The lawyers pointed out that they partially complied with the order, by pulling the post from Truth Social and not mentioning it further. This is a mitigating factor that argues for good faith and against maximum sanctions. The hearing was this morning, and minor sanctions are still a possibility.

More generally, I think there is a tendency to project our desire to see Trump in jail onto this judge. That’s why people are disappointed by headlines like “Judge threatens Trump with jail”. The judge doesn’t want to put Trump in jail as much as we do. He would prefer a reason not to put Trump in jail, and he got one.