The internet erupted after a New York City jury found former President Trump guilty in his hush money trial on Thursday.
Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, which concluded a six-week trial at the Manhattan court.
The verdict also made Trump the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, although it would not prevent him from running for president. Trump will appeal the decision, but an appellate court could take months or even years to render a decision.
In the meantime, liberals cheered the verdict on social media.
TRUMP GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN NEW YORK CRIMINAL TRIAL
"The Republican candidate for President is a convicted felon," author Stephen King noted.
Vox correspondent Eric Levitz joked, "If they can do this to Donald Trump, they can do it to *any* American who tries to falsify business records so as to conceal the hush money payments they made to their pornstar ex-mistresses during their presidential campaigns."
"Thank you Alvin Bragg for not being Merrick Garland," former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan said.
MediasTouch News editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski declared, "Henceforth known in all future mentions as ….Convicted Felon Donald Trump."
"I'm thinking about the final words of the Pledge of Allegiance: ‘With liberty and justice for all,’" former CNN anchor Brian Stelter remarked.
MSNBC contributor Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote, "This is democracy in action. More soon."
"Jury finds Trump guilty on all 34 counts. Justice is served," MSNBC legal analyst Barb McQuade agreed.
"I am picturing the opening scene from Superman, where the council pronounces Zod and his cronies ‘GUILTY’ one by one and sentence them to the flying mirror thing," ABC legal correspondent Asha Rangappa joked.
However, there were also several online users who attacked the decision as either unfair to Trump or an abuse of the justice system with damaging consequences.
TRUMP VOWS TO 'FIGHT TO THE END,' PROMISING 'THIS IS LONG FROM OVER' AFTER GUILTY VERDICT
"And people say pro wrestling is fixed," former WWE wrestler and Tennessee mayor Glenn Jacobs said.
Actor Michael Rapaport argued, "I’m predicting that Trump will win the election 2024 & just bet money on it."
"They set Trump sentencing for July 11th, four days before the Republican National Convention begins. It’s all so transparently dirty," Outkick founder Clay Travis recounted.
"A travesty and abuse of the legal system that should embarrass everyone who fashioned and supported it," National Review editor Rich Lowry declared.
Babylon Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann joked, "Banana republics have politely requested that people stop unfairly comparing them to the United States of America."
"We all know what Jeffrey Toobin is doing right now," Weekly Standard editor Adam Rubenstein quipped.
"Trump could win in a landslide. This case could be reversed on appeal. But the bell can never be unrung. We're living in a different country now than the one we woke up in this morning," RealClearInvestigations editor-at-large Benjamin Weingarten warned.
National Journalism Center program director T. Becket Adams wrote, "More seriously, this is risky stuff. If you're going to convict a former POTUS/nominee, you better get him dead to rights on an obvsly serious crime. Cracking the seal w/ something so abstruse and insisting it happens during an election year is gonna have long-term consequences."
He continued, "Argue all you want over whether verdict is fair. I'm just telling you what will realistically happen. It's going to push the temperature way, way up. ‘But the rule of law…!’ Yes! Which is why they should’ve filed *before* the election year! Maintain propriety. Now? Whew, lad."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Sentencing for the former president will be July 11 at 10:00 a.m--just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. The convention is July 15- 18 in Milwaukee.
