Bill Maher thinks jail time for former President Donald Trump may not the best move.
In a panel discussion with other talking heads on Friday night, the Real Time With Bill Maher host shared his thoughts on what would happen if Trump were to receive jail time as part of his sentencing for the 34 counts he was convicted of on Thursday, concerning falsifying business records to bury his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.
“I’ve heard some people say if his name wasn’t Donald Trump, he would definitely get jail time,” Maher said, but the key question now is “Is he going to jail? Will this judge dare do that? And should he?”
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He added that the optics of the trial, which include a hispanic judge and a Black district attorney, could send Trump’s supporters into a violent frenzy if Trump were jailed. “MAGA nation will go nuts,” he said, leading to a “civil war” that would ultimately become a “race war,” he predicted.
“That’s the sad truth about this country. And if they put him in jail, the first thing his supporters are gonna say is, ‘Oh, that’s what it is.’ A Black district attorney. You know, all these people who are the district attorneys, they’re Black. The judge was not white. This is what it is.”
Whether or not that outcome should play a part in the judge’s sentence, Maher expressed his uncertainty, wondering aloud whether MAGA outrage should be “a reason to or not to do something,” but he also acknowledged that for him personally, “sending a former American president to jail, I don’t know if that’s something I’m asking.”
