Things are not looking good for Donald Trump. He’s basically dragging himself through his last month of appearances and rallies. You see the attendance at these events, as opposed to the wildly exuberant and packed houses that Kamala Harris is playing to. Even Trump himself has said, “Things won’t be so good for me if I lose.” No, things emphatically will not be so good. Seth Abrmason has a theory about what Donald might do in the future. November 5 is going to be a definitive day for everybody in this country, and probably more definitive than any other day in the life of the 78-year-old Trump.
They say character is destiny, which is why the most likely eventual landing spot for former U.S. president Donald Trump is a prison cell. But even now, at this late date—though it would take him bucking decades of pathologies and for once listening to the advice of the few people still close to him—Trump could avoid (more) personal ruin.
Having lately begun conceding that he lost to President Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election “by a whisker,” a statement that admittedly strikes many as a comically belated attempt to regain a semblance of gravitas as to U.S. elections and their aftermaths, Trump could in theory double down on this late-in-the-film Amon Göth conversion by quickly conceding the 2024 election if he has clearly lost it.
This admission of Trump’s has been extremely problematic. J.D. Vance refuses to admit that Trump lost the election because he’s aware of the pecuniary advantages of collecting money to “fight” the stolen election. He’s also probably figuring out that MAGA may need to also claim that the 2024 election was stolen as well. So J.D. is biting his tongue. Yes, it is a “damning non-answer” as Tim Walz put it during the debate (when Vance didn’t answer the question but waffled, “I’m looking towards the future,”) but that’s J.D.’s answer and it’s the only one you’re going to get. Back to our hypothetical of Trump extricating himself from prison.
But extricating himself from his many pending state and federal criminal cases would surely take something more, as there’s no reason at present for a President Kamala Harris to pardon him. But what if he announced, just a few days after Election Day this November, that he’s retiring from politics and domestic business activities? What if he declared that he wants to spend the rest of his days playing golf, hanging out at his Florida golf club, building golf courses in far-flung foreign nations, and building a stateside presidential museum?
As cockeyed as this sounds, let’s speculate on what a “Trump Museum” would look like. I’m sure you’re thinking the same thing I am, right? You see it, too? His grifting memorabilia! Yes! We can have the Trump Trout and the Trump Bible and the sneakers, and the shot glasses with the bullet in the side, and the Attempted Assassination Sculptures and the $100,000 gold watches and Trumpy Bear, and all the candy, gummies, coffee table books, dishtowels — oh everything that you can think of has this guy’s name on it. And it’s all Made In China.
What if he disavowed any future involvement in U.S. or international politics, either foregrounded or back-of-the-house, and actually made good on the oft-heard claim that he would have had a very good life as a very rich man had he never dabbled in politics at all? How much of the appetite for prosecuting and incarcerating Donald Trump would wane—rightly or wrongly—if he really did spend the rest of his days out of the limelight doing nothing that harms the country directly or indirectly?
If he would just go away, retire from public life gracefully and do what other former presidents have done, create a foundation, do charity work, paint pictures of the dog, whatever, that would go a long ways towards people mellowing towards Trump. I don’t see it happening. Not when the person in question is an attention hawg.
Might he even evade another civil suit for defaming E. Jean Carroll if he never mentioned her again? Would there be much groundswell for the justice system to incarcerate an elderly brigand who (a) dropped his “Big Lie” just before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, (b) conceded that election quickly upon losing it, and (c) continued fighting his state and federal cases behind the scenes but without making or issuing public statements about any of them?
I don’t see the no public statements part happening at all. Ever. Not the Trump we know. And if Trump has exhibited one characteristic, which is indelibly his, it’s that he is unteachable. He does not learn from his mistakes and back down the next time from doing the same thing.
Is it at all possible that, were he to somehow maintain this new apolitical posture and private-citizen persona for five or six years without relapse, he might, just prior to any post-appeal prison sentence was about to start (in, say, 2028 or 2029), receive a pardon from a second-term President Harris no longer worried about the threat he poses to America? He’d at that point be an eighty-something retiree long out of the limelight, who had been on good behavior for years.
I’ll believe this when I see it.
While this is by no means how the story of Donald Trump will end—and this author strongly believes that his past crimes must be punished to maintain rule of law in the United States—the very fact that Trump still has this option to stay out of jail or prison and perhaps even have his memory and legacy be a smidgeon better than it would be otherwise is genuinely stunning. And just as stunning is that, even though everyone left who cares about him has surely told him this option is still open to him, he won’t take it. But can you imagine the hypothetical universe in which he did so?
Imagination is exactly what is required here. If we look at Trump’s history, he doubles down and triples down on his wrongdoings. That’s his signature maneuver. He has to be defiant. Defiance is his core principle.
And I don’t think he cares about his legacy. I firmly believe that Trump is fine with the fact that his MAGA cult loves him and he knows he can’t change the minds of the people who hate him. And that is very likely correct. So I don’t see Trump making any effort, legacy-wise.
To stay out of prison, though, he may becoming willing to say and do many things he won’t say and do today. But we’ll have to see how that unfolds in real time. I don’t think we can predict it from this vantage point. But one thing we can predict with certainty: Trump has been thinking about this. Make no mistake about that. He’s worried about this very thing. And we can take some satisfaction in that. The man who bought his way out of consequences his entire life can’t buy his way out, now.
May justice prevail and the rule of law be upheld.
If she pardons him after everything he’s done…she WON’T get my vote the next time around. Then she becomes a liar. Don’t say you stand up for the rest of us and let this child killer walk. No principles equals no support. 700,000 Americans are arrested EACH PHUCKING YEAR over the institutional lie about cannabis thanks to the last pardoned criminal president. FACT. So grow a set and stop playing politics. EQUAL JUSTICE???? PROVE IT MS. PROSECUTOR!
I never understood EHY he hot into politics. He was richer than Bruce Wayne. He had all those golf courses. MAGA loved him..If he had just convert in3016, most of his misdeeds would have been ignored and he would not be facing a Black woman who is a federsl.judge and a possible prison sentence.
I don’t think he knew what he wss getting into. Yes, he loves power and being an iconoclast. But all he had to do was.listen to.his sane advisors, and he and his golf clubs could hit every gold course he owns.
“Pardons” are precisely why we are where we are. No one “pardoned” the Nazis after WWII. We did pardon the South after their treason. How has THAT worked out for us? Nixon was pardoned. How has THAT worked out for us. F@CK that.
It’s a hypothetical scenario. One among many. Among the flaws I see beyond those cited is a fundamental: Trump will speak in the moment on what suits his current rationale. His promise, even his oath, is like a puff of smoke. Say, she were to pardon him, then tomorrow……..
Exactally, the next minute he’ll be the same old loudmouth spouting off telling his lies, grifting, etc.
who wrote this really stupid article? hogwash. u obviously don’t know Harris lolo nor thought this out.
His legacy is already assured.
He will be known forevermore as ‘The Worst President Ever’.
Maybe we should change that to, ‘The Worst NON-President Ever’. ?
He NEVER was a president, he never CAN be a president going forward …
One problem with any presidential pardon – it can’t apply to his felony charges in New York. That would require a pardon from the State Governor as it’s not a federal case. So he still could go down as he’s already been found guilty
In regard to the ‘Trump Library’ – don’t forget to include a bronzer and saliva stained flag (and a gold plated toilet)
His library can fit in a phone box.
Just two shelves, one for both books, and one for the crayons.
One of the books will have been colored in.
Orangeman cannot tell the truth, cannot say that he will do anything and then actually do it, he cannot stop grifting, he cannot give up the limelight, he will never just fade away and not be heard from, etc. Whoever hypothesized this hasn’t been paying attention for the last thousand years since he was “just a builder” to the years he has been tormenting the country as a “politician “.
Nope. He needs to see some bars. Even if they are at a military base. FAFO. if he goes fully demented, then he gets committed.
I am ok with a pardon, provided that:
1. he is tried & found guilty
2. he swears to retire from public life
3. he serves at least a week in prison.
I do not want to hear anything about a pardon for Trump. I want to see him get the punishment he so richly deserves, not a pardon in any way, shape, or form. I believe the majority of Americans share this view, and I do not see why a President Harris would ever help him elude justice by pardoning him for his egregious and unprecedented crimes against the American people.
If trump is running around free after all the sentencing is said and done, our justice system needs to be put on the shit pile and burned to the ground so President Harris doesn’t have to pardon trump when any halfway functioning justice system will put him away for the rest of HIS life (it won’t be all that long especially if he’s locked the fuck up). When people go to prison, it is the prison warden who now decides what the prisoner can and cannot do so I’d say interviews will be pretty low down on trump’s list of allowed activities. Cell phones are not allowed in prisons and computer privileges are EARNED, not given. Phone calls are also earned. Once he is in prison, state or federal-it matters not one iota-he will be treated like any other prisoner except he might have his own little cell. Once he is a convicted felon and incarcerated, I suspect his ss detail will go bye-bye: I have a feeling that is one law that will pass and, now I might be an unmitigated optimist here, with bi-partisan support.
No, there is no earthly reason for President Harris to do one damned thing with regard to trump unless it is to say “good riddance dumb ass”. Pardoning him would be an unforced error and one I think she is smart enough to avoid. It damned sure better not be one of her first acts as president. It did not go all that well for Ford you know.
I can foresee a complete breakdown with Trump laying on the floor, uncontrolled babbling, body movements and the need for restraints … Moving him into an asylum would be mandatory, maybe even feeding him through IV’s …
There would be NO release available, except that last trip down the hall, feet-first … He or his family should offer his body to science … A study of how little intelligence can support a non-president on the golf course most of the time …