President-elect Donald Trump being sentenced Friday for a felony conviction and then walking out of court a free man stirred strong feelings from observers.
The “insane spectacle” perfectly sums up Trump’s popularity, his place in history, and America’s current distrust of its political and criminal justice systems, a historian following the case said.
“I think what’s happening today reflects a lot about the entire Trump era,” said Matthew Dallek, a professor of political management at George Washington University. “It’s both incredibly tawdry but it’s also a felony criminal conviction.”
“And the fact that he was able to survive being convicted on 34 felony counts and win the White House handily is, I think, a neat encapsulation of American politics circa 2025,” Dallek said, noting that it’s the first ever for a former or incoming U.S. president.
Indeed, the response of elected officials in both parties demonstrated that mistrust, with some of each saying the outcome demonstrated biases in the legal system.
“Americans,” Dallek added, “have grown increasingly ever more skeptical and cynical and disgusted with the political system and with institutions, and that includes the courts, the criminal justice system and politicians that brought Trump to this courthouse.”
Trump was convicted May 30 in Manhattan Criminal Court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. On Friday, Judge Juan Merchan sentenced him to an “unconditional discharge,” which means Trump will get no prison time or probation as he prepares to enter the White House for a second time on Jan. 20.
Others had equally strong reactions to Trump’s sentencing:
What did Trump himself – and the judge – say?
“This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump said, speaking remotely from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. when allowed to address the judge.
“It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election,” he said of the charges brought April 4, 2023 by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “I am totally innocent. I did nothing wrong.”
Judge Juan Merchan, who has overseen the case since the outset, had a different take, based on the charges, the evidence presented at trial and Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts by a Manhattan jury.
“It was the premeditated and continuous deception by the leader of the free world,” Merchan said.
Republicans rally to Trump’s defense
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said on X that Trump’s sentence was “a joke and a disgrace.”
“This witch hunt and ruling,” Blackburn added, “was an insult to the American people.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he supported Trump’s vow to appeal the case, saying it “was never about the facts” and “should have never been brought in the first place.”
“The judge grossly perverted the American legal system by manipulating existing law in a purely partisan effort to convert a bogus misdemeanor charge into a felony,” Johnson said on X. “Judge Merchan and the deranged prosecution have done untold damage to our justice system.”
Democrats say Trump deserved to be punished
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a former public defender, said Trump got off way too easy for the serious crimes of which he was convicted, while a 17-year-old boy she represented “was held on felony probation for taking some candy from his school’s concession stand.”
“There is a two-tiered system of justice in this country,” Crockett said on X, “and Donald Trump lives on the tier where he gets to walk into the White House without spending a single day in jail or being put on probation after being convicted of 34 felonies.”
Nikos Passas, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University and leading expert in corruption and white-collar crime, said Trump’s “unconditional discharge” raises questions about the impartiality of the judicial system.
“Such leniency, especially in a felony case, risks setting a precedent where political status influences legal outcomes, potentially eroding public trust in the justice system,” Passas said.
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