Trump indictment - what does this mean for the US?

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Sort of an obvious topic, I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned it in PP&R.

Let's accept the premise this could mean that Trump would actually be in Federal Prison 17 months from now when the next General Election takes place. Everything I see on the Web seems to point to Trump as the strong favorite for winning that election (although I think he could lose the popular vote quite badly, but what does that matter anyway?).

So he becomes President and pardons himself, walks out of prison basking in the adulation of his supporters, and then? What sort of country will the US be going forward?

Whatever you may think of Trump's policies, the fact is that the US has always prided itself on being the sort of place where that sort of thing doesn't happen. I mean people being put in prison then rehabilitated and going on to head the government. Admittedly Nelson Mandela spent many years in prison, but the government that put him there was internationally condemned for practicing the exact opposite of democracy or at best being a gross violator of human rights. Whereas the US has always advertised itself as a "beacon of democracy" and apparently a lot of people outside the US buy into this, at least from what I've been told by some immigrants.

To put it bluntly, will the US soon be seen as a "banana republic" by most of the world? And how will this impact American influence? Will Russia, China, or India for that matter, care what side of any given international conflict the US takes?

Trump has gotten away with so much already--if another White person had committed 10% of his crimes, or if a Black person had committed 1% of his crimes, then that person would now be locked away.

I'll believe he's going to prison when he actually goes to prison.

So far, I'm seeing this as just more free publicity for him. Donations to Trump just keep pouring in.

95% trump goes to jail, Biden wins, American democracy continues and there are a minority of fringe right wing lunatics that have mental breaks and can't accept reality and end up lashing out violently - possibly at a slightly higher rate for a while than others amongst the minority of fringe right wing lunatic domestic terrorists that have been attacking fellow Americans for decades.

5% trump goes to jail, wins the election, pardons himself.. and then perhaps there's a possibility that American democracy ceases to exist and those fringe loonies take pride in carrying out disgusting acts against various margninalized groups that trumplestiltskin has taken pleasure in trolling for decades.. non-whites, lgbt people, disabled people etc - same ol' nazi playbook list of people to other, dehumanize, criminalize, attack, shut out of society, jail or murder etc.

But I'd rate it at a 95% chance that the US justice system as well as democratic system of government prevail and in the long run there will simply be a bunch of bitter maga losers whining about how they lost just like their incestors lost the civil war and had to give up overtly enslaving black people and switch to working as police & in the private for profit prison system to carry on their disgusting ways. Hopefully most of them are shut out from procreation and their looney toons q-anon beliefs die off with them.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I hope it means the end of the GOP, the Dems moving further to the left, and the U.S. becoming a Swedish-style social democracy.

"So you think they've got Trump right where they want him, eh? Wait till you hear what this former federal prosecutor turned high-end defense attorney has to say"

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-i ... een-cannon

CNN Video - Expert explains what happens if Trump wins

What are the chances Trump or another MAGA wins in 2024? Too high for my comfort.

If he is convicted or acquitted there will be violence of some sort. For a conviction because most of the January 6 rioters have or will be prosecuted the number of incidences of revenge terrorism will be less than expected but those incidents will be catastrophic. A lot of ex-military types that know what they're doing.

If Trump skates at minimum a repeat of the summer of 2020. Most of those rioters not only did skate but were excused if not celebrated.

Cannon has already shown she’s trump above the law. She might actually pull some bs to get him off.

I doubt trump has the votes to get elected again. Not after all this crap. Even if every maga votes, even more people will vote against trump. They might not Want Biden, but they’ll re-elect him just to keep the USA going.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Hard to see many people who voted for Biden in 2020 turning around and saying “yeah actually having thought about it I now support Trump, that insurrection and endangering national security really endeared me to him”.

Always a chance of course but I think predictions of Trump being “heavily favoured” are well off-base.