Don Poorleone Wriggles Free Once More

 Today was supposed to be the day that Donald Trump finally faced some form of concrete reckoning. Sure, he's been convicted of fraud three times now. Sure, he's been found guilty of defamation twice and liable for sexual assault. Sure, he's lost the popular vote twice and the Electoral College once.  Sure, he's been impeached twice.

Still.

Today was the day the law was finally going to hit him where it hurt and he got a reprieve. He is not out of the woods, certainly, as he will likely still struggle to find a bond, but by halving the needed funds necessary to secure the bond, he might wriggle free. And while Trump and his partisans have claimed that he is being treated to a double standard, this is a double standard. Few people would likely be extended this sort of consideration, having already been convicted of fraud three times.

There is outrage rippling through the online left of center, because this was going to be the day. And now it's not. Trump has escaped from normally crippling defeats so many times before - hell, the Access Hollywood tape or denigrating a Gold Star family should have been the end of him - that he feels invincible. But of course, he's not. He is racking up a string of legal defeats that would destroy most people, but since Trump is nothing if not fueled by petty grievance, large grievances just keep him going.

The hush money trial will now start in April 15th. I would wager that Trump will be found guilty, because he's fucking guilty, but you never know. However, a guilty finding might not send him to jail. He might get a suspended sentence while his appeal plays out. He might only get fined.

The sickening fact is that rich people rarely do time for their crimes. It's not unique to Trump.

For millions of us, we waited for anything to suggest that a moment of reckoning was finally at hand, and it feels like we were cheated of it.

Trump still has to find the money though. I'm not sure he can.

UPDATE: Jesus wept, the Times decides to run a column comparing Trump to Al Capone in a favorable way.