Since it was announced in an April 2023 indictment, the case against Donald Trump has been characterized as many things: zombie, compelling, weak, complex, outrageous, wise, partisan and much, much more. Our coverage in Opinion has explored and dissected many of those assessments. And with the trial's verdict — in which Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a felony — our coverage dives into and reflects on the clashing narratives of meaning and ripples of implication for the future. After the verdict was announced, seven of our writers offered a mix of opinions — on the prosecution (they had "a compelling story to tell," wrote David French), on what Alvin Bragg did ("Bragg didn't defeat Trumpism. He revived it," said Matthew Continetti), on the intersection of law and politics ("The law doesn't necessarily care about public opinion," said Kristen Soltis Anderson). In a guest essay, Renato Mariotti, a former prosecutor, was withering in his view of the Trump legal team's strategy and wrote that "the defense lost a winnable case." Politically, it may not matter, Frank Bruni wrote. Trump was convicted on 34 counts, and "a normal mortal doesn't rise from that political grave." But in Trump's case, he said, "I could see him skipping out of the cemetery, all the way back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I could see 'guilty' being a mere bump in the road. I could even see it being an accelerant, as his indictment arguably was." Indeed, in an episode of "Matter of Opinion", Michelle Goldberg — who joined David French and Patrick Healy in a discussion of how Donald Trump's conviction might impact the outcome of the election — agreed with Bruni's sentiment: Most Trump supporters "will be able to rationalize voting for a felon," she argued. It may not matter politically, but the verdict, in the eyes of the Times editorial board, made one thing clear: "Donald Trump is unfit for office." Ultimately, American voters will make that determination. After Thursday's verdict, they have a highly unusual distinction to consider in a candidate for the presidency. Read our coverage of the verdict: Here's what we're focusing on today:
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Friday, May 31, 2024
Opinion Today: Trump was convicted. What’s next?
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