How do the Roske sentencing, Sean “Diddy” Combs conviction, and Trump’s proposed coin reflect current U.S. politics and law?

Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner discuss Nicholas Roske, who plotted to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh but called 911 on himself, was sentenced to just over eight years, sparking debate over proportional justice. Meanwhile, music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs received 50 months in prison for prostitution-related crimes, avoiding harsher penalties after acquittals on trafficking charges. Controversy also surrounds reports that the Trump administration offered migrant children financial incentives to leave the U.S., raising ethical concerns. Finally, Trump’s proposed commemorative coin for America’s 250th Independence anniversary, featuring his own image, clashes with laws barring living figures on currency. Each episode highlights tensions between law, politics, and symbolism.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Bye, and thank you for listening. I had a couple of bills because I did some more traveling. George Clooney and several writers have argued that Trump should avoid tariffs and instead create incentives for the movie industry. He’s making business-to-business arguments, which might work. Trump, however, is not a good businessman.

Rick Rosner: Clooney knows the movie industry from multiple angles—actor, producer, director, writer—and he’s been in it for a long time. In Los Angeles, on-location filming in 2024 finished 5.6 percent below 2023, making 2024 the second-lowest year on record after 2020. Early 2025 was down about 22 percent year-over-year, with television off roughly 30 percent and features down about 29 percent. That’s a slump, and tariffs would only add costs.

Those extra costs would drive more production away by making financing harder. Every film already takes years and countless meetings to get financed; raising the cost basis makes that worse.

Jacobsen: Trump has proposed a 100 percent tariff on films produced outside the U.S. The announcement is public but lacks details on legal basis and enforcement, and major studios have not clarified how it would work in practice.

Rosner: Americans overwhelmingly spend their box-office dollars on films distributed by U.S.-based studios; foreign-language imports are a small share of the U.S. market. U.S. majors dominated the 2024 domestic market. (General market share characterization.)

A real-world example of unintended effects: Mel Gibson’s sequel to The Passion of the Christ—The Resurrection of the Christ—has been reported as filming in Italy, with the project split into two parts slated for release in 2027. Under a blanket “100 percent on foreign-made films” approach, even a project embraced by many conservatives would be treated as foreign and face tariffs.

Clooney is correct that if you want to bring production back to Los Angeles, you need to match other jurisdictions’ incentives.

California recently expanded its Film & TV Tax Credit Program from $330 million to $750 million per year to compete with regions pulling productions away. Georgia offers a transferable 20 percent base credit plus a 10 percent uplift, with no annual cap—one reason it has become a major hub.

New Mexico (including Albuquerque) built a production center with refundable credits in the 25–40 percent range, which helped attract shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. That is the mechanism—not mystique—behind their long runs there.

The bottom line is that production in Los Angeles has been weak since the strikes. Federal tariffs would raise costs without addressing the real problem. The proven lever for keeping shoots local is competitive, predictable incentives, ideally aligned across state and federal levels. To keep production in the state, you need incentives. Trump’s understanding of this is distracted, erroneous, and rudimentary.

Jacobsen: A California resident who admitted to plotting to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022 has been sentenced to eight years and one month in federal prison. Nicholas Roske—who now identifies as Sophie—was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland. The judge called the crime reprehensible. Prosecutors had asked for 30 years, prompting complaints from some commentators that the sentence was too light.

Rosner: I don’t know all the details. My understanding is that Roske (now identifying as Sophie) never actually carried out the attack — she traveled to Kavanaugh’s neighborhood with weapons but then called 911 on herself before doing anything. If that is accurate, it helps explain why prosecutors did not push for the maximum penalty and why the sentence came out lower. 

I think that if someone sets up to take a shot but stops short, the penalty should be less than if they actually pull the trigger. But I’m not up on every nuance of the case.

Jacobsen: Next topic. Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to more than four years in prison on prostitution-related charges — 50 months. He could have faced significantly more — prosecutors sought roughly 11+ years. He was acquitted of more serious charges like racketeering and sex trafficking, but convicted on lesser ones involving transporting persons for prostitution. 

Rosner: In the end, it’s not as bad as it might’ve been — though the convictions are still serious. I don’t know every part, so I’ll avoid overreaching. Either way, depending on credit for time served, he might be out around 2028 or 2029. He’s already been in custody, so that will reduce the remaining time.

Jacobsen: The Trump administration reportedly offered unaccompanied migrant children financial incentives — around $2,500 — to voluntarily leave the U.S. Officials in ICE confirmed monetary offers were being made, though they declined to confirm the exact amount. That solicitation has drawn heavy criticism from advocacy groups.

Rosner: I can see a lot of bad outcomes. The public rationale was to target serious criminals — rapists, gang members, etc. But most people held by ICE are detained for immigration violations, which are civil matters, not felonies. Children, especially, are not criminals. So pushing hard to expel them raises serious moral and policy questions.

Jacobsen: Next topic: next year is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 1776. The U.S. Treasury and Mint are planning a commemorative coin. They’ve released a design. Thoughts?

Rosner: By law, living persons cannot appear on U.S. currency or stamps. So putting Trump on a coin would violate that rule. But his team has released a draft design showing his bust on one side, and on the reverse a figure of him with a raised fist under the slogan “Fight, fight, fight.” That’s audacious — putting himself on both faces of the coin. Historically, U.S. coins sometimes portrayed the same figure stylistically on both obverse and reverse (for example, older pennies with Lincoln on obverse and Lincoln Memorial reverse). But Trump’s coin is a bold departure.

Also: the plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 was first floated during the Obama era. The redesign was delayed indefinitely by the Trump administration. Biden has not pushed it through either. So the idea of finally replacing Jackson with Tubman remains unfulfilled.

To your side note: Biden’s long tenure in government shaped his institutional instincts, for better or worse. Trusting process sometimes helps, sometimes enables paralysis.

Rick Rosner is an accomplished television writer with credits on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, and The Man Show. Over his career, he has earned multiple Writers Guild Award nominations—winning one—and an Emmy nomination. Rosner holds a broad academic background, graduating with the equivalent of eight majors. Based in Los Angeles, he continues to write and develop ideas while spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.

Photo by Hansjörg Keller on Unsplash

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