Absolutely No One Thinks Donald Trump Would Be Able To Obey a Gag Order

Would it shock you to find out that no one believes that Donald Trump, who is currently officially under arrest in New York as we all wait to find out exactly what he’s under indictment for, will be able to keep his trap shut about it once he’s inevitably released under bail? No, it most surely will not because that man has never shut up once in his life, and wouldn’t now, even if it most surely would be in his best interest. Everyone is predicting he will be under a gag order after today’s proceeding, and no one is expecting him to honor it. Per Insider:

“I think it’s not only a possibility, but it’s extremely likely that there will be a gag order in the case,” said [Duncan] Levin [a former federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice], known for representing clients including Harvey Weinstein and Anna Sorokin. “Gag orders are very common in criminal cases, particularly in cases where there is an enormous amount of pretrial publicity like this one.”

So, this is highly standard stuff for a highly nonstandard case because again, no former President has even been under indictment. Fun times! So what is Trump’s team doing to prepare for the inevitable? Well, apparently they’ve already added a First Amendment lawyer because that’s normal. Per Newsweek:

On Sunday, the Daily Mail reported that Trump’s legal team was preparing for a gag order, with a source telling the newspaper that they were “considering added a First Amendment lawyer to the effort to combat this and will fight it all the way.”

A gag order is issued by a court to restrict information being made public about the case it is overseeing, usually designed to prevent the release of information that might alter the outcome of the case or parties from commenting on the case. Under New York law, breaching such an order could be ruled contempt, which is punishable by a fine up to $1,000, 30 days in prison, or both at the court’s discretion.

This man at one point had the country’s nuclear launch codes and his impulse control is so poor that his legal team is preemptively gearing up for a First Amendment fight for a routine legal request because he simply cannot help himself. We truly lived through, and still are, in the worst timeline.

Naturally, the Trumpers among us are decrying the Democrats because this is all they have:

Do you want to know what Jenna Ellis has to say? No? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway:

If not wanting to hear Trump speak makes me sick, just diagnose me with a case of terminal leftism, baby, because if I never heard that man’s voice again it will simply be too soon.

So if there is a gag order (and there probably will be) what can Trump say? Per Insider:

If there’s a gag order, Levin said Trump will be “very limited” in what he’s able to say, even if there may be proxies who speak for him. The court has the ability to set the rules for his conduct while he’s most likely to be out on bail, pending proceedings.

“This is a criminal case now, so the rules have changed, and the rules are no longer in his purview to make,” Levin said. “He is a criminal defendant and, you know, we see hundreds of thousands of criminal defendants across the country every day who have a lot of rights stripped away from them and he is now one of them. These proceedings are going to change his life.”

So. No attacking his judge or prosecutor on Truth Social. How long do you think Mr. Great-Impulse-Control will last?

Look, you play stupid (felonious) games, you’re going to win stupid prizes. That’s all there is to it. Now whether this finally all has real consequences for Trump, I am hopeful. Honestly, there would be nothing more fitting than for the thing to actually land him in jail to be his own social media posts.

Until then, it will be funny to see how long he honors the gag order. I’m guessing it’s about as long as it takes him to get out of the courtroom.

(featured image: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)