New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) is under pressure from elements in the Democrat Party to pardon former President Donald Trump after he was convicted last week in Manhattan.

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony charges last week and the fallout from the decision has been immense. Democrats, especially vulnerable ones in swing states, are feeling the heat as Americans angry with the partisan trial are preparing to come out in force for Trump and the GOP in November. 

Because Trump was found guilty of a state crime, he cannot pardon himself even if he is elected President in November. Only the Governor of New York can pardon Trump for his state felony conviction.

While radical Democrats and the White House celebrated the guilty verdict, more realistic figures on the left have rightly seen that this is a disaster in the making.

The nakedly partisan nature of the indictment and trial against Trump has awoken voters to the corruption of the justice system by Democrats. Essentially, Democrats have overplayed their hand and have to do something quick to avert disaster.

Trump attains martyr status

For years, Trump has preached that the deep state and the establishment that rules Washington D.C., whether Democrat or Republican, has been out to stop him by any means necessary.

Trump represents a systematic threat that threatens to undo the hard work of the elite by destroying the bureaucratic state and making Washington D.C. work for the American people again.

The Democrat Party has spent the past couple of years pursuing multiple criminal indictments against Trump ever since he left office and he is now the first former President to be convicted of a felony in American history.

All of this proves Trump's claims that the system has been manipulated and corrupted in order to stop Trump from returning to the White House. The Democrat Party knows that if the American people are allowed to consider Trump on his merits alone, he will win in a landslide.

But convicting Trump in a partisan trial has also had the effect of driving Independents and moderates who were critical of Trump's past behavior straight to Trump's camp.

Immediately after Trump's conviction, his campaign reported record fundraising and many of those donations were coming from first-time supporters. For the Democrats who weren't blinded by the momentary victory, the panic set in quickly.

Calls for a pardon

Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN), one of the Democrat Party's more moderate members, blasted Trump in a post to X but made it clear that Hochul must pardon him.

Phillips claimed, "Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim. @GovKathyHochul should pardon him for the good of the country."

Translation, Phillips knows that this conviction, no matter how much liberals believe in it, will get Democrats killed in November and give Trump a ticket straight to his second term.

Convicting Trump of a petty crime and revealing the corruption of the justice system isn't worth it if it gives Trump momentum and propels him into the White House. The only question is if Hochul would be willing to fall on the sword for the good of Democrats.