Of course Trump went for a judge decision rather than a jury. Makes perfect sense to me. You try to find a clean set of jurors who knows nothing about Trump and has zero bias. It's impossible. A jury trial would take ages just on selection. With a judge, there's more chance the decision will be from someone sympathetic to Trump. More chance too of a less severe penalty if/when he's found guilty. You bounce that decision over to a jury and shit can get rough real fast. Jury could decide he's guilty to the maximum count on all charges. He's only whining about lack of a jury trial because he has nothing left to whine about. The circumstances of his trial have been about as favorable to him as anyone could reasonably expect. Certainly more favorable than the average citizen who is hauled before the courts accused of a serious crime. He's had the best legal representation during his trial(s) and he had the best legal advice even before he was charged. He voluntarily chose to disregard advice of counsel, mislead his own attorneys and potentially place them in legally-compromising circumstances.BulletMagnet wrote: ↑Fri Oct 06, 2023 9:14 am Naturally, the GOP's own conference rules actually disqualify Trump from eligibility for the Speaker position, but of course we can ask the most recent couple of Supreme Court justices how much the American right gives a shit about any of that, not only when there's anything remotely resembling a "win" (or, failing that, an "own") to be had but when their only actual end goal is to endlessly bitch.
This entire situation is entirely of his own making. Every bit of it has gone down exactly as it had to, given the decisions Trump made. He was given numerous chances to just "drop it" and walk away with his dignity, property (his actual property, not the classified documents he falsely claimed were his) and authority fully intact. He could have handed over those documents at any time and very likely never been charged. He prejudiced his own case by his outlandish behavior, particularly on social media. While it was beneficial to his presidential election to make use of news media as free publicity, that tactic created a very strong association in the minds of most voters, either positive or negative. Which is another obstacle to him receiving a jury trial, and probably why he opted for a judge decision.
Trump's current predicament is nothing if not the accumulation of every decision he's made over the last decade-ish. Nobody did this to Trump but Trump. Even if there were a conspiracy against him, Donald J. Trump would have to be named the chief co-conspirator against himself for being so fucking dumb and self-destructive.
