OPINION | No, House Arrest Would Be Brutal Punishment for Trump
Isolated and essentially alone, life within the walls of Mar-a-Lago would be agony
Now that Donald Trump’s going down in infamy as the first president in US history to become a convicted felon, attention, of course, turns to what sentence he should receive.
Trump was convicted by a New York jury the 34 counts that the former president — and presumptive Republican nominee for president this year — masterminded a scheme to falsify business records to hide a payment to keep quiet a porn star who alleged an extramarital affair with Trump, just prior to Trump’s first election in 2016.
Judge Juan Merchan has set July 11 for Trump’s sentencing, and there’s been much discussion and debate over what would be an appropriate punishment.
That punishment could range from probation, up to and including four years in prison for each count.
No one seriously expects Trump to be sentenced to that maximum, which could equal more than 100 years in prison.
But there are countless Americans — myself included — who would appreciate the judge handing down something closer to the maximum: a term of at least a few years incarceration behind bars.
But that, too, seems remote.
Home confinement is, perhaps, a more-realistic alternative. Many folks feel that putting Trump under house arrest within the relative lavish surroundings of his Mar-a-Lago Florida home would be too good for the nation’s first convicted former president.
And, certainly, it wouldn’t be my first choice, either.
But, actually, I think that home confinement would prove devastating for Trump.
Think about what animates and fuels him and his happiness.
Trump needs to be the center of attention constantly, bathing in the adulation of his supporters.
He travels the country, holding rallies even when he wasn’t in the midst of an active campaign.
And he’s nearly synonymous with his ad nauseum posting on social media until all hours of the day and night.
Now imagine that Trump loses all that.
Imagine that Merchan orders a home confinement which limits Trump to his residence within Mar-a-Lago — or even Trump Tower in New York City.
No more rallies, no more adoring crowds.
No more rambling through the Mar-a-Lago buffet at dinner time. Not even the opportunity to tool around his golf course on those ridiculous carts.
Merchan could even limit — or even bar — Trump’s access to social media, depriving the old crook of his beloved tendency to vent his spleen whenever and wherever he pleases.
We know that Trump and his wife, Melania, live very separate lives. And of all of his children, only Eric came to support him in court.
Trump would be alone at last, essentially isolated with only his thoughts as any meaningful company.
Again, consider just how personally agonizing that would be for him.
Home confinement for Trump certainly would give new meaning to the phrase, “A gilded cage is still a cage.”
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