What did Donald Trump do today?

He got a sentencing date for the crimes he has been convicted of in New York state.

Trump has been indicted for 88 separate criminal charges in four distinct cases. One case is in Georgia and whether Trump will be prosecuted alongside his co-conspirators. Two of them were federal cases that have been suspended, though not abandoned, by the special prosecutor in charge of them, Jack Smith. Trump has complained throughout that these cases—in fact, all allegations or complaints of any kind against him—are the work of a shadowy conspiracy of his political enemies.

In the fourth case, tried in New York state, Donald Trump was found guilty in May by a jury of his peers of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. 

That jury found that Trump had falsified business records in an attempt to conceal payments he made to Stormy Daniels, a porn actor he had sex with shortly after his wife Melania gave birth to his youngest son. This is a crime under New York State law, and a felony because it was in furtherance of other illegal acts. One of those illegal acts was tax fraud. Another was the violation of campaign finance laws, since the "hush money" was meant to keep voters from learning of Trump's affair, and that made the money involved subject to campaign disclosures. 

Today, the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, ruled that Trump would be sentenced for these crimes on January 10. Merchan indicated that he did not intend to order Trump to serve a jail sentence, which is typical for first offenders. 

Trump was also found guilty in a bench trial of criminal contempt for threatening witnesses against him and jurors, and paid a fine.

Trump cannot pardon himself for state crimes, as he is widely expected to do for his federal crimes.

Why does this matter?

• No matter how he justifies it, no matter who he blames, the incoming president of the United States is a convicted felon, and that is not a good thing.

• It's wrong to lie to voters even if you don't commit crimes in the process, but especially if you do.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He threatened to sic the CIA on Americans who oppose him.

Trump continued his rant today about what he claims are the results of "OPEN BORDERS," tying them to two acts of apparent terrorism committed by U.S.-born American citizens—one of whom was a fervent Trump supporter. He then suggested that such crimes happen because he is uniquely persecuted, drawing focus away from other kinds of law enforcement.

They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself. Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country. The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late.

Trump was indicted on 88 state and federal criminal charges by grand juries made up of American citizens, and convicted by a jury of Americans in the one trial that finished before the election. In most of those charges, even Trump doesn't dispute having done the things in question—only whether he had some special right to commit what would otherwise be crimes.

The Central Intelligence Agency's job is to protect the nation from foreign threats. It's not clear why Trump brought them up: he's had a rocky relationship with "the Company" in the past, in large part because the CIA documented his campaign's coordination with the hostile Putin regime in Russia. He even made a point of trying to humiliate the CIA during a visit to Langley on his very first full day in office in 2017.

But the CIA is not allowed to "get involved" in investigating Americans—nor is any federal agency supposed to be used for personal revenge. If Trump wanted a federal law enforcement agency to "get involved" in settling scores for him, it would probably be the FBI. He has forced the resignation of the current Director (who he appointed) in favor of Kash Patel, who has promised to "get involved" in just that way—although Trump has rarely had the success he wanted in politicizing government agencies.

Why does this matter?

• Turning your intelligence agencies into your secret police is what dictatorships do.

• Politicians who try to make Americans afraid of crime for political gain will not do the things that might prevent it.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He blamed a mass killing apparently committed by a native-born American on immigrants.

Early this morning, a man deliberately drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people celebrating the new year in New Orleans' Bourbon Street district. He then got into a shootout with police, wounding two officers. Ten people were killed and dozens more were injured.

Trump weighed in at 10:48 this morning with a post on his private social media network, saying it proved what he had been saying about immigrants being responsible for the worst crimes.

When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!

The suspect is an Army veteran who was born in the United States.

In reality, crime rates are lower than they have ever been in the United States, despite a minor uptick during Trump's presidency. (Trump himself, born in New York, is a convicted criminal.)

Immigrants, documented and undocumented alike, commit far fewer crimes than native-born Americans. That is true of both violent crimes, and crimes in general. 

Immigrants have the strongest incentive to avoid committing even minor crimes, since even a misdemeanor committed while on a valid visa is likely to lead to deportation in practice.

As of early afternoon on the east coast, Trump hasn't made any further statements. That means it's not clear whether Trump knew that the suspect wasn't an immigrant—a fact that had been widely reported at the time—and simply lied, or whether he assumed that a person with a Middle Eastern name must not be an American.

Why does this matter?

• If the only thing you care about when a crime happens is blaming it on immigrants, then you don't "fully support" law enforcement or anyone.

• Lying about imaginary threats to whip up political support is what dictators do.