When an elderly relative is dying and the inevitable finally arrives, it still hurts a great deal. From the beginning, I had no faith in the legal process that has convicted Donald Trump in New York. Taking into account the prosecutor, the charges, the venue, the biased judicial oversight, and the sui generis nature of the proceedings, it was pretty obvious the fix was in from the beginning. But his conviction is a depressing spectacle all the same. It felt like we woke up in a different country on Friday.
Until the news arrived, I had not completely lost hope. After all, it was a jury trial. Juries have previously defied both public opinion and threats of riots to do the right thing by defendants. In recent years, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted, as was George Zimmerman. Because of the unanimity requirement, there was always a chance that one or more of the jurors might hold out and create a mistrial, at the very least.
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