Media celebrates Trump becoming first convicted president
Listen To Story Above
Following Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case, establishment media outlets celebrated his status as the first president to become a convicted felon, despite Americans’ declining trust in mainstream media reporting, as indicated by recent Gallup polling reaching historic lows in 2024.
During the virtual sentencing from Mar-a-Lago, Trump faced no jail time or penalties, receiving an unconditional release from Judge Juan Merchan. “This has been a very terrible experience and a setback for the New York court system,” Trump stated to the judge. He further expressed his frustration, saying, “I got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. I just want to say I think it’s an embarrassment to New York.”
Amy Coney Barrett just sided with the Liberal minority in declining to halt Trump’s sentencing in New York.
Unforgivable. pic.twitter.com/h3WRbhT2rb
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 10, 2025
While legal experts anticipate the case will likely be overturned on appeal, which Trump promptly announced he would pursue, Republican supporters view the case as a politically motivated abuse of the justice system against their party’s frontrunner.
The establishment media’s response was swift and celebratory. NBC News correspondent Ken Dilanian emphasized, “Now you can call him a convicted felon,” while MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin highlighted on social media that Trump “will be the first president to enter office as a convicted felon.”
It's official: Trump is now a convicted felon.
He will be the first president to enter office as a convicted felon.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 10, 2025
Former Obama administration official Chuck Rosenberg, speaking as an MSNBC commentator, stated: “I think people should take away from this is the fact that Mr. Trump, after today, is a convicted felon — that the jury of his peers found him guilty unanimously and by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Politico’s legal reporter Kyle Cheney commented on Trump’s upcoming appeal, suggesting it represented an effort to “erase the ‘felon’ label, and he seems eager to begin that process.”
The Washington Post detailed the legal outcome, noting: “President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush-money case to unconditional discharge, in which a defendant is not fined, locked up or given probation. Trump was convicted in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a payment made to an adult-film actress during the 2016 presidential campaign. On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected a bid by Trump’s attorneys to stop the sentencing on the grounds that it would interfere with his transition to a second term as president after his November election victory. Friday’s sentencing formalized Trump’s status as the first president or president-elect who is a felon.”
