GOP: Jail for Trump Could Guarantee Red Wave

(Jim Watson/Getty Images)

A jail sentence or home confinement for former President Donald Trump in his New York criminal trial would guarantee a red wave in November’s election, according to some Republicans.

Judge Juan Merchan will sentence Trump on July 11, four days before the start of the Republican National Committee convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The former president was convicted of falsifying business records.

Some Republicans warn a sentence preventing Trump from attending the convention would guarantee GOP victories in the general election.

“I think the Democrat Party better be very cautious because if the [past] sitting president of the United States can’t attend the convention in person, they are essentially electing Donald Trump as president,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told the Washington Examiner.

“I think it’ll fire up the Republican base to the point where it’ll be unstoppable. And I think independent folks, like I just said, are going to say, We don’t want this. This is not the United States of America that we want to live in. We want to be able to have free and open discourse between political parties without having to worry about being jailed.”

Merchan could impose a fine on Trump, and/or sentence the former president to probation, home confinement or up to four years in prison on each of the 34 counts for which he was found guilty.

“If that judge compounds the unfairness of the trial with a jail sentence or that otherwise restricts his freedom to campaign, righteous anger at the injustice will wash away Biden and the corrupt establishment in November,” said Richard Porter, a GOP national committeeman from Illinois, according to the Examiner.

House Republican Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, warned, “It would be a bad idea for the Democrats if they tried to manipulate it that way,” the outlet reported.

Preparations are being made at Trump’s Florida home or Mar-a-Lago and in Milwaukee should the former president either choose to make appearances from afar or be unable to attend, NBC News reported Thursday.

After the initial report, the RNC denied to NBC News it was preparing for the possibility Trump would not be able to attend the convention.