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Reacting to Judge Juan Merchan compelling Donald Trump to undergo a sentencing hearing next week related to his multiple hush money convictions, former RNC chair and current MSNBC host Michael Steele stated that the president-elect will never shed the stain of being known as a convicted criminal.

Acknowledging the president-elect will not be getting any jail time, as Merchan indicated in his Friday ruling, Steele said the judge's maneuvering left Trump with nowhere to go to clear his name and that is entirely appropriate.

As he explained to his MSNBC co-hosts, "But here is the beauty. That is why I keep saying those two words: 'still convicted.'"

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"When the jury says you are guilty, that is the seminal moment in any criminal case is when the jury of your peers say, 'You did it and you are guilty for it.' When the judge comes back and goes, ''Okay, they found you guilty, you are guilty. I've got a range of things I do to you,' and all the judge is saying, 'Okay, I will acknowledge the fact you are now coming in in a week's time as the new president of the United States ––you are still convicted. I may not fine you, I may not give you jail time, but you will not be able to erase what that jury did.


"By the judge saying what he is saying, that is an important piece," he added. "So everyone don't get tripping out about 'Oh, my god. He didn't give him any time, he's not making him pay.' He's still convicted. Two words, baby, that's all it takes."

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A panel discussion on MSNBC's "The Weekend" was disrupted with laughter on Saturday morning after co-host Symone Sanders Townsend read a post that Donald Trump had just put up on Truth Social moaning about how he has been treated.

In the midst of a discussion on a ruling from Judge Juan Merchan that Donald Trump will still have to sit for a sentencing hearing next week even though it has been implied he will see no jail time, Sanders Townsend pointed out the the president-elect was addressing it at the same time on his main social media platform in two rambling posts.

With Sanders Townsend reading from the Trump post, dryly telling her co-hosts, "The president-elect has thoughts on his social media site. –– he is not happy about this," she then did a dramatic reading of Trump claiming, "There has never been a President who was so evilly and illegally treated as I. Corrupt Democrat judges and prosecutors have gone against a political opponent of a President, ME, at levels of injustice never seen before."

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"In case it wasn't clear!" co-host Alicia Menendez laughed at Trump's mention of "me."

That led co-host Michael Steele to interject, "Me! I'm the president! Waaaaa, waaaaa."

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Disgraced and ousted former Long Island Rep. George Santos (R) had some crucial tips for former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) – but not for his political career or new hosting gig.

Instead, Santos – at Gaetz’s request – offered the former Florida congressman make-up advice and expressed concern for his appearance. The moment came Friday on a segment titled “Makeup-Gaetz” on his new One American News Network program, “The Matt Gaetz Show.”

Stacey Plaskett, a Democratic congresswoman from the Virgin Islands, is sent to Congress as a territorial representative — but she has no right to vote in the election for speaker of the House, a fact she stood up and reminded the nation of during the roll call to confirm Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Friday.

Speaking to MSNBC's Joy Reid on Friday evening, Plaskett more starkly laid out the crisis of disenfranchisement facing citizens of the U.S. territories.

A former senator thinks House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is headed for a coming storm.

Johnson held open the first vote as long as he could Friday for the speaker's chair so he could work out deals to get Republicans to support him after they initially refused to vote for him.

Judge Juan Merchan ruled against Donald Trump's motion to dismiss the guilty verdict in the New York fraud case in which Trump was found guilty on 34 counts. Trump must now return to court virtually or in person on Jan. 10.

The judge also took a moment to shame Trump's attorneys, saying, "There have, however, been instances when in written submissions, counsel has come dangerously close to crossing the line of zealous representation and professional advocacy one would respect from members of the bar and officers of the court and this Court has at times, made counsel aware of its observations and concerns. Now, counsel has resorted to language, indeed rhetoric, that has no place in legal filings."

A congresswoman from the Virgin Islands rose in the House during the speakership vote on Mike Johnson (R-LA) to protest the more than a century-long refusal of the House to give a vote on the floor to elected officials from U.S. territories.

"I note that the names of representatives from American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia were not called, representing, collectively, 4 million Americans," said Stacey Plaskett to broad applause from the Democratic side of the chamber. "Mr. Speaker, collectively, the largest per capita of veterans in this country."

Vice President Kamala Harris had the privilege of swearing in another new crop of U.S. Senators on Friday. But one person was having a rough day.

New Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) — who defeated far-right MAGA ally Kari Lake in November — brought his baby daughter and son Michael to the swearing-in ceremony. The boy told Harris, "I'm sorry you didn't win."

Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade appeared dumbfounded after falling for a joke by now-former U.S. Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), the once-powerful chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus who lost his seat in the GOP primary last year after Donald Trump supported his Republican opponent.

In the lead up to this afternoon's vote for Speaker of the House, where Mike Johnson has a razor-thin majority and his re-election is controversial among some in the GOP, Good posted a tweet jokingly declaring, "I will NOT be voting for Mike Johnson for Speaker todat [sic]."

Conservative Fox News personality Rachel Campos-Duffy on Friday referred to January 6 rioters as “political dissidents,” a term traditionally reserved for individuals persecuted for opposing authoritarian or oppressive governmental authority or policies. Renowned figures who have been described as political dissidents include Martin Luther King Jr., Alexei Navalny, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Nelson Mandela.

Campos-Duffy, a longtime Trump defender, is married to former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), a former lobbyist and Fox Business co-host, who is now President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to head the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Duffys met when they were both contestants on a reality TV show.