this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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politics

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[–] insomniac@sh.itjust.works 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But instead fined him $5,000. This headline is stupid.

[–] enoqe@lemmy.ml 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I am not a lawyer, but my first thought is that you cannot pass a six figure (or more) fine for this kind of infraction. Even though Trump is starting to show a pattern of disregarding this specific case’s proceedings, the judge would have to start at a reasonable amount and go up from there. In this case, I searched for reasonable fines for violating a gag order and got $1000 to $10000. If he handed down a $500,000 fine then the media / right would go crazy questioning if this fine was justified by Trump’s actions. I think we all know that regardless of the sum (barring $100,000+ fines), Trump is gonna disregard the fine and do it again. But doing so gets Trump closer to actually being imprisoned (in theory). The actual threat of being imprisoned is far more likely to quiet Trump than a monetary fee. ‘Tis the life of the (comparatively) rich, monetary fines don’t have the same sticking power as for you and I.

[–] sparr@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

There are many other countries, including some with some shared legal history with the US, where civil fines are proportional to the income and/or wealth of the person. Rich people get four or five or six figure traffic tickets, etc.

That's refreshingly rational, all things considered. Thank you.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

All gag orders are not equal. Given this one was due to what amounts to a threat against his staff, I find it unlikely most judges in other circumstances would have let this happen with such flagrant disregard for the order without jail time. The fact is, Trump supporters are violent, and this judge is scared of that violence. A slap on the wrist is all he had the courage to do, and I'm doubtful anything will change with this judge going forward. He just knows how appalling it is to have his hard working and innocent staff threatened and reacted like someone with a spine momentarily, and then he realized he doesn't have one and walked it back.

The entire thing is theater.

[–] havocpants@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All gag orders are not equal. Given this one was due to what amounts to a threat against his staff, I find it unlikely most judges in other circumstances would have let this happen with such flagrant disregard for the order without jail time.

This is the bit I don't get, Trump doxxing court staff and encouraging his followers to harass them is surely way beyond contempt of court. Is that not an entirely new crime by itself?

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You'd think so, but like we're seeing with the Jim Jordan thing, people are quite honestly (and reasonably) scared of escalating violence and harassment from... punishing the incitement of violence and harassment. The problem comes from the fact that you can't stop the escalation that will occur simply by punishing the inciter--you make it worse. That's why mob violence and stochastic terrorism are so scary.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Another mind reader I see. Tell us, has the judge already decided if he is guilty? And what number am I thinking of?

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago
[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Judges parenting baby Trump:

I’m gonna count to 3!

1…

2…

2 and a half…

2 and three quarters…

almost 3…

seriously really almost 3…

[–] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

You're not wrong, but there is a reason for it. The judge(s) are trying to show that they gave Trump every chance to follow their orders before throwing him in jail. It may have seemed like a really like time to us, but by court standards it's not.

[–] Veneroso@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Never in the history of our country has a president been indicted so many times. Over so many many alleged crimes. Truly a rigged two tiered just system allowing an indicted former president, storing TS/SCI documents in his bathroom, who has a history of over sharing, and flushing government documents, could remain free, instead of immured in a black-site hole, in pre-trial detainment. Reality Winner was sentenced to five years and three months and she didn't even get to share how close our submarines could get to Russian Subs without being detected. For shame!

[–] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

so many many ~~alleged~~ crimes.

This isn't a court of law and you aren't a corporation. You're allowed to acknowledge his thoroughly proven (and in some cases even brag-admitted) guilt for what it is. Nobody's going to sue you for telling the truth and nobody reasonable is going to complain either.

[–] neptune@dmv.social 6 points 1 year ago

Most prominently, Trump is a public figure, so a lawsuit would have to prove malice intent.

I can say Trump is guilty all day long because I have free political speech, and honest intent.

[–] many_bees@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

To be fair, a decent amount of presidents probably should have been indicted. Trump does take the cake on how directly connected he is to obvious crimes. He's definitely the dumbest in that regard.

[–] Jackcooper@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

Wow 5000 dollars to someone worth 9 figures

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Stop making empty threats. If this had been anyone else, they would have been in jail years ago. But we're a nation of corrupt men and not of laws.

[–] spaceghoti@lemmy.one 19 points 1 year ago

Stop threatening it. Anyone else would already be behind bars right now. Follow through.

[–] bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Nobody is above the law. Trump has been fucking around for too long and needs to find out his actions have consequences.

[–] zcd@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

This geriatric fuck hasn’t seen a single consequence in his whole life, would be nice to see literally anything be done

[–] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nobody is above the law? That remains to be seen

[–] SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Idk why you got that single down vote. If no one has been paying attention, then I'll just mention it here. The law (usually) only applies when you're poor.

[–] ripcord@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Poor, or done something to someone richer than you.

[–] hiddengoat@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (4 children)

You got a downvote from me for whining about downvotes.

Just thought you'd like to know so you don't have to post a followup whining about why you were downvoted.

load more comments (4 replies)

Nobody is above the law.

Patently false. Anyone else behaving as Trump has and indicted on the array of charges he is would be waiting for trial from a jail cell.

Whatever happens to him now, it will be far less than would have happened to you or I had we committed the same crimes.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

"Nobody is above the law"
-citation needed

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 13 points 1 year ago

Oh I am sure this stern warning will do the trick.

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

Your average citizen would go straight to jail. Trump is just threatened.

[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

If you're ever unsure whether there are separate judicial systems for the aristocrats and the poors, try threatening a judge while not rich and see how many warnings you get.

[–] 0110010001100010@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Fucking do it already!

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

The headline is incorrect. The corrected version should read: "Judge in NY fraud trial threatens to jail Trump for violating gag order, ends up doing nothing."

These people need to shit or get off the pot already. This really is a legalese version of "I'm going to count to three......"

[–] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

“Threatens”

crimes

[–] SuperSpaceFan@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

Please do it!

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

Folks, it’s not like Trump can afford to pay lackeys or webmasters to do things. Stuff like this is just gonna slip through the cracks. He doesn’t have millions in campaign contributions pouring in from dumb fuck sycophants as a direct result of these charges!

/s

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

So the argument is they did take it down from Truth Social, but it remained on the campaign website? I mean, I GUESS that's plausible deniability... but still feels intentional.

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago
[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Do it, you fucking coward.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial in New York raised the possibility on Friday of putting the former president in prison after Trump failed to comply with a partial gag order requiring him to remove a post trashing the judge's law clerk on social media.

Judge Arthur Engoron said in court on Friday morning that Trump had posted on his social media account "an untrue and disparaging post about my clerk" and that he spoke to the former president about the matter.

He continued, "Despite this order, last night I learned the offending post was never removed from a website.

Engoron said the post remained on Trump's 2024 campaign website for 17 days and was removed late Thursday night after the court emailed him.

In response, Trump's defense attorney, Chris Kise said, "Based on my understanding this was truly inadvertent."

"Truth Social was taken down and Trump never made any more comments about court staff, but it appears no one took it down on the campaign website.


The original article contains 267 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 37%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] st3ph3n@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Shit or get off the pot.

[–] stormtrooper@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago
[–] thesprongler@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

This turd has been threatened with jail too much. Neither he nor his sycophants believe it. Call their bluff!

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Effectively, still no consequences.

[–] anewbeginning@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

If they truly took it out on truth social and not on the campaign website their claim of oversight might work, but repeats won’t go over so well.

[–] AnonTwo@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

So...it's an empty threat because he was already told not to do it.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Trump and his supporters think he's above the law. I hope they'll show that he's not.

I truly believe he'll never see the inside of a jail cell because the powers that run the country are terrified of what his nutcase acolytes will do.