A sad and glorious day as justice prevails in the New York court. 

There’s no question about it: The criminal conviction of Donald J. Trump was a very sad day for America.

There were no ifs, ands or buts about it. The jury had been unanimous in its verdict on all 34 counts. Certainly, there were plenty of Americans who felt jubilation at finally nailing down the Teflon Don for one of his crimes. And many stewed with frustration over Trump’s other crimes, which have not yet been scheduled for trial, wondering if this fraudulent records case is the only one that will ever make it to court before this year’s presidential election.

And of course, there were the insurrectionists and traitors—Utah’s Mike Lee and a bunch of prominent GOP legislators included—who railed like their mob boss against the Democrats, against the supposed weaponization of the justice system and against how such a hubbub could have been made over an insignificant affair with a porn star.

It's time for the GOP legislators’ reality-check: Stormy Daniels wasn’t what this case was about.

It wasn’t sad or wrong that one of Trump's many crimes had finally caught up with him and that a New York jury had labeled him a “felon.” What was sad was that Americans had ever allowed such a soulless reprobate, thief, liar and traitor to become its president. Perhaps even sadder was the understanding that it had not really been the American people who put Trump in the White House, but a political system that failed to value the individual vote.

Remember, Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 (and again in 2020). The antiquated and inappropriate Electoral College, something that could never have survived the test of a real democracy, had corrupted the voice of the people.

But whether you’re a misguided friend or foe, we’re now wondering how justice can be served—if our country can prove the most basic premise of law and order, that no one is above the laws of our republic. It’s an ominous question.

Incarcerating a former president isn’t so simple. The obvious problem of security and the need for Secret Service protection certainly creates a great hassle and expense. Despite the fact that he really is one of them, he’s not about to join the rest of the general prison population.

Trump is required to have protection whether he’s free or incarcerated, so it’s really just a “wash.” The reality is that it’s much easier to protect a man who’s incarcerated, so the security expense should be much less than if he were roaming the halls of Mar-a-Lago.

That said, Trump’s continuing deflection of blame and his inability to accept his own culpability show he’s incapable of remorse or shame, and his ongoing rants against the court, jury and accusers make him the perfect candidate for prison.

The reality is, Trump’s individual criminal counts can each carry a four-year sentence, and it is up to the Honorable Juan Merchan on whether to have him serve the time in prison or be confined under house arrest. Furthermore, it is up to the judge’s discretion to have Trump serve each four-year sentence consecutively or concurrently. Doing the math, it means that the ex-liar-in-chief could be sent to prison for 136 years. Poor Donald. Maybe he shouldn’t have been bad-mouthing, threatening and intimidating the judge, witnesses, prosecutors and jury before, during and after the trial, considering that his fate now rests solely with Judge Merchan.

Only days after a jury of his peers—selected by a fair system that allows challenges from both the prosecution and the defense—found him guilty of falsifying records for the purpose of influencing voters in the 2016 presidential election, our country has finally proven that the supposedly-great should, theoretically, be held accountable for their crimes.

And, as it should, there will still be a day of reckoning for each one of Trump’s criminal indictments. Some people think that the Stormy Daniels matter was insignificant and that it was a misdirection of New York’s justice system. That’s far from the truth.

Remember who DJT is and you’ll understand why Daniels and the falsification of Trump’s business records was not an “insignificant nothing.” It was the certification of exactly who he is. And the reality is that every one of us was Trump’s victim.

After all, when someone falsifies business records for the purpose of cheating on taxes—claiming a business-expense deduction on something that was strictly a personal matter—they are stealing. They’re not just cheating the IRS; every other American is forced to pay for this theft of public funds.

So, the Donald didn’t just defraud the IRS. He stole from you and me, which makes us no different than the thousands of other people he’s defrauded in his lifetime of slime-trails.

Even worse, he kept vital information from the American people, which could have had an influence on their presidential vote. This was no small thing. We were all cheated.

Donald Trump has always been a bad guy, but it’s frustrating and disheartening to hear the bullshit that continues to issue from the mouths of prominent Republicans—particularly the senators and representatives who have sworn an oath of allegiance to America and its Constitution. To sum it up, the Trump-allied part of the Republican Party has become the party of small, lawless people and big mouths. (Listen up, Mike Lee.)

In the end, Trump’s legislative and legal enablers are no better than he. He was guilty of fomenting an insurrection, and so are they. In a very real sense, every one of those MAGA-aligned Republicans was there at the Capitol on January 6, working with America’s enemies to bring down the pillars of our nation.

Sadly, Donald’s little piglets—all looking for an available nepotistic tit in another, heaven-forbid, Trump administration—have only their own, selfish interests at heart.

They have shamed themselves, their country, and their oath of office.

The author is a retired businessman, novelist, columnist and former Vietnam-era Army assistant public information officer. He resides in Riverton with his wife Carol and their adorable and ferocious dog “Poppy.”