I'd make the case that even if you thought he wasn't going to run again / would lose, it would be a bad idea to send him to prison on a less than black and white charge.
The clearest Constitutional line would have been impeachment, but the current Republican party cult nixed that one.
At some point, preserving widespread support (including Trump supporters) of elections and the judiciary is more important than not having a dumbass in office for 4 years.
To say nothing of the worst outcome if he had been sent to prison and won an election.
I mean, we had a lot of very black and white charges as of 2021 already. (We have many more now.)
But I would say that if your goal is preserving widespread support of elections and the judiciary from Trump supporters, that is a battle long since lost. Trump and his lackeys already believe any election that isn't a landslide for them was fraud, and has been actively attacking any judge who doesn't go along with his actions.
If we can't preserve widespread support for elections and the judiciary, we might as well put him in prison.
The clearest Constitutional line would have been impeachment, but the current Republican party cult nixed that one.
At some point, preserving widespread support (including Trump supporters) of elections and the judiciary is more important than not having a dumbass in office for 4 years.
To say nothing of the worst outcome if he had been sent to prison and won an election.