“It was the same set of tactics that the KGB recommended to agents under investigation: admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations.” John Lanchester, London Review of Books, 4 August 2022
I was not the least surprised when the news broke more than a year ago that Donald J. Trump had fled Washington with several boxes of official documents, some of them known to be classified. After nearly six years of Trump, considering all his crimes, misdemeanors, lies, and blustery incompetence, why can’t people understand that there was no possibility that Trump was leaving DC without something he could leverage or sell, including our nation’s most sensitive intelligence from our most secret and delicate sources. Hell yeah, Trump is selling that, are you kidding? That stuff is worth big money to any number of parties, but particularly the Russians, Chinese, or the ruler of Saudi Arabia. Trump wouldn’t think twice. Understand his sociopathic mind: he’s in the game for himself and no one else. Collateral damage doesn’t matter; only loyalty to Trump matters. As the Trump edifice begins to tremble, as the first cracks appear, Trump will become ever more paranoid and distrustful, and more obsessed with loyalty; he’ll start purging anyone who isn’t 100% on his side no matter what he does or how idiotic the stuff of his pronouncements. You can take it to your bank that if Trump slips the noose again and somehow regains the presidency, he will reconfigure the Department of Justice to his aims and against whoever he tells it to target or harass.
If you doubt that Donald Trump would sell America out for money, you simply do not understand the essence of the man.
Back in November or December of 2016, soon after the horrifying idea of Donald Trump becoming President of the United States fully sunk into my brain, I wrote on my blog, Shouts from the Balcony, the following: “Frankly, I’m afraid of the damage the Trump gang might do, at home primarily, but also abroad;” I just assumed that Trump would lay a hurt of the country that would require years to recover from, like a devastating natural disaster, and he never disappointed; in that sense, and only that sense, he was consistent and reliable. No matter the situation, the law, or the norms and agreements followed by American presidents, of either party since at least the 20th century, Trump invariably snubbed, ignored, trampled, disobeyed, mocked, or violated them.
What has surprised me, pleasantly, I might add, during the last week is confirmation that the US Department of Justice is indeed deep into a multi-pronged investigation of Donald Trump. I was one of the many people on the left becoming very discouraged at what appeared a lack of action on the part of Merrick Garland and federal law enforcement with regard to Trump’s failed coup attempt, as well as his other crimes, including those related to his mishandling and misuse of classified information that had no legitimate reason for being in his possession at Mar-A-Lago. I’m delighted that Garland has proved me to be overly pessimistic and cynical. I never doubted that a case against Trump would take time to assemble and validate, I only wanted some reassurance that a case was underway -- because, to my mind at least, time is of the essence.
In the excellent book, Surviving Autocracy, journalist Masha Gessen writes, “In the United States, proximity to political power is certainly not the only way to become rich. But political power does translate into wealth, and vice versa, and this is the feature of the system most salient to Trump and Trumpism.”
If you doubt that Donald Trump would sell America out for money, you simply do not understand the essence of the man.
In boxing parlance, the last four of five rounds have hurt Trump, hurt him badly; he’ll keep coming off his corner stool, but his punches will be wild and weak, easily avoided and countered. The Menace of Mar-A-Lago is ripe for a knockout.
No comments:
Post a Comment