‘MAGA can’t say Trump isn’t a convicted felon’: Trump’s official sentencing denounces MAGA denial

This feels a bit like the beginning of “No One Mourns the Wicked,” and what a wonderful way to begin a Friday. Gooood newsssss…

Donald Trump was officially sentenced on Friday, January 10, with an “unconditional discharge” for his ongoing hush money case. Essentially, what that means is that, under New York state law, it’s a sentence that is imposed “without imprisonment, fine or probation supervision.” Basically, it was the best way to convict him without jail time. So, unfortunately, it does mean we will still be seeing Trump take office once again.

However, a silver lining for this is that MAGA can no longer say that he isn’t technically a convicted felon. Tara Dublin puts it best on X (formerly Twitter) where she says, “Happy MAGA Can’t Say Trump Isn’t A Convicted Felon Anymore Day to all who celebrate.”

Now, I’m all for making this an official, recognized holiday. Something wonderful to celebrate every year for the next four years, perhaps. Time off of work and everything, maybe a parade or two.

The lack of jail time is not surprising, however. Falsifying business records (which is what Trump was convicted of) is only considered an “E” level felony in New York, so jail time was never really in the cards for him at any point. It does mean that he will be our first convicted felon President, though, which I’m sure is absolutely killing him right now. It’s not exactly what he wanted to be first at, but hey, do what you’re good at, right?

Another X user makes a good point in the replies, saying, “He was found guilty – at that moment he became a convicted felon. Sentencing has no bearing on his conviction. He was ALREADY a convicted felon.”

While that is true, of course, the MAGA community has been staunch in their defense that it was not official, so therefore it didn’t matter. It will be interesting to see how they will take this, or how they can find ways to twist it to fit their M.O. I’m sure they will, since they have supported Trump through everything else that he has done.

Unfortunately, this is only a minor setback for the MAGA crowd. There are ten days left until Trump’s inauguration. The fact that he will be going into it as a convicted felon doesn’t carry much else besides shame that he and his supporters surely don’t feel. And it is pretty much a given that Trump will not be treated the same as anybody else with a conviction on their record.

The decision serves to further highlight the disparities between race and class. The fact remains that he should never have been able to run for the 2024 election in the first place, even when his conviction was in abstract. Nobody else with that history would have ever been considered, much less actually elected. It’s a small victory, but knowing that Trump is convicted and will be heading into Inauguration Day with that hanging over his head is a bit delightful. We know how concerned he is with his reputation. Let’s just hope it doesn’t bear any further misfortune for our future.