Three weeks ago Donald Trump was unanimously found guilty by a fair and impartial jury of his peers on all of 34 felony charges brought against him. It was a clean sweep for the prosecution, a bitter disappointment for the defense, and well deserved comeuppance for Trump, who is now the first ever former president to have become a felon.
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Ever since then, Trump and his mouthpieces in the MAGA media have floated a stream of preposterous excuses for why their Dear Leader was convicted. And it will surprise no one to learn that none of those excuses included the fact that the documentary evidence, and the testimony provided by his closest associates, was solidly against him. It was so solid that he didn't even testify on his own behalf. And he isn't doing any better in the court of public opinion...
SEE THIS: LOCK HIM UP: After Guilty Verdicts, Poll Finds that More Americans Say Trump Should Go To Prison
On Monday morning, the rabid pro-Trump propaganda outfit, Newsmax, took a break from adorations of Trump to focus on denunciations of his perceived enemies. That group now includes the citizens who served on the jury that convicted him. Newsmax host Greg Kelly launched a repulsive rant implying something nefarious was afoot because the the jurors had not granted any interviews with the press since the verdict. Kelly complained that...
"It’s been THREE WEEKS since that Jury 'convicted' Trump. Why aren’t they doing the TODAY SHOW? Where is the 60 Minute 'sit-down'?? And don't give me this 'they’re afraid of MAGA' nonsense. The Jurors who convicted GOTTI and Whitey Bulger gave interviews. WEIRD!"
WEIRD? Why so? What's weird about it? Is Kelly suggesting that there is some sort of cabal by the jurors to shun the media? And what does he think their motive would be for doing that? Are the Today Show and 60 Minutes in on it?
Let's make this simple for Kelly and the glassy-eyed Trump disciples who watch his program. The jurors are indeed afraid of disclosing their identities to the small but dangerous community of MAGA crackpots. Although Kelly dismisses that notion out of hand with a ludicrous analogy, the jurors have a great deal of justification for that fear. Felon 45 and his StormTrumpers have demonstrated repeatedly that they are capable of, and anxious for, violent retribution to avenge their messiah.
Kelly's claim that the Trump jurors would not be legitimately afraid to give interviews because the jurors who convicted mobster John Gotti had done so is a pretty poor excuse. First of all, a google search turned up no evidence that a Gotti juror ever spoke to the press. Perhaps it requires a more extensive search, but if it occurred, it shouldn't be that difficult to find. So it's a fair assumption that Kelly is lying.
What's more, whether or not a Gotti juror spoke to the press is entirely irrelevant in this case. Gotti would have gained nothing by murdering a juror or jurors after the verdict was already handed down. And he was not a populist politician with a legion of psychotically worshipful fanatics who would be hungry for revenge against private citizens who had no power over him or them. So what would be the point?
In addition to that, Gotti was convicted in 1992, 32 years ago. He never had mindless minions who could be triggered by his troubles to step out on their own to seek revenge. There wasn't an Internet facility for anti-social media that drove doxing and other forms of violence and harassment. Trump, on the other hand, has cultivated all of that. And the results have already produced tragedies, such as the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol that Trump incited.
In short, the Trump jurors actually have a lot more to fear now than the Gotti jurors did then. But Kelly couldn't care less. He is actively advocating for their identities to made public. Why? The only plausible reason would be so that they could be targeted for harassment or worse. Ironically, Kelly is the one who is acting as a de facto mob enforcer, who wants to crush the enemies of the crime boss he serves. And he's using his platform on Newsmax to achieve that horrific end.
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