Hush money takeaways. The jury was not taken for fools, nor should we

There is nothing more populist than democracy, a government which is ruled by the people, of the people, and for the people. It is rule by ordinary people, based on the rule of law. What Trump is asking us to do is to ignore that rule and make it the rule of, by, and for him.  The rule of law, of the people, for the people does not mean the rule of Trump's party, the law as he says it is, and the methods of enforcement that are to be ignored if they are not in his favor. Democracy's survival, of, by, and for the people, depends on respecting and abiding by the rule of law. On May 30, 2024, the rule of law and ordinary people won when he was found guilty of a crime by a jury of his peers in the hush money trial. The greatest lesson voters can take away from this is the threat of violence seen as his reaction to the verdict and a long record of inciting and advocating violence. Law and order do not apply to him. Part of that message is his self-serving pursuit with "his Supreme Court" for immunity from prosecution of crimes past and future while in office, including any violence he orders or incites others to commit on his behalf. 

His peers do not mean only those sworn to be loyal to him, but the only rigging acceptable to him is that only his loyalists sit on juries.,   His fellow New Yorkers were his peers, and they understood better than anyone else of people similar to him or who had a lifetime of tabloid Trump.  If New Yorkers have an attitude, they will not be taken as fools. (Members of my family and I have lived there; I speak from authority). It seems MAGA in response to the verdict, lost track of what Trump was found guilty of: Trump, the owner of the National Enquirer, and Cohen as the cut-out, go-between, and detail operative, conspired to fool voters that Trump was more than just p grabbing and locker-talking and then covering it up by cooking the books. ..damning last-minute news that might have cost him the election if it got out.. He set out to fool the voters, and he did . Voters were the victims, not Trump, of the crimes he committed. Trump continues to do so to this day. Trump's Repeated Claims on His New York Hush Money Trial - FactCheck.org

Ordinary people won this battle May 30, but the war is not won if more than half of the country buys what Trump sells. Here is what he selling you. The rule of law does not work for him, so throw out the system and let him substitute his.  Let me put it in sports terms if political science theory is not your thing.  He wants you to play a football game without officials, and after the brawl, the injured are carted off,  and his team still loses. So he moves to destroy the National Football League and put in place his like-minded with rules that guarantee he wins next time.  Failing that, he instigates riots by soccer hooligans. 

 Putting it in contemporary examples of the kind of rule of law in dictatorships, look at how sham "justice" works in the Russian trials of our/ basketball star, Brittany Griner, and the now dead opposition leader Navalny, a country and leader Trump so admires, or why so many from Venezuela fled to Miami and from the everlasting communist regime in Cuba.  The form of the rule of law is on paper in these countries, but the rest is how it really works regardless of the ideology, fascist, communist, or just craven lust for power led by a "strong leader."  In Central America, it is the rule of drug gangs or complicit tyrants. Once in power and in control of the levers of government, they are there forever.  Without the rule of law and the stability it creates, private enterprise and the economy cannot thrive, even if it is permitted. Instead, the enterprise that wins is the one who pays the most for protection/or campaign contributions or simply says "yes boss" even when the order that comes from above is stupid or harmful.      Trump only needs to be a dictator for day one to begin the process, using Project 2025,  turning the entire executive branch and the justice department into his instrument of power.  Note: in any of those countries Trump so admires, they at least do not have an immigration problem because no one is lined up at their borders; instead, the world seems to be trying to get into America.  Think about that and ask yourself why, MAGA.

So get a bit of New York attitude and don't be taken for a fool:

• He talks about a small government and states rights, but he plans to have everyone in the federal government pledge loyalty to him in action and in judgment calls. He would nationalize governmental power into a unitary federal system with no checks and balances, punishing states and politicians who choose other directions.
• When he talks about fair elections, it only is fair when he and those loyal to him win. Ordinary people do not count or get counted unless they vote for him.  Fair elections to him are only those whose voting systems and governance he or his loyalists control.  Ordinary people should not run elections unless they are loyal to him first.  Take a page from Russia: whether the communists or Putin are in control, 20% of the voters can vote no. Otherwise, for some reason, 80% always approve and vote for them. That shows they are a democracy, right? Go figure, ordinary people.
•  Abiding by laws, he acts like the dictator he would like to be. However, laws do not apply to him; they only apply to ordinary people. He has the right to disrespect, challenge, or ignore laws  and courts that refrain him, but ordinary people do not.
• No matter how ordinary people vote, he calls it stolen by fraud if he loses any election. If a court rules against him, the judge, the prosecutors, and even the jury are all corrupt...and he never presents evidence of it. He just demands ordinary people take his word for it as a test of loyalty to him. It is his excuse for past losses and an alibi for future losses. 
•  The judicial and political system is corrupt. Trump orates (when they oppose him), so the whole system is corrupt, so Trump says he does not need to abide by it. Heads up, ordinary people. The most corrupt governmental systems on this planet are authttps://www.newsweek.com/allen-weisselberg-may-helping-donald-trump-prison-1905935ocracies and dictatorships, which cater to their funders and oligarchs and throw enough crumbs at ordinary citizens to keep them quiet. 
• He seeks immunity from prosecution for criminal acts he has committed or plans to commit while in office. Ordinary people do not get that privilege. As we know now, too, even his loyal underlings do not get immunity.  Michael Cohen spent 3 years in prison for lies he made on behalf of Trump and was found guilty for the same charges that just snared Trump himself because both Trump and he caused the scheme to happen,. Trump's other loyalist, Allen Weisselberg, Trump organization exec,  is sitting in Rikers now, taking more than one for that gipper. https://www.newsweek.com/allen-weisselberg-may-helping-donald-trump-prison-1905935   Trump's trial attorneys themselves did not call him as a witness, nor did the prosecution, even when the judge asked them about it.
•  To ensure his control and amassing of power to become an effective dictator, he threatens political violence and a presidency devoted to taking revenge on his past opponents and disciplining any not loyal to him.
•  He talks about democracy, but it is not for ordinary people but only those loyal to him. Otherwise, in any authoritarian government or dictatorship of any degree, ordinary people just need to shut up and keep their heads down whether they like what is happening or not. The   authorities will tell you what is permitted to say