Before summoning the jury on Monday, Justice Juan Merchan directly addressed the defendant, whom he called “Mr.” and not President Trump. In a measured and by-the-book tone that showed no hint of his exasperation, Merchan told Donald Trump that he had now found him in contempt of court on a 10th charge. Each carries a $1,000 fine, the most allowed by New York State law.
The judge then warned Trump that if he continued to violate his order, “this court will have to consider a jail sanction.”
Merchan told Trump that he was well aware that “you are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well” and that he understood that jailing Trump “would be disruptive to the proceedings.” The judge said he also worried about the court officers, corrections officers, Secret Service and other law enforcement personnel who would be involved in the incarceration of a former commander in chief.
“The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me,” Merchan said. “But at the end of the day, I have a job to do.” Trump’s offenses, he noted calmly, represented “a direct attack on the rule of law, and I cannot allow that to continue.”
As he spoke, the loud clacking of reporters’ fingers on their laptop keyboards sounded like the cicadas that will appear this summer.
But jail shouldn’t be the only penalty the judge considers. He has wide latitude in imposing sanctions, so why not consider alternative punishment if he reoffends? After all, Trump said last month that it would be his “great honor” to be jailed by this “crooked” judge.
He’s bluffing, of course. If he thinks the toilets are “disgusting” in the courthouse, wait till he sees what they’re like in the holding cell. And the bed, if you can call it that, is unlikely to be up to Mar-a-Lago standards. His hairdresser would not be allowed into the cell, which could prove inconvenient to Trump when he’s released and has his picture taken.
Even so, Trump should not be allowed to use his punishment to play the martyr. A more appropriate sanction would draw on Trump’s history of adopting highways and attaching a sign thanking himself for beautifying them.
If Trump again attacks witnesses or the jury, Merchan should assign him to pick up trash in parks on two or three Wednesdays, when court is not in session. (City judges have done this before to contempt offenders.) Parks could be more easily secured by the Secret Service than roads, and that would spare the agents uncomfortable nights outside his cell.
I imagine Trump would need a long trash stick because even after losing some weight, he’s still too heavy and out of shape to bend down. The orange man in the orange jumpsuit would need help picking up all of the cigarette butts, Styrofoam coffee cups and old newspapers with headlines about his disgrace.
