Trump faces daily punishment by being forced to sit in 'years of grime' at crumbling court

Former President Donald Trump faces daily punishment at the hands of the New York City justice system in the form of being stuck in a crumbling courthouse with grimy bathrooms, uncomfortable seats and shoddy heating, one opinion writer argued Friday.

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank argued — regardless of the verdict — the former president charged with falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid ahead of the 2016 presidential election has already been sentenced to hard time ... in a hard seat.

"Mar-a-Lago it isn’t," Milbank writes. "This place, built on the site of a 19th-century prison and gallows complex called 'the Tombs,' may be as close as Trump gets to prison — and it’s a reasonable facsimile."

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Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges levied against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and complained bitterly that the trial, which he is required by law to attend daily, has kept him from the campaign trail — even though he spent a recent free day from court hosting trading card fans at his Florida social club.

Milbank contends there is much to complain about in the downtown Manhattan courthouse at 100 Center St., where the Washington Post writer arrived Thursday wishing he'd thought to bring an orthopedic doughnut to sit on.

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"Posters warning of asbestos abatement hang in the lobby," he writes. "The bathrooms have malfunctioning taps, missing toilet paper holders and what looks like years of grime on the floor."

Milbank is not much taken with the infrastructure either.

"The elevators groan and creak; on the 15th floor, where the Trump trial is held, two of us had to manually push an elevator’s doors closed to get the carriage moving down to the lobby," he writes.

"Dozens of police guards bark orders (“We’re locking it down!”) and impose byzantine rules: No eating in the rooms, and no loitering in the halls unless you are eating."

But, despite the discomforts, Milbank ultimately argues Trump will be sorry when his time in Manhattan criminal court comes to a close.

"For a candidate who moans nonstop about a 'rigged' justice system, it looks more as though the deck is stacked in his favor," Milbank concludes. "Yet Trump may be sorry when his time in court comes to an end in a couple of weeks. He will no longer be able to claim that his obligations in court keep him from the campaign trail (he tends to play golf on his days away from the trial anyway), and he won’t be able to complain about how he’s being persecuted by prosecutors and judges."

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