The jury might still be deliberating, but Donald Trump’s media allies have already delivered a verdict to their audiences.
Throughout the duration of the Manhattan hush-money trial, Fox News and the rest of MAGA Media have set the stage to absolve Trump in the historic case. Day after day, week after week, popular personalities such as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Steve Bannon have lampooned the judicial system, portraying Trump as an innocent victim of political persecution.
Inside this alternate media universe, the actual facts of the case never penetrate the bubble that shields its audiences from detrimental developments for Trump. Instead, alternate dishonest storylines are disseminated as the gospel truth.
Not only is Trump entirely innocent of any and allwrongdoing in the MAGA Media world, but President Joe Biden is guilty of nefariously weaponizing government to wage “lawfare” on his political opponent. Audiences are told that Biden cannot win a fair fight with Trump, so he has resorted to illegal “election interference” by rigging the judicial system against Trump.
So this was from a live-stream last night: https://www.youtube.com/live/Wr9HHQYyKeg?si=PtXqucMtls3BJR8C&t=1920
It seems like the jury is taking the process at least fairly seriously, and that the “We the jury” line, makes a clear statement that they themselves see themselves as “on the same team”.
If guilty, whats your over-under on # of counts? I think if I’m the defense, this gives me extreme pause. I think Trumps out was getting at least one renegade juror who intended to hang the whole thing. The note implies to me that this isn’t the case.