Desperate Dems Beg NY Mayor Hochul to Pardon Trump 

lev radin / shutterstock.com
lev radin / shutterstock.com

If Democrats had any illusions that last week’s stunning Trump conviction was going to be the last stop for the Trump train, the overwhelming display of support for the former president in the hours following the trial’s verdict quickly shattered them. Within 24 hours of the verdict, Trump’s website crashed under a $53 million surge in donations, bringing the final May tally to around $141 million. 

Biden had expected to take full advantage of the Trump conviction. The goal of the trials was to smear Trump enough that his support would falter, and Biden was quick to embrace the term “convicted felon” to hammer the point home. But when people think of a “convicted felon,” they hardly think of a businessman whose crime was mislabeling a payment for a perfectly legal non-disclosure agreement as a “legal expense.”  

After years of trying to snare the former President in poorly planned traps, the worst Democrats could produce was a washed-up porn star’s lurid tale, a disgraced pathological liar’s testimony, an unbelievably corrupt judge and prosecutor, and a record showing that money paid to a lawyer were “legal expenses.”  

This, then, is the victory Democrats had been seeking for six years. It was a hollow victory, with polls showing that the conviction has done little to nothing to stop Trump’s lead in polls ahead of the 2024 election. 

Some Dems quickly recognized that their “victory” was anything but a win, and they want a do-over. Hoping to dial back the damage the sham trial has done to Team Biden, the left is calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to pardon Trump. 

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) urged Hochul to pardon Trump, arguing that the guilty verdict will only strengthen Trump’s support among Republicans ahead of the 2024 election. Despite criticizing Trump for his past actions and labeling him a “convicted felon,” Phillips argued that pardoning Trump would benefit the country. After facing backlash, Phillips reiterated on Twitter that making Trump a martyr over a payment to a porn star is counterproductive, as it energizes Trump’s base and boosts his campaign. 

His concerns are well-founded. Just two days after the guilty verdict, Trump appeared at UFC 302, stepping into the arena as a crowd went wild for him. Critics quickly dismissed the event, finding fault with everyone present, from the fighters to the UFC president and the cheering “hypermasculine” crowd.  

Social media has exploded with support for the embattled Trump, with memes and posts filling pages and expressing the sentiment that they will “vote for a convicted felon” in November. Even TikTok, the home of Gen Z and a target for Biden’s campaign efforts, is overrun with support for Trump. Within hours of joining TikTok, Trump amassed millions of followers – more than Biden has after months of using the platform to garner support for his floundering campaign. 

The one video that Trump posted to the platform received over 3.1 million likes and nearly 60 million views. In contrast, with over 200 posts, the Biden campaign accumulated 4.5 million total likes. Biden’s first video garnered about 10 million views, with most subsequent videos receiving around 100,000 views each. 

Phillps is now attempting damage control, saying Hochul should offer Trump a pardon “for the good of the country.” Phillips argued that pardoning Trump is not “stupid,” but making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is. He noted that Trump has reported increased donations following his conviction, with the verdict energizing his supporters, generating significant campaign funds, and likely boosting his electoral prospects. 

However, Hochul is among the Democrats who refuse to acknowledge that they misjudged America’s reaction to a Trump conviction. After the guilty verdict was announced, she joined the media in celebrating that “justice was served” and proclaimed that “no one is above the law.” It’s unlikely that she will grant Trump a pardon. After all, Democrats worked too hard for the victory to cast it all aside. 

For Trump, the guilty verdict has provided an unbelievable campaign boost. For Democrats, after years of plots and schemes, it’s a shining example of how quickly a plan can go awry. While Hochul is unlikely to let the opportunity to call Trump a convicted felon pass, some Democrats see it as exactly what it is – a wake-up call to a sleepy nation that has seen the dark underbelly of the Democratic party and turned away in disgust.