CNN legal analyst Michael Moore says putting former US President behind bars could backfire big time.
A CNN analyst warned the network’s liberal viewers that while jailing Donald Trump may seem like a good idea in the short term, the stunt could ultimately backfire into a massive politicalvictory for the former president.
Discussing NY Judge Juan Merchan’s threats to jail Trump if he violates a gag order, CNN legal analyst Michael Moore commented that proceeding with the unprecedented act of jailing a US president could inadvertently hand Trump a “political gift.”
Putting himself in Merchan’s shoes, Moore posed hypothetical questions the judge may be weighing, asking, “How do I get Trump’s attention? How do I maintain the integrity and the respect of the court? How do I protect this process? How do I protect the trial? And at the same time, do I fall into the trap of giving Trump this big political gift of putting him in jail? Because the fact is he’d never be in jail in a place where any common person might serve any amount of time.”
Moore continued:
“I mean, he would be isolated, he would be put in a secure facility…He may never even see another inmate, it’s not like he’s going to have to shower in the shower room or use the toilet room with everybody else. That’s just not the way it would work. And so it would really be a gift, I think, for Trump. And that’s why he’s playing this card because he knows that the likelihood of him being incarcerated is slim to none, but the poor judge is sort of like the boy in the dike, he’s got his finger in the hole trying to stop the flood, but he can only do so much, the hole being Trump’s mouth.”
The sentiment that jailing Trump would increase his popularity appears to be gaining traction, as a plane flying over Manhattan Tuesday carried a banner reading, “WHEN U INDICT HIM YOU UNITE US. MAGA.”
Look what’s flying over NYC during the Trump Trial
A plane flying a banner that says “WHEN U INDICT HIM YOU UNITE US. MAGA.”#MAGA #Trump2024 pic.twitter.com/xak0ZqoM8A
— ShotGunBonnie (@ShotGun_Bonnie) May 7, 2024
Trump, meanwhile, has said he’d be willing to go to jail for violating an unconstitutional gag order.
“Frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day, but what’s happening here is a disgrace,” Trump told reporters as he left the Manhattan courthouse Monday.
