the guilt trip description

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The Guilt Trip

As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom's house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride. As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom's house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride. As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom's house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride.

• Anne Fletcher
• Dan Fogelman
• Jason Conzelman
• Barbra Streisand
• Julene Renee
• 131 User reviews
• 147 Critic reviews
• 50 Metascore
• 1 nomination

• Joyce Brewster

• Andrew Brewster

• K-Mart Receptionist
• (as Julene Renee-Preciado)

• K-Mart Executive

• Mature Singles Man
• Mature Singles Woman

• Young Joyce
• Toddler Andy
• Budget Car Renter

• Middlesex Voice Over
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The Paramount Pictures marketing department were so certain that Barbra Streisand would gain a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, that not only did they put out an ad congratulating her victory, but posted it online moments before the nominations were announced, only to be swiftly pulled when Streisand ended up without the nod.
• Goofs On the way to see her old boy friend, Joyce uses Ben's name, not Andy's, when she is talking about not having seen him in thirty years.

Joyce Brewster : I wasn't meant to be with Andy Margolis. You see? I was meant to meet him, but I was meant to marry your father. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have had you. Don't you see, Andy? It was always you. You're the love of my life, baby. It will always be you.

• Crazy credits During the credits, more is shown of Andy and his mother dealing with each other during the long drive, that is, several of Rogen and Streisand's comic improvisations. The 'mini-screen' moves a few times to make room for the credits.
• Connections Featured in Maltin on Movies: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
• Soundtracks Howlin' For You Written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick J. Carney (as Patrick Carney) Performed by The Black Keys Courtesy of Nonesuch Records By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 131

• Dec 21, 2012
• How long is The Guilt Trip? Powered by Alexa
• December 19, 2012 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• My Mother's Curse
• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA
• Paramount Pictures
• Skydance Media
• Michaels Goldwyn
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $40,000,000 (estimated)
• $37,134,215
• Dec 23, 2012
• $41,863,726

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 35 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Guilt Trip

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Rent The Guilt Trip on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand have enough chemistry to drive a solidly assembled comedy; unfortunately, The Guilt Trip has a lemon of a script and is perilously low on comedic fuel.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Anne Fletcher

Barbra Streisand

Joyce Brewster

Andy Brewster

Brett Cullen

Colin Hanks

Andrew Margolis Jr.

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Best movies to stream at home, movie news & guides, this movie is featured in the following articles., critics reviews.

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The Guilt Trip – review

W hat's the word for a mom-son relationship comedy? An Oedmance? A Freudcom? Well, there's a strange lack of laughs with this one, an all-round shortfall in charm. From the outset, the movie attempts to stake a clumsy and unearned claim on our willingness both to laugh and to shed an indulgent tear. Seth Rogen plays Andy, a single guy who is forever being hassled by his overfond widowed mom, played by Barbra Streisand . Their sub-Woody Allenish relationship is bland and unfunny; the Jewish stereotype is coyly hinted at but never made explicit. Andy is an entrepreneur who has invented a new form of eco-conscious cleaning fluid, and now has to go on the road trying to sell it to various companies. But here is where the very premise of the movie – enshrined in the title – fails to stack up. The idea is that he is "guilt-tripped" into letting his feisty mom come along for the ride. Yet however domineering, she never seems pathetic or lonely or even all that interested in coming along (that sad part of her character naturally has to be delayed until later in the story), so his decision to invite her is basically unconvincing. What we're left with is a bafflingly dull road movie. Maybe Alexander Payne could have done something with this.

• Barbra Streisand
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It was like I was seeing a ghost.

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No shenanigans under my watch.

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We are two badass queens like those bitches who raised Wonder Woman.

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I need your help to find the ones who did this. I’ve got nothing to lose.

I could hear the whole tune in my head. It was all there.

“Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen are the perfect comedy duo"* as they embark on one mother of a road trip! The plan for a quick stop at Mom’s takes a sudden turn when an impulse compels Andy (Seth Rogen) to invite his mother, Joyce (Barbra Streisand), on an 8-day, 3,000 mile, journey across the country. But the farther they go, the closer they get and Andy may realize that they have more in common than he ever imagined.   *Jake Hamilton, FOX-TV

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Film / The Guilt Trip

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The Guilt Trip is a 2012 American road comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen , who both also served as executive producers on the film.

Andy Brewster (Rogen), a UCLA-graduate organic chemist and inventor, visits his mother Joyce (Streisand) in New Jersey before leaving on a cross-country trip to Las Vegas. After his mother reveals that he was named after a boy she fell in love with in Florida named Andrew Margolis, and after a little research he discovers that there's an Andrew Margolis living in San Francisco, he invites his unknowing mother on the trip, claiming he wants to spend some time with her. The road trip quickly becomes hard for Andy as his mother continues to intervene in his life, but over time, Andy and Joyce begin to genuinely enjoy each other's company.

This film features examples of:

• All for Nothing : At least in regards of the search for Andrew Margolis, it turns out that the Andrew Margolis Andy's mother was talking about died five years before, and the "Andrew Margolis" Andy had found was actually his son, Andrew Margolis Jr.
• Bittersweet Ending : On one hand, Andrew Margolis was dead all along, so Joyce will not be able to clear the air with him. On the other hand, Joyce is assured that he thought about her in some way after being told he named his daughter Joyce; Andy is able to successfully pitch his product with Joyce's help; and Joyce and Andy's relationship grows much closer than they had been; plus Joyce arranges a date with Ben McGraw, the man she met during the trip.
• Dead All Along : It turns out that Andrew Margolis, Joyce's old flame, died five years ago, the "Andrew Margolis" Andy found living in San Francisco actually being his son, Andrew Margolis Jr.
• Road Trip Plot : The films is about a man and his mother having to go through a cross-country road trip. Hilarity Ensues .
• Signs of Disrepair : Andy and Joyce are forced to make a stop after bad weather makes the roads bad to see. They come upon "Capital City TOPLESS Restaurant" but the "LE" is burned out and the sign reads "TOP__SS" which Joyce mistakes for "tacos".
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Spoiler Discussion and Plot Summary for the Guilt Trip

Have you read The Guilt Trip and need a run-down of the plot? Want to talk about spoilers? Need The Guilt Trip ending explained? Check out my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones .

Here’s the plan for my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip.

First I’ll do a quick run-down of the characters (as they all have a bunch of connections) and the plot. After that let’s talk spoilers and about that ending!

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I might receive a small percentage of any qualifying purchase. I appreciate your support.

Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip: Main characters

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones. Published on August 3, 2021 by Minotaur Books.

Rachel: in her early 40s, she’s been married to Jack since her 20s and they are the parents of a college-aged son. Rachel and her college friend Noah had been planning a gap year trip after graduation, but Rachel bailed on him since she’d just met Jack. Soon after that, she got pregnant, married Jack, and postponed her dreams of being a teacher

Jack: Rachel’s husband and Will’s brother. He works at a record company.

Paige: Rachel’s best friend. Married to Noah, a friend of Rachel’s from college. A lawyer (barrister?)

Noah: Rachel’s close friend since college.

Will: Jack’s younger brother. Plays golf with Noah. Runs a water sports company.

Ali: Will’s fiance. Used to work with Jack but changed jobs.

Plot Summary for The Guilt Trip

Rachel and her husband Jack are headed to the destination wedding of Jack’s younger brother to Ali, a woman Jack used to work with.  Their friends Paige and Noah are invited as well. The six of them are staying at a beautiful beachfront villa in Portugal.

Rachel notices that Ali seems to be annoying Jack recently, and Jack tells Noah, Paige and Rachel that he doesn’t trust Ali. He thinks Ali cheated on Will with a guy at work. Rachel thinks that Jack should have told his brother, but he disagrees.

DAY TWO: 

Paige, Will, Rachel and Noah go to the supermarket. On that trip, Paige mentions that she was hesitant to marry Noah because she thought he might be in love with Rachel. 

When they get back from the store, Rachel is convinced that Ali has been with Jack in their room. She finds a rhinestone on their floor that she is sure fell off Ali’s dress.

The men go surfing. As Rachel watches Noah surf, she remembers that she and Noah slept together the night before Noah left for the gap year trip they’d planned. Rachel decided to stay behind with Jack, who she’d just met.

The guys get caught in a big wave and Noah has to be dragged out of the water.

Paige confesses to Rachel that her marriage to Noah has been a little lackluster lately. She asks Rachel what she’d do if she found out Jack was cheating on her, and Rachel says she could not forgive him.

Paige asks Rachel if she think Ali is flirting with Jack.

As they are getting ready for the rehearsal dinner, Jack tells Rachel that her reaction to Noah’s accident got him suspicious about Rachel’s feeling for Noah.

Jack suggests that Noah is still in love with Rachel. Noah suggests that Jack had something to do with his accident. 

At the rehearsal dinner, Noah and Rachel are talking to a guest who asks to see a photo of Rachel’s son. When Rachel shows her, the woman says Rachel and Jack’s son Josh looks just like Noah.  Noah storms off and Rachel goes after him.

Noah asks Rachel if Josh could be his child. Rachel tells him the dates don’t add up, though she’s clearly not really sure. Rachel says they made their choices and have to move on, but Noah says he loves her. 

Rachel sees Ali watching her and Noah talk and worries that Ali overheard what they were saying .

Paige corners Rachel and says that she overhead Ali talking to someone about Rachel, asking them “does his wife know?” Paige says she and Jack were dancing and Ali came up and whispered something to him.

Noah apologizes to Rachel for his outburst the night before. Rachel tells Noah she’s afraid Ali heard them talking.Rachel goes to Ali and Will’s room to look for her. The room is empty so Rachel looks through Ali’s drawers and finds Jack’s watch.

Rachel finds Noah on the terrace. He’s got binoculars and shows her Paige talking to Ali on the beach. This makes Rachel extremely nervous that Ali heard Rachel and Noah talking about their fling twenty years ago.

Later, Rachel asks Paige what she and Ali were talking about earlier that morning. Paige denies talking to Ali, then claims that she confronted Ali about what she was up to.

Rachel wants to talk to Ali but Paige discourages her. 

Rachel and Jack are getting dressed for the wedding and he can’t find his watch. Rachel doesn’t tell him that she saw it in Ali’s room but offers to go look for it.

Jack leaves and she decides to look at the receipts in his wallet. She finds one for a silver heart from Tiffany & Co.

Ali texts Rachel for help with her dress and also asks Rachel to help her put on her silver Tiffany heart necklace.

The group heads to the wedding, at a remote cliffside restaurant located on a steep road.

After the service, Rachel meets an old friend of Ali’s. The friend talks about Ali’s mom’s accident, a car crash that left Ali’s mom in a wheelchair. The friend also reveals that Ali was once morbidly obese. Paige convinces the friend to show them old photos of Ali.

The wedding breakfast is on the terrace. During the toasts, Rachel runs to the restrooms. She’s upset that she didn’t stop the wedding, didn’t confront Jack and Ali. Paige follows her and tells her to just get through the rest of the wedding.

After the toasts, Jack heads out to smoke with Paige. Noah comes over and tells Rachel he wants Josh to take a paternity test. He says he if he is Josh’s father, he wouldn’t tell Josh or Paige, but he needs to know.

Ali leaves the restaurant, Jack follows her. Rachel goes after them. She finds them in a cave on the beach, arguing. Jack is threatening Ali.

Ali sees Rachel and tells Jack to confess to her, or she’ll do it for him .

Ali leaves and Jack says he kissed Ali one night when drunk and ever since that, she’s been stalking him. He got her fired by finding a fake job on her resume.Rachel asks Jack why he didn’t try to dissuade Will from marrying her, and he says he tried.

They return to the restaurant, where Rachel goes back to the ladies room. Ali and her friend are there. Ali apologizes to Rachel and it’s soon obvious that Jack didn’t tell Rachel the truth. Jack isn’t cheating with Ali. He’s cheating with Paige. Rachel accuses Ali of lying.

Rachel heads back out to the wedding and grabs the mike. She tells the group that Ali’s not who she seems. Jack grabs the mike away and Rachel tells Paige and Jack that Ali says they’re having an affair.

Rachel begins to believe that Ali is telling the truth. She and Noah start comparing notes. She notices Paige has a Tiffany heart bracelet.

Rachel talks to Ali who says she’s known about Paige and Jack for over a year and has been trying to get Jack to come clean. Ali found Jack’s watch after he and Paige had a liaison on the roof of the villa.

When Rachel and Ali join the group on the terrace to watch fireworks, they find out that someone shared the photo of fat Ali with the entire wedding.

Rachel suspects Paige and reflects the only reason she ended up with Jack because she was pregnant. Suddenly she sees a blinding light. It’s a car, coming right at Rachel and Ali at high speed. The car hits Rachel.

When she’s able to get up, Rachel sees that Jack is injured. Noah is all right. Ali is unconscious. Paige is missing .

In the Hospital After the Accident

Rachel wakes up in the hospital. The police want to know who she was with right before the accident. She says she was with Ali. That she didn’t know where Paige and Jack and Noah were, but she thinks Paige and Jack were outside.

Noah comes back and says Paige is dead. The police say her body was found in the car.

Rachel worries that Paige might have heard Rachel and Ali discussing the fact that Noah could be Rachel and Jack’s son’s father.

Rachel tells the police that Paige and Jack were having an affair. The police say that someone else may have been in the car with Paige.

Rachel drifts off and wakes up to hear Jack telling the police that he was going to leave Rachel for Paige . He claims he was on the terrace and hit by the car.

Jack suggests Ali was in the car, and that she was jealous because he slept with her before Paige. Jack lies to the police, saying that Rachel was furious and violent after she found out about the affairs.

The police tell Jack they found his watch in the car.

Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip: What Was the Ending?

Months after the wedding.

Rachel is attending a service for Ali.

Ali’s mom tearfully tells Rachel that Ali thought exposing the affair was the right thing to do.

Ali’s mom Maria fills in what happened at the wedding. Maria overheard Paige tell Jack that they were finished. Jack was furious, saying if he couldn’t have Paige, no one could.

Everyone assumes Paige and Jack both got in the car and he was the one who drove into the crowd.

Surprise: the service is not a funeral, but Ali’s re-do of her wedding to Will.

Ali suffered a brain injury in the accident but is doing well.

Rachel has started her teacher training.

Rachel tells Ali that Jack IS their son’s biological father (I think she’s lying.) We also learn that Ali (and perhaps her mom) testified against Jack, who was convicted of manslaughter.

Ali’s mom says that the fact that Jack’s watch was found in the car also helped get him convicted.

The Guilt Trip: Epilogue and Last Minute Plot Twist

The person narrating the epilogue says that before the accident, they saw Rachel put Jack’s watch into Paige’s bag. We will get to that below:

Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip

What did you think of this one? I thought the twists and turns were fun, and that the misdirection about Jack’s affair being with Paige, not Ali, worked well.

But there was SO MUCH dialogue. That got a little tedious for me.

My questions about The Guilt Trip:

Who do you think the narrator of the epilogue in the guilt trip was.

My initial guess was Ali . That’s because I think the narrator refers to the conversation between Ali, Maria, and Rachel.

The narrator says “I wanted Rachel to tell me what I already knew. But just as she was about to, I realized it wasn’t important.” That “just as she was about to” had to refer to the conversation at the second wedding, where Ali says there is no other way Jack’s watch got into the car.

Also in that conversation, Ali looks at Rachel “ so intently that it feels as if she can see straight through her. Perhaps she can .”

To me, that means Ali knew what Rachel was about to tell her and stops her. Because she knows that Rachel put the watch in the bag and is telling Rachel that it doesn’t matter anymore.

However, Meredith in comments suggests Noah as a possible narrato r and I like that idea!

The arguments for Noah are 1) Noah and Rachel are closer and he would be more likely to expect Rachel to tell him the truth and 2) the narrator says “knowing Rachel as I know her” and Noah knows Rachel much better than Ali does.

I’m still going with Ali, but I think Meredith’s Noah guess is a good one. What do you think?

Who drove the car into the wedding party?

Thanks to Laurel-Manette for her excellent question in comments. Here is my answer (from the comments):

What we do know: The car ended up in the water. Paige’s body is found in the car (the police don’t say if she was in the driver’s seat or the passenger seat).

After the accident Rachel finds Jack lying on the terrace. The police say that Jack’s watch was in footwell of the car (presumably it fell out of Paige’s bag during the crash.)

No one seems to have seen the driver, and Paige is dead, so we can’t hear her side of the story.

Possibility #1: Paige was driving the car, either alone or with Jack in the car.

In this scenario, Paige overheard Rachel and Noah talking about how Noah could be Rachel’s son’s father and flew into a rage.

As Rachel says earlier about Paige, if someone is capable of sleeping with their best friend’s husband, they are capable of anything. In this scenario, Jack gets blamed because Rachel put his watch in Paige’s handbag as a way of saying “I know you are sleeping with my husband.” BUT was Jack in the car with Paige?

Paige could have told Jack what she’d overheard. Jack would have also been extremely upset and, in their hurry to leave the wedding together, maybe Paige (accidentally or on purpose) drove into the wedding party.

Possibility #2: Jack was the one who was driving, with Paige in the car.

Maybe Jack was the one who overheard the conversation between Rachel and Noah and was shocked and hurt to realize he might not be his son’s biological father.

So maybe, in a rage, he told Paige he wanted to leave and then (accidentally or on purpose) drove into the group. BUT: he was found on the terrace after the accident, not in the car.

When he’s questioned by the police, Jack suggests that maybe Ali was driving and jumped out of the car, which is an absurd theory.

But maybe Jack got the idea because that is what Jack did himself. When Rachel reaches Jack after the crash, he does seem badly hurt.

Could he have managed to jump out of the car before it flew into the water? I feel that’s sort of doubtful. At the end, Ali’s mom suggests to Rachel that Jack was driving, with Paige in the car.

BUT if Paige’s body had been found in the passenger seat, wouldn’t the police say that?

While I think Jack had a stronger motive to drive the car into the wedding party, I still think the evidence seems to suggest that Paige was driving the car alone , but I am curious to hear other people’s theories!

How did Jack get framed by his wife (and Ali) for causing Paige’s death?

The book suggests that Rachel put Jack’s watch in Paige’s bag as a way of telling Paige that she knew she slept with Rachel’s husband Jack.

Then when the police found Jack’s watch in the car, they assumed Jack was in the car with Paige. I’m assuming that Jack denied being in the car and claimed he was being framed, but Ali testified that Jack was a known liar, which got him convicted.

Other Questions:

Where does Paige (or Jack) get the car to drive onto the terrace? Noah, Rachel and Paige take a cab to the wedding. (Jack goes earlier with the bridal party.)

When Rachel is upset at the wedding, Paige offers to call her a taxi. Also if you were going to impulsively steal a car and run down someone with it, would your first thought be to grab your purse? Why? You don’t need car keys or a driver’s license.

Maybe this suggests that Paige and Jack just intended to leave the wedding, and the crash was an accident.

I didn’t understand the timeline of the wedding day. The group get up, shower and get dressed, and head to the wedding. After the ceremony, an announcer invites everyone to the “wedding breakfast.” But when Rachel follows Ali and Jack outside to the caves, Rachel says the sun is setting.

The accident clearly happens at night, because there are fireworks and Rachel sees the car’s headlights as it bears down on her. How long is this wedding, anyway? (Someone in comments pointed out that in the UK, “wedding breakfast” is used for any wedding meal. Thanks!)

Was the book suggesting that Jack IS Josh’s biological father?

Rachel tells Ali that yes, Josh did “lose” his father. To prison? This was a little vague for me, but I think Rachel means 1) Josh lost the only father he has ever known and 2) she’s not telling Josh the truth, which is that Noah is his father.

Was Jack trying to get caught cheating? Carrying around the receipt for Paige’s bracelet seemed odd.

I hope you enjoyed my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip

What are your questions and do you have any answers to mine? Please comment and if you want to be notified of responses to your comments OR all future comments, there are options for that!

If you’re looking for similar books to read, you can try Her Dark Lies by J. T. Ellison OR The Guest List by Lucy Foley, both about murder and mayhem at a destination wedding. I have spoiler discussions for both:

Spoiler Discussion for Her Dark Lies

Spoiler Discussion for The Guest List

I think it’s Noah telling the epilogue. That he saw Rachel put the watch in Paige’s bag. And as information comes to light (the affair) he keeps quiet to keep Rachel safe.

I think the timeline of the wedding is that it’s an all day affair. They are there long enough for low tide (the beach is visible) to high tide (which swallows the beach and then some).

As far as Josh losing his father – I interpret it to mean he lost the only father he has known (to prison). I don’t think Rachel would tell him that Noah was his father – even if they found it to be true.

Ooh interesting on the Noah narration. Going to go back and look. And yes I agree that I don’t think Rachel will tell Josh

But the narrator mentions the watch inscription which Ali knew but I doubt Noah would

Ooh great point. Thanks, LiliAnn!!

I don’t think it’s Noah because in the prologue the speaker wakes up in a hospital bed and is asked if they knew the deceased which noah was the one to identify the body so the police wouldn’t ask him that and also he wasn’t injured so he wasn’t in a hospital bed.

This sounds so dumb but I just finished it and I’m confused at who was driving the car?? If it wasn’t Jack, and Rachel put his watch in the car, does that mean rachel killed Paige? Help lol!

There are no dumb questions here! Also, the book doesn’t really give a definitive answer. Who was in the car, and who was driving??

What we do know: The car ended up in the water. Paige’s body is found in the car. Rachel finds Jack lying on the terrace. Jack’s watch was in the car (and presumably Paige’s bag, since the watch was in the bag.)

Possibility 1: Paige was driving the car. She overheard Rachel and her husband Noah talking about how Noah could be Rachel’s son’s father and flew into a rage. As Rachel says earlier about her, if she’s capable of sleeping with her best friend’s husband, she’s capable of anything. In this scenario, Jack gets blamed as well because Rachel put his watch in Paige’s bag as a way of saying “I know what you did.” BUT was Jack in the car with her? She could have told him what she’d overheard and they agreed to leave the wedding and then she (accidentally or on purpose) drove into the wedding party.

Scenario #2 Jack was the one who was driving, with Paige in the car. Maybe HE was the one who overheard the conversation between Rachel and Noah and was shocked and hurt to realize he might not be his son’s biological father. So maybe, in a rage, he drove into the group. When he’s questioned by the police, he even suggests that Ali was driving and got out of the car, which is perhaps what Jack did himself. When Rachel reaches him after the crash, he does seem badly hurt. But could he really have managed to get out of the car before it went into the water? At the end, Ali’s mom suggests that Jack was driving, with Paige in the car. But not sure why she says this.

My theory is still that Paige was alone in the car, but curious to hear other people’s theories!

Thank you! Super helpful!! Thanks for taking the time to write this all out! 🙂

No problem. And thanks for making me think about the possible driver in a different way. I wouldn’t have considered Dan except for your question 🙂

It’s a small part of one of your questions, but in England, a wedding reception is usually called the wedding breakfast even if it’s lunch or dinner.

Dale, thank you! I am an Anglophile but I did not know that 🙂

There are lots of lies and half truths.

Ali is lying. Her and Jack did sleep together and when Jack finished the affair to be with Paige he made sure Ali got the sack.

Ali wants to make out that Jack is a fibber so that she can claim they didn’t sleep together in order to protect her relationship with Will. That’s why she’s happy to give evidence that puts Jack into prison. Perhaps she only went out with Will in the first place to get back at Jack, but then fell properly in love.

Rachel is happy for Jack to go to prison because he lied about his affair with Ali and with Paige and who knows who else. He may or may not have been driving the car but she’s been manipulated so much who can say. It also leaves Rachel free to be with Noah who she realised she really loved when he nearly died.

I personally think Paige drove the car in a suicide mission because she knew that Rachel knows about the affair (from the watch Rachel put in her handbag) and can’t live with herself.

Paige realised that Rachel loves Noah too because of how she was when he nearly died and maybe the suicide was also her gift to Rachel to say sorry.

Hi Sally, Ooh, I love all your excellent observations. I agree with everything you said except maybe your theory about Paige. To me, Paige didn’t seem the slightest bit guilty about betraying her best friend. I think it’s definitely possible that after Paige overheard Rachel say that Paige’s husband Noah could be the father of Rachel’s son, she ran off in a blind fury and accidentally crashed the car. That, or she was furious at Noah and Rachel and meant to drive the car into them. I think she always resented Rachel and Noah’s closeness and slept with Jack as revenge.

It says the only one not hurt was Noah so I’m thinking Paige ended things with Jack because she realised she loved Noah after the surfing accident then after finding out about Rachel and Noah, tried to run Rachel down out of rage. She was a very fiery person. She specifically avoided Noah because she still loved him. Jack’s comment about if I can’t have you noone can was potentially just a spur of the moment comment or something he planned to act on in the future. She didn’t live long enough though.

That makes so much sense. She decided to re-dedicate herself to Noah and then after finding out about Noah possibly being Rachel’s son’s father and Rachel having a thing for Noah, she just lost it.

The one thing that made me question if the ridiculous story of Ali jumping out of the car might have happened was the fact that Ali’s mom was in a wheelchair from a car accident. Like I want to know did Ali also cause that car accident? Is that why they kept talking about how her mom ended up in a wheelchair?

After the surfing accident, Paige has sex with Jack in the rooftop hot tub so I don’t think she suddenly realizes how much she loves Noah.

I listened to the audiobook and it is Ali’s voice in the epilogue.

Very interesting! So what is your take on what happens in the car crash and why?

One of the most poorly written books I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. And so frigging dumb!! I skipped over so many paragraphs of idiocy! Ridiculous that it gets such high praise.

Hi Mary, I hope you enjoy your next book more!

I just finished reading the book and I’m also a bit confused. Why didn’t the police mention whether Paige was in the driver’s or passenger’s seat.. that way she wont be a suspect if she is in the passenger’s seat (maybe I missed that part). Also could there be a chance that Noah was driving? And jumped out right before the car fell off? How could it be Ali if Ali was talking to Rachel while the incident happened. Also maybe Ali put the watch in Paige’s purse since she is the last one to have it.. I’m no investigator but the fact that Jack had facial injuries wouldn’t that suggest that there is a bigger chance that he flew out of a moving car and rolled around verses if he got hit by a car he would fall backwards? I’m reaching at this point haha! 🙂 I have too many questions but no answers!

Hi Hilda – I think a lot of us felt that way. The book ended, and then all our questions didn’t get answers! I think Paige got thrown from the car, so it couldn’t be proven where she was sitting. I’m going to have to review my notes before answering all the rest of the questions, so stay tuned!

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What Is Guilt Tripping?

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

damircudic / Getty Images

• Getting Help

Frequently Asked Questions

A guilt trip means causing another person to feel guilt or a sense of responsibility to change their behavior or take a specific action. Because guilt can be such a powerful motivator of human behavior, people can wield it as a tool to change how others think, feel, and behave. 

Sometimes this might involve leaning on something that someone already feels guilty about. In other cases, people might induce feelings of unjustified guilt or responsibility to manipulate the other person's emotions and behaviors.

If someone has ever made you feel bad about something you’ve done (or didn’t do) and then used those bad feelings to get you to do something for them, then you have experience with guilt tripping.

This article discusses the signs, types, and impact of guilt trips. It also covers some of the steps you can take to cope with this type of behavior.

Signs of a Guilt Trip

Guilt trips can be intentional, but they can also be unintentional. There are chances that you have even guilt-tripped people into doing things before.

Sometimes guilt tripping behavior can be easy to spot, but it can also be much more subtle and difficult to detect.  Some key signs that others may be guilt-tripping you include:

• Making comments suggesting that you have not done as much work as they have done
• Bringing up mistakes that you have made in the past
• Reminding you of favors they have performed for you in the past
• Acting as if they are angry but then denying that there is a problem
• Refusing to speak to you or giving you the silent treatment
• Making it clear through their body language , tone of voice, and facial expressions that they disapprove of what you were doing
• Suggesting that you “owe” them
• Engaging in passive-aggressive behavior
• Making sarcastic comments about your efforts or progress

It is important to note that this type of indirect communication can occur in any interpersonal relationship. Still, it is more likely to take place in relationships that are marked by close emotional connections.

It can show up in romantic relationships, but guilt trips may also be utilized in family relationships, parental relationships, and even work relationships.

Types of Guilt Tripping

There are many different types of guilt trips that people may utilize depending on the ultimate goal or purpose of the behavior. Some of the different purposes of a guilt trip include:

• Manipulation : Sometimes, the primary goal of a guilt trip is to manipulate someone into doing something that they normally would not want to do.  
• Conflict avoidance : In other cases, people may use guilt trips to avoid directly talking about an issue. It allows them to get what they want without having to engage in direct conflict.
• Moral education : Guilt trips can also be a way of getting someone to engage in a behavior that the individual feels is more moral or “right.”
• Elicit sympathy : In some cases, guilt-tripping allows the individual to gain the sympathy of others by casting themselves in the role of someone who has been harmed by the actions the other person is supposed to feel guilty about.

Guilt isn't always a bad thing. While often troubling and unpleasant, it can serve an important role in guiding moral behavior. When people experience guilt, they can fix their mistakes and avoid repeating the same errors in the future.

Researcher Courtney Humeny

A guilt trip does not appear to induce the benefits of guilt, such as making amends, honesty, and mutual understanding.

Impact of Guilt Trips

Invoking feelings of guilt to change someone’s behavior can have a wide variety of effects. Whether guilt is wielded intentionally or not, it prevents healthy communication and connections with others. Some of the most immediate effects of this form of covert psychological manipulation include:

Damage to Relationships

Research suggests that guilt trips can take a toll on close relationships. One study found that people hurt by their partner's criticism were more likely to use those hurt feelings to make their partner feel guilty and offer reassurances.

However, the study also found that the partner who had been guilt-tripped into offering assurances was more likely to feel significantly worse about the relationship.

In other words, inducing feelings of guilt may work to get your partner to do what you want—but it comes at a cost. It can impair trust and cause the other person to feel that they are being manipulated. 

One of the reasons why guilt trips can poison relationships is because they can lead to lasting feelings of resentment.

"A guilt trip imposes aversive states associated with guilt, along with feelings of resentment from feeling manipulated," Humeny suggests.

A single occasion of someone using a guilt trip to alter your behavior might not have a serious impact on your relationship. Repeated use of guilt trips can leave you feeling bitter.

If you feel that your partner is always going to guilt you into something that you don't want to do, it can decrease intimacy, reduce emotional closeness, and ultimately make you start to resent your partner.

Research suggests that appeals to guilt are a common type of persuasion technique . However, while guilt can compel people to take certain actions, it can also sometimes backfire.

Low-level guilt tends to motivate people to act on the persuasive message. High levels of guilt, however, often fail due to what researchers call "reactance." 

"An individual in a state of reactance will behave in such a way as to restore his freedom (or, at least, his sense of freedom), for example, by performing behaviors that are contrary to those required," explain researchers Aurélien Graton and Melody Mailliez in a 2019 article published in the journal Behavioral Sciences .

In other words, guilt trips can backfire and lead people to behave opposite how someone else wants them to act. For example, someone guilt-tripping you into calling them more often might actually result in calling them less.

Poor Well-being

Feelings of excessive guilt are associated with several mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression , and obsessive-compulsive disorder . Being subjected to guilt trips may contribute to the development or worsening of such conditions.

Experiencing guilt can also lead to many immediate and unpleasant emotions and symptoms such as anxiety, sadness, regret, worry, muscle tension, and insomnia.

This type of covert manipulation may also sometimes contribute to the development of a guilt complex , which is a persistent belief that you have done (or will do) something wrong.

Over time, guilt can lead to feelings of shame. Shame can affect your self-image, which can then contribute to social withdrawal and isolation.

How to Cope With Guilt Tripping

There are a number of tactics that can be helpful when dealing with a guilt trip. Some steps you can take include:

• Acknowledge the request. Let them know that you understand that it is important to them. Responding with empathy and showing that you see their needs may help them feel that they are not simply being ignored. Validating their emotions may help lessen the intensity of those feelings.
• Share your feelings . Explain that you also see how they are trying to make you feel guilty so that you'll do what they want. Then tell them how that type of manipulation makes you feel. Suggest that interacting in that way will lead to resentment and that more direct communication forms would be more effective. 
• Set boundaries . Boundaries help set limits on what you will and will not accept. Even if you do end up helping them with their request, make sure you clearly articulate your limits and explain the consequences of crossing those boundaries. Then be sure that you enforce those limits if they are crossed.

Other things that you can use include protecting your self-esteem and distancing yourself if needed. You're more likely to fall for a guilt trip if you already feel poorly about yourself, so find strategies to build up your sense of self-worth. 

If the other person keeps trying to manipulate you with feelings of guilt, reduce your communication with them or even consider ending the relationship.

Protecting your own well-being should be a top priority. A person who tries to manipulate you with toxic feelings of shame and guilt does not have your best interests at heart.

Getting Help for Guilt

If you are experiencing feelings of guilt or related symptoms of anxiety, stress, or depression, talk to your health care provider or a mental health professional. They can recommend treatment options such as psychotherapy or medications that can help manage symptoms and improve the quality of your life.

Your doctor or therapist may suggest a type of therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) , which may help reduce inappropriate guilt feelings. This type of therapy can help you identify and change the negative thoughts and cognitive distortions that can contribute to feelings of guilt.

Your therapist can also help you learn to recognize the signs of a guilt trip—and help you practice strategies to cope with this type of emotional manipulation.

An example of guilt tripping might be your friend calling you and saying, "I know you are too busy with work to hang out. I'll just spend the evening by myself. I just thought that since I helped you get that job you would make sure to make a little more time for me." This type of comment is designed to induce feelings of guilt and bring up the idea that you "owe" them in some way.

Guilt tripping is often designed to manipulate other people by preying on their emotions and feelings of guilt or responsibility. This can be a form of toxic behavior that can have detrimental effects on a person's well-being as well as their relationships.

While both behaviors are destructive and toxic, they differ in key ways. Gaslighting is a type of emotional abuse that involves denying another person's reality and making them question their own experiences. Guilt tripping, on the other hand, is about causing another person to feel guilty in order to get them to change their behavior.

Humeny C. A qualitative investigation of a guilt trip . Conference: Institute of Cognitive Science Spring Proceedings.

Overall NC, Girme YU, Lemay EP Jr, Hammond MD. Attachment anxiety and reactions to relationship threat: the benefits and costs of inducing guilt in romantic partners . J Pers Soc Psychol . 2014;106(2):235-56. doi:10.1037/a0034371

Aurélien G, Melody M. A theory of guilt appeals: a review showing the importance of investigating cognitive processes as mediators between emotion and behavior .  Behav Sci (Basel) . 2019;9(12):117. doi:10.3390/bs9120117

Tilghman-Osborne C, Cole DA, Felton JW.  Definition and measurement of guilt: Implications for clinical research and practice .  Clin Psychol Rev . 2010;30(5):536-546. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.007

Miceli M, Castelfranchi C.  Reconsidering the differences between shame and guilt .  Eur J Psychol . 2018;14(3):710-733. doi:10.5964/ejop.v14i3.1564

Herr NR, Jones AC, Cohn DM, Weber DM.  The impact of validation and invalidation on aggression in individuals with emotion regulation difficulties .  Personal Disord . 2015;6(4):310-4. doi:10.1037/per0000129

Cleantis T. Boundaries and self-care . Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

Hedman E, Ström P, Stünkel A, Mörtberg E. Shame and guilt in social anxiety disorder: effects of cognitive behavior therapy and association with social anxiety and depressive symptoms . PLoS One . 2013;8(4):e61713. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061713

Johnson VE, Nadal KL, Sissoko DRG, King R. "It's not in your head": Gaslighting, 'splaining, victim blaming, and other harmful reactions to microaggressions .  Perspect Psychol Sci . 2021;16(5):1024-1036. doi:10.1177/17456916211011963

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

The Guilt Trip (2012) Soundtrack

19 Dec 2012 (16 Songs)

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Howlin' for You

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I Need a Dollar

Aloe Blacc - Good Things (Deluxe Edition)

Warrant - The Best of Warrant

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Heinz Ladvskow

Heartaches By the Number

Ray Price - The Essential Ray Price 1951-1962

George Strait - It Just Comes Natural

Wayward Son

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It's All Good

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Heartbroke and Busted

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Down Yonder

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Take your mama.

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

Stuck in the Middle with You

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Stuck In the Middle With You (Rerecorded)

Stealers Wheel - Stuck In the Middle With You (Rerecorded Version) - EP

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The Guilt Trip: A Novel Hardcover – August 3, 2021

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In the vein of the Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick The Other Woman , Sandie Jones’s explosive new novel The Guilt Trip will have readers gripped to the very last page. They went away as friends. They came back as suspects. Rachel and Jack. Paige and Noah. And Will. Five friends who’ve known one another for years. Then along came Ali, Will’s new fiancée. The three couples travel to Portugal for Ali and Will’s destination wedding. The weekend away at the gorgeous cliff-top villa is a chance to relax and get to know Ali an little better. She seems perfectly nice―and Will seems happy after years of bad choices. But when Rachel discovers a shocking secret about Ali, everything changes. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets each of them holds begin to spill, and friendships and marriages threaten to unravel. In Sandie Jones’s explosive new suspense novel, jumping to conclusions can become the difference between life and death.

• Print length 320 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Minotaur Books
• Publication date August 3, 2021
• Dimensions 6.59 x 1.26 x 9.62 inches
• ISBN-10 1250265584
• ISBN-13 978-1250265586
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A USA Today Bestseller! One of CNN.com’s “Most Anticipated New Books to Read this August” One of Parade.com's "The Ultimate Summer Reading List: 25 Books You'll Want to Read this Sizzling Season" One of Popsugar's " Hit the Beach―or the Couch―With the 45 Best Summer Reads of 2021" One of Brit+Co's "Books to Read on Vacation" Part of Frolic's "Summer Bucket List: Hot Summer Thrillers and Mysteries" One of Bookbub's "Five Twist-filled Books to Read This Month" "Explosive . . . Filled with twists and turns, the story will keep you guessing until the end."― National Examiner " In this entertaining thriller buoyed by perceptive dialogue, couples who've come to Portugal for a wedding are overwhelmed by the secrets that threaten to ruin each relationship."―Shelf Awareness "[Jones] is truly a master at writing domestic suspense and characters that will drive you mad! I recommend picking this one up if you are a fan of domestic drama and scandal and are looking for a quick and light read to take with you to the beach before the summer ends."―The Reading Beauty Blog Praise for Sandie Jones: "One of the most twisted and entertaining plots."―Reese Witherspoon on The Other Woman "A perfect beach read."―Kristin Hannah on The Other Woman "A twisty, deliciously fun read."―Sarah Pekkanen, bestselling co-author of An Anonymous Girl on The Other Woman "Whiplash-inducing."― The New York Times Book Review on The Other Woman "Such fun. You'll cheer [Emily's] chutzpah."― People on The Other Woman "An addictive, page-turning thriller."― National Examiner on The First Mistake "This thriller will hit close to home."―Refinery29 on The Other Woman "Excellent . . . Jones delivers a tightly coiled story in The Other Woman and fills it with believable characters."―Associated Press "Advice: read this!"― Suspense Magazine on The First Mistake

About the Author

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books (August 3, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250265584
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250265586
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.13 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.59 x 1.26 x 9.62 inches
• #2,170 in Domestic Thrillers (Books)
• #8,464 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
• #23,908 in Suspense Thrillers

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Sandie jones.

Sandie Jones has been a freelance journalist for over 20 years, interviewing celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Isla Fisher, Simon Cowell and Naomie Harris.

Her debut novel, The Other Woman, is a psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between a woman and her partner's mother.

If Sandie wasn't an author she'd be an interior designer as she has an unhealthy obsession with wallpaper and cushions!

She lives in London, England, with her husband and three children.

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Donald Trump could face prison time if he is convicted in upcoming NY hush money trial

If former President Donald Trump is convicted on all counts in his New York criminal hush money trial that begins April 15, he could theoretically face more than a decade in prison.

But most legal experts who spoke to USA TODAY said such a dramatic outcome is unlikely. Instead, he would likely be sentenced to something between probation and four years in prison. And he would probably still be out, free to campaign for president as the presumptive or actual 2024 Republican nominee, while his all-but-certain appeal was pending.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Each count carries a maximum sentence of four years.

While Trump could in principle be sentenced to serve multiple counts consecutively, several experts said that is unlikely because he has no felony criminal record and the charges don't involve allegations of physical violence.

On the other hand, Trump has tested boundaries and feuded with the judge who may determine his fate.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Trump has antagonized Judge Juan Merchan

Trump's sentence would be decided by Judge Juan Merchan, who has grown exasperated by the former president's pretrial behavior. Merchan expanded a gag order this month after Trump attacked the judge's daughter on social media over her marketing work with Democratic candidates, including posting a photo of her. Merchan said Trump has a history of attacking the family members of judges and lawyers in his legal cases.

"The average observer, must now, after hearing Defendant's recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves,  but for their loved ones as well ," Merchan wrote in his gag order decision .

John Moscow, a New York lawyer who spent 30 years in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, told USA TODAY that type of behavior could worsen any sentence Trump faces.

"If I were representing somebody in (Trump's) position, I would suggest to him that the judge is the one who imposes sentence and he ought to be careful," Moscow said.

If Merchan did consider a hefty sentence, it wouldn't be the first time he has taken a harsh view about behavior in Trump's orbit.

In 2023, Merchan was forced to sentence former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to only five months in jail because Merchan had previously accepted a plea bargain agreement between Weisselberg and prosecutors specifying that jail term. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to tax and record falsification charges and agreed to testify against the Trump Organization at trial in order to get that sentence.

The judge said, however, that he "would be imposing a sentence much greater than that" had he not accepted the plea bargain before hearing all the evidence at the trial. Without the plea deal, Weisselberg could have faced many years in prison.

What is Trump charged with?

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts in the case, which focuses on whether he falsified business records to cover up reimbursements to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump soon after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron Trump. Trump denies the claim.

In order to secure felony convictions, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office must convince a 12-person jury that Trump falsified the records in order to commit or conceal another crime. In this case, Bragg argues Trump was trying to conceal a federal campaign finance law violation by falsely recording his reimbursements to Cohen as payments for legal services. The federal violation was a limit-exceeding contribution to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, as the payment was allegedly designed to keep Daniels' story from hurting the then-Republican nominee's election prospects. Bragg also alleges Trump was trying to conceal a plan to violate New York tax and election laws.

Nothing in the Constitution prevents Trump from becoming president even if he is convicted or sentenced to prison. If he won the election, however, courts may delay any prison time until after his term in office expires .

What is the maximum possible sentence?

The 34 felony counts Trump faces are classified as "Class E felonies" under New York law – the lowest level felony in the state. The maximum penalty on each count is four years of prison, and a judge would have discretion over whether to order Trump to serve sentences on each count at the same time or one after the other. However, New York caps such sentencing for Class E felonies at 20 years .

In addition, New York judges often impose sentencing ranges, where an incarcerated person becomes eligible for parole at the low end of the range. For Class E felonies, the lowest end of a range would be one-and-a-third years per count, while the highest would be four years. Good behavior in jail or prison can speed things up even more.

A sentence limited to probation?

Merchan would also have discretion to order a fixed sentence of less than those ranges, including probation.

That's what Mitchell Epner, a New York lawyer with decades of criminal law experience, expects would happen even if Trump were convicted on all counts. Epner noted the felony charges aren't violent and don't involve drugs.

"With a defendant who has no prior criminal record, my absolute expectation would be a sentence of probation," Epner told USA TODAY.

Epner wasn't alone in thinking that could be the sentencing outcome.

"This is a case that does not involve any physical violence, and it doesn't – there's not sort of a 'named victim,' so to speak – and so the court is going to take that into consideration," Anna Cominsky, who directs the Criminal Defense Clinic at New York Law School, told USA TODAY.

"In addition, I think it is unlikely that he would be sent to prison given who he is, given both the fact that he has no criminal record, and there is no getting around the fact that he is a former president of the United States," Cominsky said.

Incarceration a real possibility

Norman Eisen, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump's first impeachment, thought a sentence that includes some incarceration is likely.

Eisen co-authored a report looking at sentencing for other defendants with no criminal history who were convicted of falsifying business records in New York. There, he noted one construction executive was sentenced in 2015 to spend two days each week in jail for a year for falsifying records to conceal payments in a bribery scheme. In 2013, two corporate executives were ordered to spend four to six months in jail for falsifying records to misclassify their salaries as expenses under their employer's larger bribery and fraud scheme.

"I think he's likely to face a sentence of incarceration if he's convicted," Eisen told USA TODAY.

Cominsky said the evidence Merchan hears at trial could also influence his thinking when it comes to sentencing.

"Often you'll hear judges refer to testimony at trial, evidence that was presented at trial, and say, 'This is why I'm imposing this sentence, because I heard from this particular witness or I saw this particular piece of evidence,'" Cominsky said.

Moscow pushed back against the assumption that Trump's sentences on each count would run simultaneously, instead of being stacked on top of each other. Just as a judge may take into account that a defendant has won a Nobel Peace Prize or lifted orphans from poverty, the judge may look at significant evidence of bad acts, Moscow said.

"When you start attacking the judge's daughter, and making her out to be a target, you have just breached the normal rules," Moscow said.

Trump has also posted a photo of himself wielding a bat, with his eyes directed toward an adjacent photo of Bragg, among other attacks on the district attorney. Bragg's office has received thousands of harassing emails, calls, and texts – including death threats – after Trump's social media attacks, it said in a court filing .

Diana Florence, a New York lawyer who spent decades in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, said Merchan's sentence would need to have some relation to what other white-collar defendants in similar cases have received, and she would be surprised if someone had ever gotten a sentencing range for falsifying business records with a minimum of 10 years or more.

Such a long sentence "would be very, very, very, very unusual, and if Judge Merchan wanted to make a point and do that, I highly doubt the appellate division would allow that to stand," she said. "It's just too much time for the conduct."

However, Florence added that a reasonable sentencing range could include a minimum period of more than a year incarcerated.

Sentencing someone with Secret Service protection?

Contemplating any jail or prison sentence would take Merchan into unchartered territory: Trump is the first former president ever criminally charged, and the Secret Service provides him with around-the-clock security.

But avoiding a sentence of incarceration on that basis risks undermining the idea of equal treatment under the law, Moscow suggested.

"If I were the judge − and I don't know what a judge would do in this case − I would reject out of hand the concept that because he was once president, and because as a matter of policy the Secret Service guards former presidents, that therefore he can't go to jail," Moscow said.

The question would then become how to reconcile equal treatment with ensuring a former president's security, according to Moscow. The judge could get creative, for example by ordering the former president to stay in a hotel wing or at a military base, where he is isolated just like any other prisoner but still has Secret Service protection.

"You can structure things to achieve the proper result without conceding that the defendant has the upper hand," Moscow said.

Chances of immediate prison? 'Less than 1%'

Many convicted defendants are "remanded" pending sentencing, a process in which they are taken into custody while they await their sentence, Florence said.

But Florence didn't expect Merchan to give that order when it comes to Trump, and even if Merchan did, Trump would likely be able to get bail set by an appeals court in the thousands of dollars to stay free during his appeal. That's all the more likely if Trump receives a low sentence, since the appeal could take longer than his actual sentence, she said.

"The chances of him going to prison immediately, even if he's convicted in whatever, six weeks from now or whenever, are I would say less than 1% because he would immediately be released on bail pending appeal," according to Florence.

Eisen agreed Trump probably wouldn't be incarcerated by Election Day, even if he's convicted on all counts.

"I think he's extremely unlikely to be forced to serve that sentence pending appeal," Eisen said.

Opinion Readers critique The Post: Here’s the beef with this minimum-wage cartoon

Every week, The Post runs a collection of letters of readers’ grievances — pointing out grammatical mistakes, missing coverage and inconsistencies. These letters tell us what we did wrong and, occasionally, offer praise. Here, we present this week’s Free for All letters.

Michael Ramirez’s April 2 editorial cartoon, “ Fried ,” was a mean-spirited distortion.

How is it that, say, $20 billion to one who already possesses billions of dollars is beneficial to “the economy” but $20 per hour to an actual worker who is likely to spend that money is wrecking it? That’s preposterous.

Prices clearly are not exclusively a function of the wages being paid to or denied to workers. The issue is more nuanced, which is not the case with this portrayal.

Robert Braxton , Fairfax

Not so distasteful after all

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Bear Spray depicted in Michael Ramirez’s wonderful April 6 editorial cartoon, “ NATO’s 75th anniversary ,” has been a solid sales success, particularly in Poland and the Baltic nations. I suggest the introduction of a companion product for our allies facing encroachment from the People’s Republic of China: Dragon Repellant.

John S. Williams , Fairfax Station

That’s what we get for hiring the Big Bopper to write about women’s basketball

When I read the lead of the April 8 Sports article “ As good as it gets ,” about South Carolina’s defeat of Iowa, I wondered whether I was looking at a parody.

Was the sentence “Raven Johnson skipped over to Dawn Staley, toothy smile beaming, ponytail bobbing behind her, for a moment of celebration” intended as a joke? “Skipped”? “Toothy smile”? “Ponytail bobbing”? This is how The Post introduced a winning player on the winning basketball team in the NCAA finals? Was the article trying to minimize her contribution or her achievement? It’s hard to even imagine an equivalent sentence to describe a male basketball star in a similar situation. This lead did no honor to Johnson, women’s basketball or The Post.

Priscilla Rope , Washington

Take a gander at how we goose the stats

For the past several months, The Post has routinely equated sports records in men’s and women’s college basketball by reporting that women’s players and coaches have broken long-standing men’s college basketball records. I’m puzzled, therefore, by several articles’ continued insistence that Virginia and Purdue were the first two No. 1 seeds to lose to No. 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament. For one example, see the April 8 Sports article “ Purdue’s path parallels Virginia’s 2019 title run ,” which reported that last season, Purdue “became the second top seed,” after Virginia in 2018, “to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament.” In 1998, the top-seeded Stanford University women lost on their home court to the 16th-seeded Harvard University squad. Consistency would dictate you treat that loss as relevant to both men and women if you treat other records in that manner. Put differently, the old legal maxim is highly appropriate in this instance: What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Richard B. Rogers , Kingstowne

They eat (and grow) their Wheaties

Our family greatly enjoyed Sally Jenkins’s April 5 Sports column, “ Bueckers, Clark make us feel like stargazers .” It was a savory appetizer.

For the next course, please write about their provenance. Raised four hours from each other, Paige Bueckers in the Minneapolis area and Caitlin Clark in the Des Moines area, they are but the latest superstar basketball talents to emerge from the Northern Midwest. Please assign the Sports team to this question: Why is it that Bueckers, Clark, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Suggs, Tyus and Tre Jones, and others have come out of the central northland in the past few years?

Tom Vellenga , Rockville

Unsanctioned games

The March 29 news article “ Jordan struggles to contain unrest as Gaza protests grow ” used the word “sanctioned” in a way that risked confusing rather than clarifying a complex geopolitical situation.

The article reported that “Jordanian authorities — who typically show little tolerance for public demonstrations — have sanctioned weekly protests after Friday prayers.” After reading the article several times, I believe the reporter intended “sanctioned” to mean the Jordanian government has allowed the demonstrations to continue, while trying to manage public opinion and emotions about the Israel-Gaza conflict and deter or prevent violence during such demonstrations.

The political situation in Jordan concerning the Israel-Gaza conflict is complex, and the government’s approach to the demonstrations is nuanced. The word “sanction” and its derivatives have opposing definitions; the word can denote either approval or disapproval. Dictionaries commonly define “sanction” (whether as a noun or as a verb) to mean basically: (1) an official approval, permission or ratification; or (2) a legal enforcement action or an economic or military coercive measure designed to enforce a law or standard (for example, a threat or fine designed to penalize a nation that has violated an international law, as in “economic sanctions”).

In this case, it might have been better to avoid the word “sanctioned” and use instead a word such as “allowed” or a phrase such as “cautiously allowed” to describe the government’s decision to allow the protest(s) to occur amid a complex political situation.

Please stop using the inherently ambiguous term “sanction” (and its derivatives) unless the context is very clear. Clearer words, such as “approved” or “allowed” or “tolerated,” or “banned” or “discouraged,” would serve readers better.

Brooks J. Bowen , Potomac

Our journalism is beyond compare

If there was ever the need for an illustration or an explanatory graphic, it was with the April 3 news article “ German soccer rethinks jersey font after some compare it to Nazi symbol .” How many readers have both a clear and accurate idea what the symbol for the Schutzstaffel, or SS, looked like? The only way to fully understand the story is to see that symbol alongside the design for the jersey. This is clearly a case where readers would have been better served with a visual exploration of the resemblance than a mere description or a single immaterial photo online. Readers should not have to visit Google to understand articles in The Post.

Carol Burnett, Arlington

Doubly singularly wrong

I read with interest the March 30 Free for All letter “ A disconcerting effort ,” about the rising misuse of the term “concerted effort” to describe exertions by one person. For my part, I object to a term in another letter on that page: “complete stranger.” Versus an incomplete or partial stranger?

Madeline Wetzlar , Ellicott City

Multitudinously wrong

I was in complete agreement with Michael Miller’s April 9 letter on immigration until the following sentence: “With the exception of Native Americans ... we are all ... descendants of immigrants coming to this country for a better life.” The sentiment is lovely, but it ignores the tens of millions of Americans descended from enslaved Africans.

Ted Hochstadt , Pimmit Hills

The sun is setting on scientific literacy

In a country where too many people believe in the bankrupt concept of scientific orthodoxy, I have to call The Post out for the April 10 headline “ A quest to prove Einstein right, beyond a shadow of doubt ” [news]. Experimental physicists don’t set out to prove a theory correct. Of course, many experiments verify predictions of theories, but that’s not where the thrill is. No, we get the buzz, and the Nobel Prizes, when we find a theory’s flaws and prove them wrong.

In response to the online headline, “Why this eclipse could really show Einstein was correct,” the general theory of relativity is supported by a preponderance of evidence gathered in experiments performed by thousands of physicists and has culminated in the observation of gravitational radiation and an entirely new form of astronomy through gravitational observatories such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, perhaps the coolest experiment in the past 40 years.

Experimentalists are not in the business of pandering to the egos of theorists. We have more fun than that.

Ransom Stephens , Ashland, Ore.

Readers need to know

Recent news reports in The Post have left me wanting a summary article about security clearances and classified documents to have as an ongoing resource. It might answer the following questions for readers:

• Are presidents or presidential candidates subject to security investigations before being given access to classified documents?
• Under what circumstances are such documents made available to them?

As a previous holder of Top Secret clearance, I suggest that appropriate investigations be initiated when individuals become candidates for any office that might require such access; and investigations should be completed before an individual is granted access to any classified document.

Further, there should be a “need to know” provision. Even the president does not need to know every detail of every classified matter.

William N. Butler , Frederick

We’re going down

I am a public school librarian in Howard County. I love newspapers and encourage my students to read them for unbiased, reliable content. I advocate print journalism because the printed paper sends signals about the value of stories depending on their placement in the paper. Editorials and op-ed pieces are grouped together and clearly labeled, making it very clear when you are reading opinion vs. a news article. I lament the loss of the quality local reporting we had in Howard County as the Baltimore Sun staff has been dramatically reduced.

And I am worried about the downsizing at The Post. I am worried that the paper’s quality and credibility are in jeopardy when typos, such as the four I noticed in a single week, start appearing. They speak to a problem in the process. If your editing practices were recently revised, or affected by the buyouts that took place late last year, it might not be for the best.

I hope The Post can stay alive and continue to contribute the crucial oversight provided by journalists. I am not a letter-to-the-editor kind of person; as a teacher, I know mistakes happen. But this string of mistakes was surprising and a bit alarming.

Lynn Rashid , Ellicott City

Dope floats

The April 8 front-page article “ Trump floats plan to end war ” struck me as strange. I read the article looking for a plan. True, the first paragraph used the word “plan,” and the second paragraph talked of a “proposal.”

But the article included no plan or proposal. Rather, it recapitulated what Donald Trump allegedly has been telling his advisers in private; he wants Ukraine to give up substantial amounts of territory to pave the way for peace. That’s it. That’s the plan.

It’s hardly a secret that Trump opposes any additional aid to Ukraine; he’s been making that clear to one and all in Congress, a message House lawmakers have taken to heart in blocking President Biden’s aid package, putting Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) job at risk . It’s well known that Trump would let Russian President Vladimir Putin work his will in Ukraine. Has Trump changed his mind? The article didn’t say.

Then we have that word “float.” But there was no evidence in the story that Trump has floated anything, in the sense of sounding out what foreign policy experts or lawmakers think of a substantial proposal. The whole report rested on what Trump’s advisers say he now thinks. Until Trump says it out loud and puts some meat on the bones, it’s not a plan; it’s gossip.

Seems to me The Post placed a nonstory in the slot usually reserved for that day’s most important news.

Elliot Carlson , Silver Spring

We coulda been a contender

Regarding Ty Burr’s April 3 Style Perspective, “ Can anyone fill Brando’s boots? ”

Can any article about Marlon Brando — whether about his acting career or the “boots” he left behind and that remain unfilled — be taken seriously if it doesn’t mention his performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”? Quite an oversight, I respectfully submit.

Kevin A. Sweeney , Manassas

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