VERDICT

Steve Gottlieb

May 30

This verdict is the first evidence in a long time of sanity in America, that a man can be found responsible who has his hands on a great degree of wealth and who has been using his power and his candidacy to tear America apart. Thank heavens.

Now I pray for the safety of the members of the jury and everyone involved in the trial. Trump's supporters have been willing to attack, intimidate, kidnap and shoot public officials, state governors, election workers and police officers to get their way. Their behavior and Trump's encouragement of their violent behavior is the central reason for my fear of and opposition to Mr. Trump. And of course his rhetoric is the reverse of reality - whatever "rigging" of elections took place was by his own party, not the Democrats, including blocking and excluding voters from the polls, gerrymandering to reduce their impact on the elections, terrifying election workers - there has been no end to his threat to democracy. And there is no end to his threat to Jews and other minorities. His efforts to claim support for Jews and Israel was cynical nonsense by a man who has encouraged supporters who proclaimed their antisemitism and shot at Jews, proclaimed their hatred of Muslims and attacked them, and libeled those trying to come to the US despite data which make clear that they are more law-abiding than the population born here, much more law-abiding than Trump's MAGA crowd, the insurrectionists he egged on and refused to stop when he saw what they were doing in real time.

Trump is the greatest threat to America in our life times.