Is Trump on the Ropes?

 “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. 

Shameless and Lost

MAGA world is outraged about the FBI’s search of Mar-A-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s Florida home. The usual blowhards and cretins are calling it a raid, insisting that the FBI planted incriminating evidence, and that Joe Biden’s aging hands are behind it all. In less than 24 hours, the entire right-wing media apparatus is whistling the same tune, doing everything it can to discredit the FBI and DOJ, and distract from the issue at hand: that the FBI doesn’t just decide to search the residence of a former president without lawful cause and a legal warrant signed by a federal judge. The bar for a search is high to begin with, the evidence must be solid and compelling, but imagine how sure the DOJ, FBI, and the judge had to be that crimes had been, or were about to be, committed by Trump. The Feds wouldn’t go after a former president unless they had iron-clad confidence in their evidence. 

 Trump could dispel the mystery by releasing the search warrant to the press, but that would torpedo its propaganda value as well as its usefulness in duping the gullible out of hard-earned cash. Isn’t it odd that Trump, who loves to boast about his wealth, is always begging people for money? Within hours of the lawful search, supervised by one of Trump’s lawyers, and known to the former president, his Secret Service detail and others in advance, Trump was blasting email solicitations for cash. 

Like the lies, the grift never ends. 

Trump left the White House nearly twenty months ago, after his coup attempt failed. Soon after, the story broke that Trump had taken fifteen boxes of official documents, some of them containing classified information, on his way out the door, in violation of law, practice, protocol and routine. The National Archives asked for the documents to be returned in the usual manner, by having its lawyers “negotiate” the return with Trump’s legal team. This is typically how elite white-collar crime is conducted, by lawyers going back and forth and quibbling over small details and obscure points of law. All very civilized. In response Trump did as he always does, by delaying and dragging his feet, objecting, and claiming non-existent authority and privilege. Defying authority, and the law in other words, because, as any sensible person can see, Trump believes that no law, rule, regulation or edict applies to him; he alone stands above it all.  

Remember how the GOP soiled itself trying to nail Hillary Clinton for using a private email server for official business, and how it painted what happened in Benghazi, Libya as the Crime of the Century? Frothing, fulminating, bellowing, and caterwauling for months on end, wasting millions of tax dollars on pointless and fruitless investigations that proved nothing, all of which they’ve forgotten in a tidal wave of hypocrisy. Trump owns them, and they know it, so McCarthy and Rubio and even Mike Pence attempt to defend the indefensible and stand behind their Dear Leader, who is currently under investigation in New York, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. 

Do you honestly think Trump would hesitate to sell state secrets to the highest bidder? For the right price, Trump would sell Ivanka or one of his idiot sons. If he could turn a tidy profit on Melania he’d ditch her in a heartbeat. 

On his program, Background Briefing, journalist Ian Masters speculated that transcripts of Trump’s conversations with Vladimir Putin might be among the documents Trump was trying to prevent the National Archives from getting its hands on. I don’t know about this, but it sure is amusing to watch the Cult of Law & Order rise to the defense of the most vile, corrupt and criminal person to ever occupy the White House. If hypocrisy were a chicken bone, the GOP would choke to death. 

Mob Boss

 “A hideous farce against a backdrop of sweat and misery.” Henry Miller

I enjoy walking in our yard in the evening, when the sun reflects from the windows and the air feels soft, the sky clear overhead. We have two small lemon trees, a jacaranda, and an old olive tree. Fuchsia bougainvillea, many varieties of cactus. Cars whiz past on Milpas, but with part of the yard shielded by a seven-foot hedge, the noise is muted. It’s a gift to have some turf to move around in. I give the compost bin a spin. My good fortune astonishes me. After 22 years working for the same employer, in the same building, I’m moving into a new phase of my life. It feels right, so I’m going with the feeling, see where it leads. For the first time in years, I feel comfortable in my skin, I’m not envious or jealous of others as I might have been in the past, and I’m treating myself with more kindness. 

When I go back in the house my wife is on the phone with her sister who lives in Santa Maria and is nearly blind and plagued with other serious health issues. Her little dog escaped from the yard again and was found strolling down the street. They talk about In The Heights, the movie that was released this week to Oprah-style hype. Underwhelming, says my wife. She’s more of a purest, Broadway is her passion, and she didn’t think the female leads had the voices for the roles. 

My news feed is full of reports about Trump’s corrupt Department of Justice, and how the DOJ, first under the reign of Jeff Sessions, and then The Dirty Doughboy, AKA William Barr, subpoenaed the digital records of at least two members of Congress, both Democrats, as well as reporters from the New York Times and CNN. Apple was also subpoenaed. We’re finding out about this now because the gag orders issued by federal judges have expired. The House members, Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, were harsh critics of Trump, in particular Schiff who prosecuted the first impeachment trial. It reads like a reboot of the old Nixon Enemies List. What’s interesting to me is the tone of surprise from the talking heads on MSNBC and CNN, as if they can’t believe these revelations. I’m not surprised at all. Trump is as corrupt as the United States is unequal. The true extent of the damage Trump caused won’t be clear for at least another decade, but the essential point is that you can’t hand the levers of political power to a person as corrupt as Trump without being certain that he will use that power corruptly, for his own ends and the ends of his friends and people useful to him. To understand Trump think only of The Godfather, the book by Mario Puzo, the films by Francis Ford Coppola. Trump desperately wants to be a Mob Boss in the style of Don Corleone, feared and respected, but he is doomed to play Fredo. Trump’s understanding of power isn’t sophisticated, it comes from the mob idea, that’s why he treated federal agencies as if they worked for him. Like a mob boss, Trump prizes loyalty to him above nearly all else, and punishing the disloyal is reflexive. I have long wondered what Trump and Putin talked about for an hour and a half in Helsinki a few years ago, but I’d wager that not only did Vlad have plenty of advice to offer Trump, but that Trump was receptive because he respects the power and fortune Putin has amassed. Look at Trump’s pardons of Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and the noxious Roger Stone for further evidence of straight payback. Trump plays the game out in the open. How will the sycophants and boot-lickers in the GOP spin these latest developments? We will hear cries of “Witch Hunt” and “this is all politically motivated by the Democrats.” Those ruses are reliable ways to deflect and distract, clog up the news cycle and social media, and confuse people about what it all means. What it means is that we had better invest some effort into reforming the Department of Justice, Trump-proofing it while there is time. A house won’t stand for long on a cracked foundation.