I’m angrier than a Republican having to deal with moronic DemocRATs over all the waiting for the historic Donald Trump verdict. Having worked for attorneys in the past, I know how the trial process works, and I know that with as many counts there against American hero and 47th president of the United States, the verdict could happen at any moment, but likely won’t happen until Monday or perhaps Tuesday.
As Tom Petty would have said, the waiting is the hardest part, especially for Trump’s numerous supporters. Right now, as I publish this, Trump is in a small room in the courthouse, watching television and probably tweeting up a storm on X.
We’re all adults here and we know that this could go either way. Many media outlets are publishing articles that discuss what might happen if our hero and the best president I’ve known of in my lifetime is convicted. First of all, twelve jurors would immediately become traitors and pariahs. That much is certain.
Each count that he’s found guilty of would result in a maximum sentence of four years. If he’s convicted of all counts and if the judge bestows the maximum sentence, then Trump will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. Even if that happens, and when he’s elected again, he will be able to run the country from prison. He’ll still get Secret Service protection as well.
Perhaps one of the many challenges would be the most crucial: the nuclear football. That must be within the reach of the president at all times so that he could retaliate in seconds should Russia, China or North Korea do something stupid. But there’s a security risk associated with that.
For those of my readers outside of the United States, the nuclear football is basically a briefcase that carries binders and equipment that the president could use to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike and to communicate with the nation should one of the worst-case scenarios facing our country happen.
The information that’s in that highly classified briefcase includes, among other things, the various scenarios that the president would use to make a decision as to where our nuclear weapons point.
If you’re not an American, you may not know that, in addition to being the president, Trump will be the commander-in-chief of our entire military, which is why he has the authority to launch our nukes. And by the way, there is no red button. Not anymore, anyway.
In President Kennedy’s time, there was in fact a red button on his phone. If pressed, he would have immediately been connected with the War Room. Somewhere along the way, the red button disappeared and obsolete.
Once the president is authenticated, a series of events happens that come down to Air Force officers hiding in bunkers turn special keys at the exact same time. Once that happens, the nukes launch. The whole process would take about ten minutes, given the levels of authentication that must occur before the keys turn. Again, no red button.
If you seek to learn more, this video by The Infographics Show explains things quite nicely.
When Trump wins, and if he’s in prison (highly unlikely, in reality!), he’d still have to have the biscuit, which is a tiny card that a president carries with him at all times. That card includes codes that he would use to authenticate himself and the nuclear strike. Our country would still be in a position to retaliate since there’s pretty much a zero chance that we’d launch a first strike.
Anyway, to get us back to more current events, everyone is waiting to see what the jury decides. In theory, the verdict can come down at any moment, even within minutes of this article being published. However, as I stated, that verdict won’t be handed up until tomorrow at the absolute soonest. In reality, it won’t come down until Monday or perhaps Tuesday given how many counts that jury is tasked with considering.
So sit back, folks. There’s going to be a lot of waiting.