dollars in less than 24 hrs,,,,, yea that sure signifies that he’s loosing support………

You have to consider though that people who donate any money at all to a political candidate are far, far more engaged with politics generally and are likely to have a strong preference for a candidate. People who will donate to Trump aren't even just 'Republicans', they're the most devout X percent of Republicans.

I'd think that any person willing to donate to Trump was almost exclusively already going to vote for Trump, so it's not a whole lot more support.

That's my point. This verdict certainly mobilizes the R base, just as it probably mobilizes the D base, but does it widen that base? I'm not so sure.

 

[Tbitty]

From a more or less conservative relative in his 40s, that did not vote for Trump last time, and did not follow the trial very closely.

"He's now a convicted felon by unanimous vote of a jury that included four Republicans. This will matter to a lot of voters."
Does not think Trump will win, btw.

Just pointing out what others see...
Still wishing the Republicans had nominated a candidate with less baggage and drama. Also still don't think Biden will be the nominee, either but could be wrong.

There is a very real possibility that neither of the presumptive nominees are on the ballot this November.
The worst reality show in America continues, while the country figuratively burns to the ground.

 

[John Wasmuth]

It also mobilized a lot of fence sitters that don’t like watching the legal system get trashed by an unscrupulous president, DOJ, a leftist DA and a leftist judge. It also mobilized some Black American voters that have been thru a crooked legal system.

 

[Alistair]

It also mobilized a lot of fence sitters that don’t like watching the legal system get trashed by an unscrupulous president, DOJ, a leftist DA and a leftist judge. It also mobilized some Black American voters that have been thru a crooked legal system.

Maybe some, sure. But I expect it also persuaded some suburban fence sitters that he's not the kind of guy who they want in office.

Which trend is more impactful is probably the question here, and personally I'm not sure it's in Trump's favor.

Hard to separate your own opinions on this trial from the nations perspective I guess, and the further left or right you lean, the harder that exercise becomes. Personally, I don't for even a second believe that this has persuaded vast swathes of the populace that the justice system has been usurped, but that's purely my own opinion.

 

[John Wasmuth]

The only way we will find out is who the winner is in November.

 

[Alistair]

The only way we will find out is who the winner is in November.

Agreed!

 

[John Wasmuth]

Agreed!

I’d still like to see where you got the 4 republicans on the jury from…., pretty sure that didn’t happen….

 

[Alistair]

I’d still like to see where you got the 4 republicans on the jury from…., pretty sure that didn’t happen….

Not my comment.

For what it's worth though, both the defense and the prosecution have some ability to select jurors. If Trump's team couldn't manage to swing at least a couple of right leaning jurors, then he's paying them far too much.

 

[BSO Dave]

I'd think that any person willing to donate to Trump was almost exclusively already going to vote for Trump, so it's not a whole lot more support.

True about the donors, but not necessarily true about the importance of having as much cash as possible in a Presidential campaign. More money can be very significant provided it's spent well regardless of if it was generated from the base or not...

In 2020, the Brandon campaign outspent the Trump campaign 2 to 1... A significant portion of Trump's war chest was spent on fund raising while Brandon had cash to burn... This forced Trump's people to prioritize and manage their funds focusing on the swing states where he was still considerably outspent by Brandon. Trump also had considerably less to spend on national TV ads. Trump's campaign saved most of their TV money for the last weeks of the race long after many states had already early voted. With more cash, Trump will have more ability to spend early and often on TV ads in those key swing states which can absolutely make a difference with independents and undecideds...

If the Trump people were smart, they would spend heavily on all media during early voting in the biggest swing states. And, if the RNC was smart, they would take the pages from the DNC playbook and capitalize on targeting new voter registrations, early voting, and legal ballot harvesting. Beating the dems at their own game is the only way Trump can win, and more cash will certainly not hurt those efforts...

 

[John Wasmuth]

Not my comment.

For what it's worth though, both the defense and the prosecution have some ability to select jurors. If Trump's team couldn't manage to swing at least a couple of right leaning jurors, then he's paying them far too much.

They’d have to be part of the jury pool in order to be selected…,.,, it’s manhattan, self explanatory, much like the judge not allowing the actual expert on financial election crimes to testify for the defense… can’t allow facts to cloud the juries minds…. And I truly apologize, it wasn’t your comment about the four republicans.

 

[Alistair]

They’d have to be part of the jury pool in order to be selected…,.,, it’s manhattan, self explanatory, much like the judge not allowing the actual expert on financial election crimes to testify for the defense… can’t allow facts to cloud the juries minds…. And yes, I do believe it was you that said there were four republicans on the jury..,

Nope, @shootist~ I believe. Post #36,877.

As for Manhattan, fair point. You'd expect more Dem/Lean Dem jurors than you would Republican/lean Republican options. Roughly a 2:1 split based on Pew research or the last election. But the pool for jurors is roughly 30, you only need to find 2 or 3 to slip onto the final jury.

 

[John Wasmuth]

True about the donors, but not necessarily true about the importance of having as much cash as possible in a Presidential campaign. More money can be very significant provided it's spent well regardless of if it was generated from the base or not...

In 2020, the Brandon campaign outspent the Trump campaign 2 to 1... A significant portion of Trump's war chest was spent on fund raising while Brandon had cash to burn... This forced Trump's people to prioritize and manage their funds focusing on the swing states where he was still considerably outspent by Brandon. Trump also had considerably less to spend on national TV ads. Trump's campaign saved most of their TV money for the last weeks of the race long after many states had already early voted. With more cash, Trump will have more ability to spend early and often on TV ads in those key swing states which can absolutely make a difference with independents and undecideds...

If the Trump people were smart, they would spend heavily on all media during early voting in the biggest swing states. And, if the RNC was smart, they would take the pages from the DNC playbook and capitalize on targeting new voter registrations, early voting, and legal ballot harvesting. Beating the dems at their own game is the only way Trump can win, and more cash will certainly not hurt those efforts...

GOP definitely needs to modernize the idea of vote harvesting, early voting, mail in voting…. I’ll draw the line at allowing the dead to vote, just bad form, even if you knew their intentions…….

 

[John Wasmuth]

Nope, @shootist~ I believe. Post #36,877.

As for Manhattan, fair point. You'd expect more Dem/Lean Dem jurors than you would Republican/lean Republican options. Roughly a 2:1 split based on Pew research or the last election. But the pool for jurors is roughly 30, you only need to find 2 or 3 to slip onto the final jury.

Those 2 or 3 would have to be there in order to be picked for the jury. Already apologized for the mistake on the post..

 

[BSO Dave]

For what it's worth though, both the defense and the prosecution have some ability to select jurors. If Trump's team couldn't manage to swing at least a couple of right leaning jurors, then he's paying them far too much.

I'm quite certain that Trump's legal team exhausted their challenges to prospective juror qualifications during the voir dire process. The judge can still overrule a challenge by either side to sit a juror who may not meet the qualifications or even demonstrates potential bias... This, of course, can be grounds for appeal, by which the Trump team has no shortage of in this case... I would be shocked if jury selection isn't one of hundreds of items on the list of reasons for appeal by Trump's attorneys...

 

[John Wasmuth]

In our sparsely populated county every time I get a jury summons there are no less than 60 other citizens that show up. So I’m pretty sure braggs jury pool was at least three to four times that.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

The jury was bought and paid for

That's a serious allegation. Is this your opinion or is there evidence of this?

 

[John Wasmuth]

To be exact….

 

[BSO Dave]

The jury was bought and paid for, and the guilty verdict was decided before Trump ever stepped foot into that Kangaroo court.

The fix was in from the DA to the judge for sure...

As far as the jury, as I said, the judge may have interfered by overruling the defenses challenges during the selection process... Still many legal experts, including Jonathan Turley, which I highly respect, have said that the jury may have been forced to convict based on the very narrow set of deliberation instructions that they were given by the judge. This judge allowed tons of irrelevant evidence to be brought by the prosecution while excluding significant portions of the defense's witness testimony and blocked other defense witnesses form even testifying. Based on the very limited evidence that they were allowed to consider with very biased instructions, they may have actually believed Trump was guilty of something...