Trump Lets Bruised Ego Overshadow Hush Money Victory (Because The Truth Still Stings)

President-elect Donald Trump is no stranger to controversy, or legal drama, for that matter. In one such scandal, for which he was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records to cover up hush money he paid Stormy Daniels, Trump seemed to get by fairly easily — though the president-elect's social media indicates he may not feel that way.

On January 10, 2025, Trump was sentenced to an unconditional release in light of his conviction, meaning he'll not be subjected to any jail time or other punishments. Rather, he'll return to the White House with the label of convicted felon added to his list of titles. However, Trump, who's defined by his ego-driven personality, apparently wasn't prepared to just let the situation go. In a typical Trump move, he instead decided to express his displeasure about the sentence to the public and went to social media to vent his thoughts.

Although President-elect Donald Trump came out of the hush money scandal mostly victorious — even though his drama with Stormy Daniels is far from over — he doesn't seem fully pleased with the results. Rather than soak in the victory and move on with his upcoming endeavors, the incoming president took to his Truth Social platform to deliver an impassioned rant about the situation. "The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt," he wrote. "After spending tens of millions of dollars, wasting over 6 years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the City and State, coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE."

While Trump might still be trying to convince others of his innocence on the matter, New York Supreme Court justice Juan Merchan noted that the influence of the president-elect himself was not the driving force behind the court's ruling. Rather, the extraordinary rights bestowed upon the office of the president were a determining factor. "It is the legal protections afforded to the office of the president of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant of the office," Merchan said, per CNN. Be that as it may, some could argue that Trump got let off easy. Thus, the president-elect's angry social post seems to be yet another display of his ego, and though no one would enjoy being labeled as a felon, one might say luck was on his side with his sentencing.