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To the editor:
What effect will State Supreme Judge Juan M. Merchan’s gag order have on Donald J. Trump if Trump is treated like any other defendant in a criminal trial? It may mean he will be found in contempt of court and do some jail time. Trump’s true believers may consider jail time to be a badge of honor for America’s leading traitor.
Merchan’s order prohibits Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, and it also forbids him from commenting on prosecutors, court staff and their relatives. But the gag order does not prohibit him from verbally attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or even Merchan himself.
Does anyone believe that Donald Trump can sit through a five or six-week trial without losing control, or trying to sabotage the trial in any of the malicious ways he attacks any adversary?
If Trump is treated like any other defendant with regard to the gag order, it would lend a great deal of respect to our criminal courts. If Trump behaves himself in court, most of us will believe he is taking a very powerful sedative.
Michael J. Gorman
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