Thread by @PalmerReport

The doomsday pundits love to insist that famous people never go to prison. But Trump pal Joe Exotic has lost his appeal and will serve a 21 year sentence. When famous people avoid prison it's by never getting indicted to begin with. Donald Trump is being indicted in two states.

How do wealthy and powerful people keep themselves from getting indicted?

1) They're so popular, no prosecutor wants to touch them

2) Unethical campaign donation to the district attorney – but this only works if the public does't know or care that the investigation even exists

But the Trump indictment process is out in the open and everyone is watching, so no opportunity to quietly pay off the DA and make it go away. And in places like New York and Atlanta where Trump is despised, prosecutors would be seen as heroes for indicting him.

"But Trump is wealthy and the Tiger King is not, so it's not the same!"

Joe Exotic's net worth is reportedly $10-15 million. Given Trump's upside down finances, that's probably a higher net worth than Trump has.

But again, you can't buy off prosecutors in broad daylight.

While our corrupt system has numerous unofficial safeguards in place to keep the wealthy and powerful out of prison, Trump has already blown way past all of those safeguards. He's in the situation no public figure wants to be in: on the verge of indictment with everyone watching.

When you look at what happens to the wealthy and powerful when they do occasionally find themselves in the situation Trump is in, the result is that they usually end up convicted and sent to prison. Jack Abramoff. Leona Helmsley. On and on.

OJ Simpson is the exception to every rule. But prosecutors screwed up that case in their haste – which is why prosecutors targeting Trump are taking their time to get it right.

Also, everyone loved OJ at the time and wanted to believe he didn't do it. Most people hate Trump.