For the same reason these cases have such a hard time progressing. Most people like him do the same thing. So if every other financial "fraud" case like him is compared to his the lawyers can make a successful argument that a higher fine would indicate political meddling. NO JUDGE wants to be overruled.

The reason I can't get remotely excited about the hush money case is that Trump probably had little to do with it (and that's true for much of his stuff). He's not some mastermind directing people to do this or that. He's a snake oil salesmen to who leaves the details to others. People comes to him with "deals" and he agrees to put his name on them or not.

Why would he pay off Stormy Daniels on his own? He's NEVER worried about his reputation with women. NEVER. He says right out front he wants trophy girlfriends, wives, that he gets tired of them. He's point out that there are women who use men just like him.

It was the people around Trump who wanted to pay off the women for his election (which no one really thought he'd win at the time). It was all about getting readers for the Enquirer and more deals for Trump. All that has been forgotten by the general public.

All his cases, except the election fraud, are nothing-burgers to me. But even the election fraud, he can say others did it on their own, not him. However, in that one, I believe he can't get out of responsibility. That case isn't going through because both Democrats and Republicans, privately, agree there's nothing to be gained for either of them.