Trump’s Game Plan To Avoid Impeachment #3

That says it all. What other president in the history of these United States has seen fit to strategize a game plan to avoid impeachment, period? Let alone impeachment THREE?! But Donald Trump is not like any other president, he’s in a category of his own. And even though he’s only been back in office a few months, he has already committed numerous impeachable offenses. That’s just who he is. He does dishonest things the way the rest of us breathe, it’s a natural and comfortable way for him to operate.

So Trump has contemplated the fact that there’s a good likelihood that the House will change hands in 2026. And then things like his $400 million “gift” of an airplane will be scrutinzed with respect to the emoluments clause. For you see, the only reason Congress is not currently looking into that transaction simply has to do with the fact that Mike Johnson holds the gavel. The minute that ceases to be the case, it’s game on for the Democrats. And for democracy itself. And Trump, knowing that, has put together his own game plan to survive.

President Trump‘s team has launched an early and aggressive behind-the-scenes effort to maintain the GOP’s tenuous grip on the House in 2026 — and avoid his third impeachment.

Why it matters: Trump allies believe — with good reason — that a Democrat-controlled House would launch investigations of the president and move to impeach him. That’s exactly what happened after Democrats seized the chamber during Trump’s first term.

• Midterm elections are historically tough for the party occupying the White House, and senior Republicans privately acknowledge that retaining the speaker’s gavel won’t be easy.

The twice-impeached Trump “knows the stakes firsthand. He saw what can happen. It’s clear he doesn’t want that again,” said Matt Gorman, a top official for House Republicans’ campaign arm in the 2018 midterms.

• “Investigations, impeachment — he knows it’s all on the table with a Speaker [Hakeem] Jeffries.”
• Already, some Democrats have signaled they want to investigate Trump’s overhaul of the U.S. government, whether he manipulated markets and fostered insider trading with his tariff announcements, and whether he’s helped Elon Musk secure deals for Starlink.
• Then there’s that $400 million jet from Qatar. Democrats and other critics say Trump violated the Constitution by accepting the gift.

Zoom in: Here are five steps Trump’s taking to try to keep Republican control of the House, where the GOP has an eight-seat majority — including vacancies created this year by the deaths of three Democrats.

1. Trying to prevent retirements

The White House is targeting several Republicans in politically divided swing districts and urging them to not ditch their seats or run for higher office.

• It has sent a clear message to New York Rep. Mike Lawler that Trump wants him to stay in the House rather than run for governor. This month Trump made a point of endorsing Lawler for re-election to his southern New York district, which Kamala Harris won in the presidential election last November.
• Trump’s team also has expressed concern about Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga weighing a run for the Senate.

This is where Trump’s lame duck status doesn’t do him any good. Lawmakers who want to move on to higher office are doing so. They’re not on Team MAGA to the extent that they might have been during Trump’s first term. It’s pretty much a given that the GOP is split into MAGA and the remnants of what was the GOP. The remaining GOPers are doing what they want and need to do and Trump is not their first consideration. Ergo, Trump doesn’t have the sway he would like.

And in fact, there is sentiment amongst some Republicans to distance themselves from MAGA anyhow, and that may become a wise thing to do. From the handwriting already on the wall after Trump being in office for four months, this administration is going to botch up a lot more than it has and it behooves any ambitious Republican to get as much distance from it as possible, starting now.

It’s all guesswork at this early stage in the game which pieces on the chessboard will wind up where. But just the fact that King Donald is as agitated about it as he is tells you all you need to know.

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Friends, if you’re able to contribute to keep us on our trek through cyberspace, we would appreciate it. It has not been a good year to begin with and then I have had medical problems which have benched me the past month and so the blog traffic has greatly diminished from what it was a year ago this time. We have to make up for it. Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Ursula

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