Liminal Jury

It will be difficult for Trump to get an impartial jury for his hush money criminal trial, as I think everyone has already formed an opinion about him.  Nobody is sitting on the fence about Trump, as most people either love him or hate him.  He has polarized and divided the US in half and most people are either with him or against him.  I think that everyone has already picked a side, because his face is everywhere, selling his $40 MAGA hats, various priced bobblehead dolls, $99 Trump NFT superhero trading cards, $59.99 Bibles, $399 sneakers, $99 “Victory47” cologne and his $39.99 Donald J. Trump 2024 $2 Bill, which he should be locked up for, because it is illegal to deface US currency.  Under 18 U.S.C. section 333 of the U.S. Criminal Code, “whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”  Trump just delivered a message for Republicans to take heed about his 2024 ongoing presidential campaign saying, “Endorse me now, or pay later.”  He is such a bully, but that is how he gets his base to fall in line.

Trump entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records.  It is not going to be easy to find 12 New Yorkers and six alternates to become members of this jury and once they are chosen, they will have to decide whether Donald J. Trump falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal, where money was paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.  This will be the first criminal trial ever of a former American president, and it will take place in a Manhattan criminal courthouse.  This is also the first of four criminal cases against him that will go to trial.  Nearly 200 potential jurors have been brought in and they were all given a set of screening questions.  All potential jurors will be asked whether they can serve and be fair and impartial having the ability to decide this case solely on the evidence they see and hear in this courtroom.  With the third day of jury selection underway, the prosecution and defense have used six peremptory strikes so far, which are used to remove a potential juror without providing a reason.  Five jurors were chosen so far, and both sides have four strikes left in this trial that is expected to last as long as eight weeks.  There are a lot of people living in New York City, so I imagine that they will be able to find enough jurors who are in between with their opinions of Trump, and maybe they are on the threshold or transitioning between their thoughts for or against him.  If I was a prospective juror, I would have to be excused, because I can tell that Trump is guilty just by looking at his face.

Written for Reena’s Xploration Challenge #327 where today she gave us the word liminal as a prompt.