Guilty verdict arriveth. Here's what's next.
A sign-post guide on how to track the aftermath of the trial of the year.
Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in the New York City hush money trial instantaneously marks the most consequential presidential campaign story of the year thus far.
This is not to say it’ll upend the relatively stable Biden-V-Trump rematch numerically (more on that below). It is to note that his 34-count conviction is bound to harden into a prevailing 2024 narrative, even after it devours the month of coverage leading up to the first debate on the final Thursday in June and the sentencing proceeding in early July.
The actualization of the first convicted felon former and potential future president is historic and unprecedented both politically and legally, no matter how hard you may eye roll at the substance of the charges. And yet the sordid stain and how to address it will prove trickier for the Biden campaign, which can witness the piping jetfuel that now fills Trump’s livid adherents.
Today, a sober sign-post guide of what to remember going forward as you navigate the fallout from the trial of the year, separating what matters from cable news-charged overhype:
The appeal means a delay. The textbook strategy of the former president’s defense team in all four cases has been to delay trials in order to push them past November 5, 2024. It didn’t work in New York, but his attorney’s promised appeal will kick a final resolution to the porn star payout case well beyond November, leaving Trump ample space to impugn the judicial process and play martyr in hopes of regaining power and extinguishing the verdict as POTUS in 2025. This means his sentencing date on July 11 is less